Are you familiar with the saying… Turning houses into homes, one paint job at a time. Well that is what Ed and I helped our daughter, Mandy and son-in-law, Matt begin to do last weekend.
You may remember I posted about their wedding a few months ago. After they were married they lived in my daughter’s house that she bought 3 years ago.
She made that house into a cozy happy cottage and loved it, but it was too small for starting a family, so they decided to sell it and find a larger home which they did in record time.
They found an older home that had some nice updates and then put the “Happy Cottage” on the market. It sold in a week.
They closed on both homes last week, but before moving into the new home, they are renting the happy cottage for a week so they could paint a few of the dark downstairs rooms in the new house to fit their style, install new flooring in the sunroom and get the hardwood floors all through the house refinished.
It is an old house with lots of character – an updated kitchen, pocket doors, lots of molding and hardwood floors throughout, except for the kitchen, laundry room and sunroom.
The Downstairs Rooms Before Painting
Wall paint colors can make or break the way a room feels and Mandy and Matt wanted the walls in all the rooms to be lighter.
Painting the walls in lighter colors brought a new energy into the house. We only had time to do the first floor, but the bedrooms, bath and hallway on the second floor have dark walls also that they will paint after they move into the house.
The dining room was a dark blue…
… and very shiny. Lots of paint needed to get it gone.
New Flooring in Sunroom
Not only did we paint 3 rooms, but we also ripped up very stinky carpeting in the sunroom. Once Ed had the carpet removed and all the carpet tacks up, I got down on my hands and knees and gave the floor a well-needed scrub.
It was very stinky. I scrubbed and rinsed the floor 3 times until it was clean. Once it was dry, Ed and Matt started to lay down new flooring for the room.
A view of our painting progress from the kitchen.
We rolled and cut-in and rolled and cut-in all weekend until we finished painting the walls in all 3 rooms.
Painted Walls After
I didn’t get after shots of the dining room and foyer, but here is how the living room looks with SW Pinkish on the walls.
The lighter color really opened up the room and fits their decorating style.
Next for these rooms is new light fixtures and window treatments but they can wait until after they move into the house.
Installing New Flooring
While Mandy and I painted, Ed and Matt got the new plank flooring installed that they bought at the Habitat ReStore in Charlottesville.
They were quite a team and got it all done, base molding and all.
The rest of the house has hardwood flooring that is getting refinished before they move into the house this Sunday.
Until then, Mandy and Matt will be taking kitchen items over to the house and organizing them into their new kitchen since they can access the room without disturbing the floors in the other rooms of the house that are getting refinished.
It is a great house with a backyard and a large 2 story shed that will be used for storage, but could also be turned into a guest house.
I will post more with you as they make updates. The next will be choosing affordable window treatments, I am helping them with that and will share more about what they choose with you soon.
