Wow! Where has the time flown? It is time to check in on the "What-Can-We-Do-in-60-to-90-Day-Plan." Here is a list of projects that have been accomplished to date this year:
- painting and redecorating of hallway
- painting and redecorating of dining room
- ordering and installation of interior shutters for main level
- selection and ordering of blinds for master bedroom
- rearranging and seasonal update of living room
- seasonal update of family room
- change-out of all door hardware (including knobs and hinges) throughout main level and upstairs
- spring tidying of garden
- list of projects to tackle in next 3 months
- furnishings and window treatments for upstairs hallway nook
- decluttering
It feels like this list should be much longer, as a massive amount of work has been undertaken since January. The renovation is to the point where some rooms, dare I say it, almost feel "done." Future blog posts will feature a deep-dive on a number of the projects listed above. It feels spectacular. Like the bulbs finally sprouting their way through our Rocky Mountain garden, signs of progress are all around us. Welcome, Spring!
Showing posts with label renovation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label renovation. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Quoth the Reno Nevermore
This weekend found me looking at model homes. After my husband re-painted our hallway last weekend, and we reviewed the list of projects we have lined up for this year, we said, hey, let's go see what a brand-spanking-new, super-energy-efficient home could do for us.
We traipsed from room to room in four different floor plans, judging how the flow would work for us and evaluating which finishes we'd keep and which would be a tear-out. After 2 1/2 years in our current home, we have no breakfast room, we're still waiting on just the right window treatments for most rooms, and don't even talk to us about our kitchen or bathroom scene.
I found myself wondering what it would be like to move into a home that I could decorate in advance, like the model home interior designers do. When the house was ready for us, we could just move in our boxes of household goods, artfully arrange our clothing in the pre-built custom closet system, and then we could . . . just go on with our lives. There would be no fabric swatches or tile samples over which to deliberate. Instead of tearing up each space of yard and rebuilding it with irrigation, soil, plantings and hardscape, I could just add a few xeriscape perennials to the builder landscaping and find a little patch for a potager. We could sell our tools and cache of extra building materials, making extra space in the garage for . . . a pilates studio maybe? The new pair of kayaks we'd buy to replace our weekends of renovation?
After tsking over each imperfection I found in each model, I found myself talking with the sales agent, reviewing room dimensions and options for the two models we best liked and looking at the available lots that would best suit our family's needs. Fully loaded, we could move into a brand new home with a 10-year warranty, hire a professional decorator, and still get in for less than we paid for the purchase price of our home. All that money we've been putting toward renovations could replenish our savings accounts instead. We'd have time and money for the long weekends we crave. We'd have more time for cooking and entertaining, more time for family and friends.
Then we looked at the downsides. The new neighborhood was located miles away from the area we love with the new pedestrian shops and restaurants and the miles of shaded trail that overlooks farmland and wildlife preserves. Depending on the lot we picked, we could have a view of the mountains, but that same view would yield a view of the highway that runs along the edge of the hogbacks. The new trail system would be concrete, not dirt and gravel. There would be no overhead shade in the scorching summer sun, and I happen to know that the nearest wildlife area is favored by rattlesnakes and mountain lions. That's too much stress for walking the dogs.
Location aside . . . and that's just it with real estate. Location really is the driving force. Undaunted, we decided to check out other communities from the same builder online. Then we expanded our search to other builders. We found a bevy of beautiful homes, but they were all situated on postage-size lots whose only trees would be those we could plant. Builder communities here are not like those back East where trees are indigenous. Suddenly, we found ourselves in online builder communities in distant states. Just look at that wooded lot!
Well, obviously we can't just quit in the middle of our renovation, and our budget is what our budget is. Alas, I am not a modern-day countess with a hidden vault of money like Harry Potter. What could we do in the next 60 - 90 days to make our own home into a model home? What would we do if we were staging our home for sale? How could we enjoy our current home more today?
This new set of questions gave birth to a new set of projects:
- Our hallway, the first space anyone sees, is the most prone to clutter in our home. Project #1 Functional hallway storage system.
- Look at half-finished spaces. For example, we painted our dining room to complement the tile in the adjacent kitchen. This is the same tile that was apparently installed unsealed by a previous renovator and we can't wait to rip out. Pinkish white floors and two dogs don't mix. We'd furnished half our dining room with scores from Craiglist that serve us functionally, but are really just too stuffy for us. The only time I ever want to eat in the dining room is when we have guests. And the temporary window treatments that we hung 2 1/2 years ago are still there and still look . . . temporary.
- Eliminate clutter. When my husband and I got married, we had each previously owned our own homes and had our own styles. As we've merged households and found our couple style, we find that we avoid the rooms that have furnishings and decorations we dislike. While we have been downsizing our clutter little by little, if we can increase our efforts in this area, we can both remove the offending items and have more cash for those things we need.
In all, we came up with a pretty good list that refocused our priorities for making our current home livable. When we bought the house, we knew we wanted to change it cosmetically, but we didn't think that it would take quite so long to create a home that reflects our personality and our needs. In the end, this may not be the perfect home for us, but we have learned a lot about ourselves and each other in the process of making it our own and that in itself is priceless.
We traipsed from room to room in four different floor plans, judging how the flow would work for us and evaluating which finishes we'd keep and which would be a tear-out. After 2 1/2 years in our current home, we have no breakfast room, we're still waiting on just the right window treatments for most rooms, and don't even talk to us about our kitchen or bathroom scene.
I found myself wondering what it would be like to move into a home that I could decorate in advance, like the model home interior designers do. When the house was ready for us, we could just move in our boxes of household goods, artfully arrange our clothing in the pre-built custom closet system, and then we could . . . just go on with our lives. There would be no fabric swatches or tile samples over which to deliberate. Instead of tearing up each space of yard and rebuilding it with irrigation, soil, plantings and hardscape, I could just add a few xeriscape perennials to the builder landscaping and find a little patch for a potager. We could sell our tools and cache of extra building materials, making extra space in the garage for . . . a pilates studio maybe? The new pair of kayaks we'd buy to replace our weekends of renovation?
After tsking over each imperfection I found in each model, I found myself talking with the sales agent, reviewing room dimensions and options for the two models we best liked and looking at the available lots that would best suit our family's needs. Fully loaded, we could move into a brand new home with a 10-year warranty, hire a professional decorator, and still get in for less than we paid for the purchase price of our home. All that money we've been putting toward renovations could replenish our savings accounts instead. We'd have time and money for the long weekends we crave. We'd have more time for cooking and entertaining, more time for family and friends.
Then we looked at the downsides. The new neighborhood was located miles away from the area we love with the new pedestrian shops and restaurants and the miles of shaded trail that overlooks farmland and wildlife preserves. Depending on the lot we picked, we could have a view of the mountains, but that same view would yield a view of the highway that runs along the edge of the hogbacks. The new trail system would be concrete, not dirt and gravel. There would be no overhead shade in the scorching summer sun, and I happen to know that the nearest wildlife area is favored by rattlesnakes and mountain lions. That's too much stress for walking the dogs.
Location aside . . . and that's just it with real estate. Location really is the driving force. Undaunted, we decided to check out other communities from the same builder online. Then we expanded our search to other builders. We found a bevy of beautiful homes, but they were all situated on postage-size lots whose only trees would be those we could plant. Builder communities here are not like those back East where trees are indigenous. Suddenly, we found ourselves in online builder communities in distant states. Just look at that wooded lot!
Well, obviously we can't just quit in the middle of our renovation, and our budget is what our budget is. Alas, I am not a modern-day countess with a hidden vault of money like Harry Potter. What could we do in the next 60 - 90 days to make our own home into a model home? What would we do if we were staging our home for sale? How could we enjoy our current home more today?
This new set of questions gave birth to a new set of projects:
- Our hallway, the first space anyone sees, is the most prone to clutter in our home. Project #1 Functional hallway storage system.
- Look at half-finished spaces. For example, we painted our dining room to complement the tile in the adjacent kitchen. This is the same tile that was apparently installed unsealed by a previous renovator and we can't wait to rip out. Pinkish white floors and two dogs don't mix. We'd furnished half our dining room with scores from Craiglist that serve us functionally, but are really just too stuffy for us. The only time I ever want to eat in the dining room is when we have guests. And the temporary window treatments that we hung 2 1/2 years ago are still there and still look . . . temporary.
- Eliminate clutter. When my husband and I got married, we had each previously owned our own homes and had our own styles. As we've merged households and found our couple style, we find that we avoid the rooms that have furnishings and decorations we dislike. While we have been downsizing our clutter little by little, if we can increase our efforts in this area, we can both remove the offending items and have more cash for those things we need.
In all, we came up with a pretty good list that refocused our priorities for making our current home livable. When we bought the house, we knew we wanted to change it cosmetically, but we didn't think that it would take quite so long to create a home that reflects our personality and our needs. In the end, this may not be the perfect home for us, but we have learned a lot about ourselves and each other in the process of making it our own and that in itself is priceless.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
A Brand New Space From Nothin'
Eddie and I have been in our house for almost two years. The first summer I was in countdown mode to our wedding. The second summer I spent recovering from an accident. While our renovations are well under way on the inside of our home, we've done little with our neglected landscape except beat back the weeds. . . until now.
Our side yard was a funky, derelict space with summertime weeds that grew more than 10-feet tall and a pollen count that prevented us from opening our bedroom windows. Set off from the rest of our yard with a chain-link fence, it had been some sort of planting bed at sometime in its history. Cosmos and sunflowers were the only signs of once was. My husband and I decided to take on this outdoor space first since it was wholly unusable to us. While focusing first on curb appeal may have been a more obvious choice, the beefy estimates we received scared us away from that project for now. Also, while our two dogs have the backyard, my husband and I didn't have an outdoor space where we can leave some comfy cushions without becoming dog toys for our younger dog. We decided to create a grown-up space just for us, with dogs allowed by invitation only. Thus our serenity garden was born.
At first, our vision included planting beds for homegrown veggies and herbs as well as a lounging space, maybe with a little water feature. In the weekends while the snow cleared and we waited for our landscaping crew to help with demolition and re-grading of the space, my husband and I walked the yard, letting our vision emerge. I took photos, we placed chairs where we envisioned our lounge space and we laid sticks where we thought the various elements might be placed. Here is the sketch I first drew for planning purposes.
We placed a small water feature in the corner, a patio for lounging, guest seating, some raised planting beds, and something to occupy the central area--either some containers or a fire feature. As we laid out our sticks on the ground, our priorities became clearer. Apparently, a tranquil lounge area was more important to us for this space than the planting beds. Rule #1 of design for any space for me is function. We found room for our potager in an unused dog run. Discussing our plans with the landscaper, he suggested we proceed with demolition and let the cleared space guide us in finalizing the details of our design. We could all get a better look once the scrabble was gone. Thankfully, we were early enough in the season before the weeds took over. We just had some overgrown bushes, trees and other debris to remove.
And so the demolition began . . .
And then the rain began. After receiving very little snowfall at our elevation (we're just outside Denver at somewhere around 5,600 or 5,800 feet), it rained and rained. Our backyard became a mud pit and our schedule flew out the window. As the mud dried, the landscaper and I sloshed through the backyard to finalize the design. We expanded the patio and he suggested a slightly larger water feature to screen any street noise. As our house sits on a corner that provides access to a popular trail for horses, cyclists and pedestrians in one direction and a path to the community pool in the other, the larger water feature was a go. With the augmentation of the patio, we decided to add a path to our front gate that eliminated the practicality of a fire pit in the side yard. For this year, we'll stick with our chimenea in the backyard until we redesign that space down the road.
The finished side yard matches and exceeds our initial vision, with the final details falling into place beautifully. As with any new outdoor space, the Serenity Garden is more about the raw space and furniture than the actual plantings. The plantings are wee, and the photos do not do the space true justice.
Little touches are still pending completion, like the planting of our climbing flowers on a series of trellises and the completion of the electrical to put the water feature on a switch and provide some lighting. Overall, we are delighted with the results.
As for our water feature, though bigger than we originally planned, we love it. The sound of the waterfall is so soothing. When we open our bedroom windows at night, instead of being gagged by pollen spores, we hear a gentle babble reminiscent of a mountain stream.
Now as we recline in our chaise lounges or sit in any of the additional seating, we have a polished, playful space with the bones of an excellent garden. We've dubbed our side yard the Serenity Garden because of the peacefulness and pleasure this wonderful, formerly useless space evokes.
The creation of this space has inspired my husband, Eddie, and I to plant a bed in our front yard and to create the beginnings of what we've named our Cheer Garden in our backyard.
This one bed symbolizes the beginnings of overhauling our backyard. Filled with native perennnials, we included a couple of East Coast favorites like the delphiniums and tree rose as a nod to our Eastern roots. The sculptural flowers are a nod to building our home in the Rockies. The flowers are made from recycled horseshoes. They add a quirky element to the newly planted bed and will keep us from kitsch as long as we don't add gnomes, butterflies, gazing balls, penants and the like.
This is a case where one accessory suffices. Anything more anywhere in our backyard would likely be too much.
The Cheer Garden bed isn't quite finished. We still need to convert the existing irrigation to drip before mulching, as well as capping off the retaining wall Eddie built. It's a small step for our backyard, but it's an important starting point. The Cheer Garden fills our view as either of us stands at our kitchen sink. As we dine from our gazebo, there are now two great views in either direction--one of the water feature and the other of our Cheer Garden.
Now we finally have an outdoor space where we can kick back to recharge us for tackling those other indoor projects.
Copyright 2011. Rocky Mountain Cozy. All photos and content are copyrighted and not to be reproduced without permission.
Eddie and I have been in our house for almost two years. The first summer I was in countdown mode to our wedding. The second summer I spent recovering from an accident. While our renovations are well under way on the inside of our home, we've done little with our neglected landscape except beat back the weeds. . . until now.
Our side yard was a funky, derelict space with summertime weeds that grew more than 10-feet tall and a pollen count that prevented us from opening our bedroom windows. Set off from the rest of our yard with a chain-link fence, it had been some sort of planting bed at sometime in its history. Cosmos and sunflowers were the only signs of once was. My husband and I decided to take on this outdoor space first since it was wholly unusable to us. While focusing first on curb appeal may have been a more obvious choice, the beefy estimates we received scared us away from that project for now. Also, while our two dogs have the backyard, my husband and I didn't have an outdoor space where we can leave some comfy cushions without becoming dog toys for our younger dog. We decided to create a grown-up space just for us, with dogs allowed by invitation only. Thus our serenity garden was born.
At first, our vision included planting beds for homegrown veggies and herbs as well as a lounging space, maybe with a little water feature. In the weekends while the snow cleared and we waited for our landscaping crew to help with demolition and re-grading of the space, my husband and I walked the yard, letting our vision emerge. I took photos, we placed chairs where we envisioned our lounge space and we laid sticks where we thought the various elements might be placed. Here is the sketch I first drew for planning purposes.
 |
| The Starting Vision |
We placed a small water feature in the corner, a patio for lounging, guest seating, some raised planting beds, and something to occupy the central area--either some containers or a fire feature. As we laid out our sticks on the ground, our priorities became clearer. Apparently, a tranquil lounge area was more important to us for this space than the planting beds. Rule #1 of design for any space for me is function. We found room for our potager in an unused dog run. Discussing our plans with the landscaper, he suggested we proceed with demolition and let the cleared space guide us in finalizing the details of our design. We could all get a better look once the scrabble was gone. Thankfully, we were early enough in the season before the weeds took over. We just had some overgrown bushes, trees and other debris to remove.
 |
| A Pile of Tangled Mess |
And so the demolition began . . .
 |
| Demolition with Many a Machine |
The finished side yard matches and exceeds our initial vision, with the final details falling into place beautifully. As with any new outdoor space, the Serenity Garden is more about the raw space and furniture than the actual plantings. The plantings are wee, and the photos do not do the space true justice.
 |
| The Serenity Garden Patio Now |
 |
| Water Feature |
 |
| Wall Art for a Vertical Element |
The creation of this space has inspired my husband, Eddie, and I to plant a bed in our front yard and to create the beginnings of what we've named our Cheer Garden in our backyard.
 |
| The Cheer Garden |
 |
| Rocky Mountain Flower--Horseshoe Style |
The Cheer Garden bed isn't quite finished. We still need to convert the existing irrigation to drip before mulching, as well as capping off the retaining wall Eddie built. It's a small step for our backyard, but it's an important starting point. The Cheer Garden fills our view as either of us stands at our kitchen sink. As we dine from our gazebo, there are now two great views in either direction--one of the water feature and the other of our Cheer Garden.
Now we finally have an outdoor space where we can kick back to recharge us for tackling those other indoor projects.
Copyright 2011. Rocky Mountain Cozy. All photos and content are copyrighted and not to be reproduced without permission.
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