main bath before...

living & laundry rooms before...

dining room before...

The two living rooms and laundry room are joined in a T-shape (the sunken portion of the LR and the laundry area were once a carport.  the raised portion of the LR shares a wall, now removed, with the kitchen).  I refinished the floors, added laminate flooring in the laundry, installed a new back door, painted, hung cabinets and hooks instead of the metal shelving, and furnished the spaces so they flow as one. 

The Main Bath started out with plenty of tile, and not much style.  After a month of sledgehammers and getting dirty, this place looks more like an Italian spa than my bathroom in the 'burbs.  I couldn't be happier with the transformation.  (details: kept the 1950s tub, added italian porcelain, solid wood vanity, venetian bronze fixtures, and some b&w photos from my trip to Italy)

...and after

master bath before...

...and after

Much like the main bathroom, the master had aweful hexagonal, 2-color, diagonal striped tiles that were past their prime.  Also, the white walls were less than impressive.  I added a new coat of paint, some updated italian porcelain tile, a new faucet, a handy shelf, and some original art I picked up at Piazza Navona in Italy.  I am very pleased with the outcome.  I hope you are too

bedrooms before ... and after

Master Bedroom

Guest Bedroom & Office

Back Bedroom

The bedrooms were blank canvases when I bought the home.  I refinished the worn hardwood (which now looks brand new!), added a warm neutral paint color, and furnished the spaces with curtains, artwork, and plenty of soft fabrics to bring some warmth to the rooms.

kitchen before...

The kitchen was a major, major project (rivaling the bathroom for most invasive and difficult tasks).  First off, the old appliances, some of which dating as far back as the 1950s, had to go (I did save the vintage stove, which has found a new home at my church).  They were replaced with new, stainless steel and energy-saving models. 

Next, the wood cabinets with their crusty knobs and threadbare eurothane coat were sanded, painted, and updated with some new knobs and painted hinges.  The stove hood was also spray painted to match.  The cabinets that hung on the wall between the kitchen and living room were removed, and flipped to be mounted as floor cabinets.  An extra cabinet was built to take up the missing gap.

view from dining room

view from laundry room

wall between kitchen & living room

With the wall now clear, I hired some professionals to remove the top 1/2 of the wall between the kitchen and living room/dining room.  The wall was replaced with a granite bar-top, and new matching granite counters were installed in place of the old laminate counter on one side of the kitchen, and over the former-wall-cabinets-turned-floor-cabinets on the other side (this was also done by pros - my construction abilities do have limits!). 

I added task lighting beneath the wall cabinets and accent lights above the bar, wiring them to new dimmers/wall switches.  I also added laminate flooring that mimics the wood floors found throughout the rest of the house.  This laminate was also carried into the adjacent laundry room, making for a durable, washable, but elegant anchor to the room.

... and after

view from dining room

view from laundry room

former wall between kitchen & living room

Before the galley-style kitchen felt small and cramped.  Now, it is an open space perfect for cooking and entertaining guests. 

The floor in the dining room was the worst in the house, by far.  The wood had been scraped, scarred, and stripped by the constant shuffling of dining-room chairs.  A ceiling fan added nothing, least of all elegance, to the room.

The floors were refinished and a new chandelier wired to a dimmer switch was hung to replace the fan.  I painted the walls to match the kitchen colors and made some luxurious-looking linen sheers for the windows.  The walls were dressed with artifacts brought back from trips to Asia, and a natural fiber rug added to protect the new floors from future damage.

more photos of the dining room to come after I ship my dining room suite in early '08

wood floors before...and after

I couldn't help but devote one whole spot on this page to the floors.  The guys from Skinner Flooring did such an amazing job.  I couldn't believe this beautiful wood was there underneath all the scarring, scraping, and neglect.  Check out what these four men did in under four hours!!  The first photo is the before, complete with water stain in upper right.  The next photo below it is what the floors looked like sanded down (virgin wood), and then the final photo on the bottom is the finished product.  The tall skinny photo is one of the skinner fellas hard at work staining the floor.