Bathroom phase #1 (or 2?)

I feel like every time we do a job right now, the end result is just a better before picture.  To date, the house has been about making it more live-able.  Running, clean, water.  A dryer vent.  Getting rid of junk we acquired...It's a project, and it has critical path items on it with dependencies.  Like wanting to get to tearing down the kitchen wall.  Before we can do that, we needed to clean, re-wire the electrical panel, protect the well, clean, stop the leaky bathroom sink...etc.

We are quite cozy in our downstairs bathroom.  Not like our main home, where the kids have their own bathrooms, and the parents have their own separate vanities.  Nope, at the river, we are CLOSE.

One shower

One sink

One potty

This is what we saw in our walkthrough.  I swore, I would NEVER use that shower...I guess I am eating my words. 

After some clean up, and getting rid of the nasty STUFF in the bathroom, it is actually very usable.  Very yellow, but useable. 

I was all too happy to get rid of the shower doors.  They were not installed properly.  If you did not shut them JUST RIGHT, you'd end up with water on the floor.  I do see some sub-flooring being replaced in this room when we finally really re-do it. 

This past weekend, Kenny replaced the leaky sink.  Yay!  That sink was a CHALLENGE for the four of us to use, and keep clean.  And every weekend we'd have to empty the bucket one or two times. 

Here's our "new" sink.  I love the function of it, but not the color...I dream of all white with blue accents in this river bathroom.  We are so thankful for the functioning sink, and the extra storage it provides.  Thanks to Kenny's parents for re-doing their bathroom and giving us their left overs.  So much better than our "original" sink.  

And, of course, the built in paper towel dispenser... our kid visitors have enjoyed it.  I guess we'll keep it there till the overhaul.  It's vintage, and the house came with re-fills.  Gotta love it. 

Power Washing

Power washing....have you done it yet?  Wow!  

I remember reading about it on Young House Love, when they re-did their deck.  I had no idea that the power washing would take our door stoops from this..

to this!

No kidding!  (more about the sink on the front lawn later)

This picture shows a closeup of the stairs in progress.  The stair on the bottom is completely done, the middle stair is in progress, and the top stair hasn't yet been touched.  That old weathered gray with very thick old stuff...I never in a million years thought it would look that good after a power wash!

I would like to note, the stuff on the stairs, although the stairs were gorgeous afterwards, my LEGS were not.  Power washing is a wet, dirty job, but check out those results!  I can't wait to see what the docks look like after some time with this power tool.

Garage cleaning

We WILL get to re-doing soon.  I know we will.  First, though, we had to CLEAN OUT.  We did the kitchen, the lower bath, and the lower family room first.  We recently went on to the garage.

The garage was a hodgepdge of stuff, like everything else in the house.  But it was all dirty, or out of use, or hidden in the back.

The garage looked like:

After more cleaning, organizing, loading the trailer, going to the dump again, we got the garage in a much better place. There is still a LOT to go through, but at least now we can put the fun swim toys in it, the lawn mower, all the other stuff we choose to keep.

We even made room for Kenny's truck!  The first time the truck had a home in a garage.  It's very happy.

I, personally, like being able to find a screwdriver.  Or perhaps a level?  We are the proud owners of several, as you can see hanging from the ceiling.

Before and After Family Room: Phase 1

The family room BEFORE.

So, so hard to see the bones of this place with all the junk!

After a clean up, a re-configuration, and opening the wall from the kitchen to the family room, the place is MUCH larger than I expected!

I actually like this room.  I wasn't sure I would like it as much as I do when we bought it.  I was having a hard time seeing beyond the junk.

Yes, that is a laundry closet in the family room.  For now, it will stay there.  Again, I wasn't sure I would like it there.  After having used it a few times, it's actually really convenient!

Family room plans:

Tear down walls
Tile floor
Replace window
Replace back door

Kitchen redo, phase 1: Clean out and clean up

 Welcome to our  Kitchen! 

This is what we walked into when we first saw the house.  I think this is something that most likely scared off other potential buyers.  It was a mess.  Forgive the terrible quality of the pictures...these were taken as we walked through the house for the first time. 

The place was a mess.  I wish I had a picture of how disgusting the floor was.  All that stuff was there, as you see it.  No effort made to clean out the stuff or clean it up.

This must have been one of the original microwaves.  

Pantry with no door, full wall dividing kitchen to family room (no water view from this room)

We spent our first few days cleaning out this room, the downstairs bathroom, and the family room.  After a bit of time removing items from this room, scrubbing, we have something we can live with temporarily. 

We tore that hole in the wall after one night of staying in the house.  We could not imagine why the wall was there -- it only blocked our view to the river, and blocked any cross breezes from cooling down he house with the windows open.

It might not look like much, but it is worlds above where it was.  I have big plans for this space.  We hope to get to it this fall.  We have too much clean up to do before we can get to renovation.

Kitchen Plans:

Replace and reconfigure cabinets

Replace countertops

Tear down wall, opening kitchen to family room

Tile floor

New (used) appliances
Build pantry

Da Rivah!

We dreamed big.  We said, one day we'll do it, we'll have that place on the water.  

Dreams come true...check out our dream river cottage!

What?  You don't think it's a dream?  Look past that aluminum siding the color of a dirty diaper, and past the worn roof.  See what it comes with???

The North View

The South View

We saw the place and fell in love.  It was everything we dreamed of...an old house, on the water, needing some love.  

Bonus #1: WAY more water than we ever thought we could have!  

Bonus #2:  A sand BEACH!

Bonus #3:  Two piers, one with a boat dock!  

Beach on the north

Most people would be scared off.  I think many were, since this house sat on the market for well over a year.  I am thankful they were scared.  It got us these amazing views, at a price we could afford. 

I am so excited to turn this place into our dream river place.  It's going to a lot of work, but I am sure in the end it will be worth it.  

Sunset...aahhh.