Home Renovation: Before & After

 

When we bought our 1960's ranch four years ago I knew that changes needed to be made.  The previous owners believed wholeheartedly in flesh tone colored walls.  No seriously, they must have been undertakers, because every wall in the house was some hue of pale death.  Not a good look.  Not only that but in the true style of the 60's bungalow, every room was partitioned off, making us feel particularly claustrophobic. With a more open floor plan in mind we knew that some of the walls HAD to go!  Here is a journey through the before and after of our home renovation, enjoy!





This is the house when we bought it, we added the railings and planters to make it more welcoming (as seen in the photo above).







The entry way before...

 



And after...

 

In the 60's apparently people had just one outfit to live in, and thus did not have the need for closets, or at least not very big ones.  And that left us completely WITHOUT a coat closet.  But with a little help from IKEA, we created a welcoming entryway complete with a hat/coat rack and shoe rack/bench for under $150. 



The hat/coat rack is great to keep our jackets and my purse out of puppy's reach



The magazine rack by the door is also from IKEA- great for organizing mail as we bring it in



This quick and easy DIY project can be completed on the cheap.  All you need is a small framed mirror, some hooks, and the hardware.  Instantly you have a home for your keys, so no searching frantically when you are already running late.  And the added bonus of being able to check your teeth for stragglers before you head out the door.

Part of what bothered us about our house, was this giant wall which separated the front and back of the house when you walked in the door.  The first thing that greeted you was this ghostly white wall which was about 20 feet long.  It left us with these awkward rooms which were not very functional.  The front of the house when you walked in the door was intended to be splint in half into two tiny rooms-- the living and dining rooms.  Then the back of the house had the fireplace and was supposed to be a "keeping" room- whatever that is.  The keeping room was this long and narrow room, which wasn't big enough to be a living room or anything else useful to us.  So that monster of a wall had to go!!  And it did!




View from the entry way before....

 


Why would you want to hide this fireplace? And as you can see, I was getting a little ahead of myself, trying to start the mantle decor prematurely :)

 


View from the entry way after...

 

 As you can see from the above before picture, the fireplace was painted a lovely cyanotic gray-purple.  Reminiscent of an episode of CSI.  My original plan was to paint over that color entirely with the dark brown, but as I gently rolled the paint over the brick I realized that it gave it more depth and personality to leave it two-toned.  So that's what I did... I only gently paint rolled the darker brown color over the surface of the bricks, letting the mortar remain a lighter contrasting color.  Believe me, I was shocked that a color that horrific could look decent at all.




View of the dining room before (well, really, in between)

 


View of the dining room after

 




View of the living room before

 


Bamboo floors also from IKEA- great value and look awesome!

 


View of the living room after

 


View from the dining room before

 


View from the dining room after

 



I hope you enjoyed browsing our renovation and I hope it inspires you to make some fun changes in your home!