RenovationsStone Cottage: Reno Progress Round 1 June 16, 2017 Y’all have had the sweetest things to say about our new home and adventure: The Buffalo Stone Cottage. Things are moving fast and furious over there! Our move-in date has been pushed back from June 30th to July 15th due to some contractor delays. Thankfully our new “landlord” and friend at The Buffalo Bungalow is flexible and is working with us! So much is happening so fast…faster than I can blog about it! But I’m documenting everything with photos, so I’ll furiously be sharing the progress in the next few weeks! Today, I’m sharing the first round of our reno progress. I took these photos at the beginning of last week and it already looks like a different house! What you’re seeing today is about six weeks worth of work! But it’s all the stuff that takes forever that doesn’t look that different, if that makes sense. I’ll break down everything we’ve done so far below. Now we’re to the fun part…where a day’s work makes it look drastically different! If you missed the intro to this house, make sure you check it out here. I shared a ton of before photos and even a video tour with some of our plans. I’m not going to recap before photos below because it would be a forever long post! Now let’s dive in to where we are now! Here’s the new view from the front door: It gets worse before it gets better, right? You can see we removed the two main walls that separate this front room (the living room), the middle section (the dining room) and the kitchen in the back (the kitchen will be where the floor changes above). Both of these openings will have wood posts going up the sides and a wood beam across the top. This reminds me a lot of the beams we did where we took out walls in our last house (you can see a post about that here). I love how open it feels now, but the beams will help it from feeling like on giant room. It’ll define the spaces some without closing them off. Already, these tiny spaces feel so much larger! So at this current stage, we’ve obviously removed the walls we’re taking out and that took like a day or two! It’s crazy. But there’s so much work here that you can’t really see. Chris has re-wired the house and added switches, outlets, and lights where we’ll need them. There’s only a few more things to do where wiring is concerned. It’s hard to tell a huge difference from the photos, but all new windows have been installed. I’m so excited that we were able to get windows that look just like the original ones, just new. So the character is maintained, but they’re so much more energy efficient! The kitchen was obviously gutted, the opening to the laundry room moved, and the space insulated. Quick sidenote: I can’t tell y’all how much Rosie loves the new house. She asks to go all the time and is always so sad when we leave. Granted, she doesn’t get to spend a ton of time over there just yet and we watch her super close…a construction zone isn’t the best play space for a child. You can see above where we moved the laundry door a good ways to the left, making more room for the kitchen stove and hood to be centered on that wall, and making more room for cabinets. There’s a lot of new wiring as well. And sadly, the wood floor in the kitchen was way too damaged to keep. We had to rip it out and install new hardwoods in there. You can see a bit about how we’ll arrange this space below. Of course, I’ll be doing a ton of kitchen posts coming up with more details. And while we’re back here in the kitchen, let’s take a look at the view from back here: There’s so much to do, Chris couldn’t even stop working while I took photos, haha! But we’re getting there and we are so excited. Man, that living room looks tiny from this angle…we’re going to figure out a way to make it work for us, though! The bathroom was in rough shape. We gutted and re-insulated the walls, the floor was rotted and had to be rebuilt, and it needed a real window. Y’all may remember the stained-glass window in the before? It was not real for sure! It was like a film glued to the window. By removing that, we were able to enlarge the window some as well, which helps this bathroom a ton. Dax’s room needed a ton of work. The walls were in pretty bad shape structurally, so we gutted it, rebuilt/reinforced some areas, and then had it insulated. It also got new windows and wiring. It already feels so much better! I cannot wait to make this a special room for our little guy. It feels so weird to have not done a nursery yet for him! The two official bedrooms didn’t need a ton, but they got new windows and new insulation…that’s what the holes you see are. They drilled holes in the wall and blew insulation in. I watched it for a second and it was so interesting! It’s so nice we didn’t have to rip out the walls, but still got better insulation on this old house. Next week, I’ll be sharing HUGE reno progress: sheetrock repaired in areas, shiplap and some new trim…the things that start making a huge difference! *** That’s been The White Buffalo motto for the last three years and is still what I’m striving to do each day in our home and with our family. Yes, that often means tablescapes, inspiring interiors, and fun before and after renos. But it also means family. Faith. Joy. Struggles. Laughter. Health. You’ll find a little bit of all of that here as I share how we’re choosing to live with both style and purpose. A huge part of that is our journey toward a more natural life that’s focused on enjoying each and every moment together. A huge thanks to my main blog sponsor that makes this dream of mine possible:
September says June 16, 2017 at 10:49 am Love reading your post! We have the same windows in our house too and we want to replace them. What brand are the ones you found? Reply
Lindsay says June 28, 2017 at 5:11 pm Hi! They’re by Pella 🙂 We got them at our local builders’ supply store. Reply
Amy Lynn says June 16, 2017 at 2:37 pm How exciting! You guys have made such great progress 🙂 I can’t wait to see it finished, your new goal is my birthday. That was our original goal for our house renovation, buuut…..ours got bumped back until November/December (at least!) So I’ll just live vicariously through you and watch yours come along haha! Reply
nancy says June 16, 2017 at 4:36 pm Maybe it’s just me but i got her via Instagram. When I go directly to your website this post doesn’t show. Reply
Austin says June 16, 2017 at 8:13 pm So. Stinking. Exciting. And really this just confirmed my theory – windows/natural light makes such a HUGE difference! Alas, our duplex seriously lacks both, due to the nature of a duplex, but one day, I shall have all the windows and natural light! Can’t wait to see more updates. Reply
AmandaKB says June 16, 2017 at 10:49 pm It’s so fun to see things taking shape! Love your vision for the updates/upgrades. Reply
Lisa Critten Vroom says June 17, 2017 at 3:57 am I love all your remodels, but this one is near and dear to my heart! My son and I have called our 1890 Craftsman, 2 beddroom, 1 bath, home for the past 12 years. We love our home- it is perfect for us! I had a fair amount of say in cosmetic renovations when we bought the house and just last year had our kitchen renovated. I am beyond excited to see how you & Chris plan to build in storage from the beginning of your renovation! It is a blessing to be able to start from scratch and I cannot wait to see the progress step by step. Thank you for sharing your life with all of us- you are helping many to think differently and your positive attitude and constant recalibration for what is best for your family is truly inspiring! Reply
Lindsay says June 24, 2017 at 9:43 am Thank you so much, Lisa! Your comment was such an encouragement to me today! Reply
Natalie Fjellanger says June 17, 2017 at 6:59 pm I love to follow your work and love your family’s vision for living with less. Can’t wait to see this house take shape! Reply
Annie says June 19, 2017 at 4:52 pm Oh man do I love a good reno project!! Those beadboard ceilings and tall trim details got me like ??. I’ve been talking about downsizing ever since we moved into a too big (*cough* to-lazy-to-clean-it) (ain’t nobody got time for that) house. I’m so pumped to follow your progress and then prove to my husband that less IS more ? Reply
Lindsay says June 24, 2017 at 9:40 am Thanks so much, Annie! I’m a firm believer less is definitely more in most cases haha! But I’ve yet to live here haha! I’m sure it will come with its own share of challenges, but we’re excited! Reply
Hannah says June 20, 2017 at 10:13 am Hi there! I love this house so much. The floorplan is very similar to my family’s home (1930 Craftsman bungalow), although the exterior is entirely different. We’ve done a bit of work, but thankfully nothing structural was needed and we haven’t had to gut much (just the two bedroom closets that were still plaster in bad shape with really dysfunctional layouts). I was wondering what type of windows you installed. We are planning an addition and would like to match our existing/original single-pane windows as closely as possible. Yours look great! Reply
Lindsay says June 28, 2017 at 5:11 pm Hi Hannah! Y es, they’re Pella brand. We got them through our local Builders’ Supply Store. Reply
Silvia Loya says June 20, 2017 at 12:10 pm Lindsay, so excited for you guys AGAIN. You just throw caution to the wind and let the chips fall where they may – love that about you. Love your enthusiasm and energy. God is great and has your back. Can’t wait to see the finished product. Take care. Reply
Ashley Wilson says June 21, 2017 at 4:43 pm Oh my goodness! I can’t believe how much work you’ve done with two little ones! I’m loving the ceiling in Dax’s room. Is that beadboard? Reply