Fall Leaves

Late this afternoon I meet yet another painter over at the house to tell me what the damage will be to scrape, sand, prime and paint all trim, windows and doors-Oh what fun!  As we walked around the home and talked about all the reglazing the windows needed and the work he would have to do to restore the original front door, I dazed off watching the fall leaves fall around the home.  They are BEAUTIFUL!  There are two lovey trees in the front that are all different shades of yellow, orange and red right now, then a few smaller trees that line the side of the home that are firey red!  After the painter, left, I snapped a few pictures!  I wanted to just sit on the ground for a few minutes and let the leaves fall all around me!  It was a long day- but the fall leaves made it all better-not to mention softened the price tag of the painter!

Blue Bathroom update!

Well, my team didn't win tonight, but I DID complete a project in the house! You remember the blue bathroom-well it has been updated a little bit. It is not completed, but is looking much more bearable.

Before-please note the white counter top with gold swirls and specks of brown and BLUE!

I painted the cabinets and removed a couple of doors. The cabinets currently housing paint and cleaning supplies, will show off folded fluffy towels and baskets. I also updated the hardware(some of which is missing in the picture).

I primed and painted the countertop an antique white, then sealed it with a coat of polyurethane. I will add a couple more coats this weekend. Works well for a quick fix on a tight buget. I have done this before in another home and surprisingly, after the poly, it holds up really well. If you are going with a white or light color be sure to use a waterbased poly. If you use the oil based, it will turn very yellow-this is something I have also done before!

The BLUE bathroom is not completed, but it is well on its way! For some reason the blue sink doesn't bother me, but the old faucet does. I am thinking of something in an oil rubbed bronze, like this one....But that will have to wait for another day!

The BLUE bathroom!

Since there were already holes in the ceiling from the complete rewire- We thought, why not just make a few more and update the plumbing!




All the plumbing had previously been updated except for the upstairs bathroom that we lovingly refer to as the blue bathroom. This is because-well- EVERYTHING IS BLUE! The tile on the walls, the tile on the floor, the sink, tub and yes, the toilet! But as of today, have new plumbing and a new toilet! We are having the tub refinished and it will be shiny, new and WHITE! I have a few tricks up my sleeve and will post pictures promptly once it is completed ;)



David and I went to home depot to pick out a WHITE toilet. Who knew there where so many different toilets to choose from?!? David picked the one with a rating of 10 out of 10 for BEST flush performance. This just made me laugh! Wow, If only I knew how happy this would make him, Christmas could have been a lot easier!




Now we are just shopping for a new counter top and sink!


The house has a ways to go, but so far it is coming along nicely!



Guest room #1:






Guest room #2:

Dinning room:

Living room:







Master bedroom and future closet:
pre polyurethane
not sure if you can tell in the photo, but there is the random little nook that is not really big enough for much of anything- but it will make a GREAT closet! Hopefully I can snag a couple of old doors to put up here. I am really excited about this. I love old homes, but also love having a closet!
At the other end of the room, there is a window in the small nook from the dormer. There is a lot of great natural light that fills the room!

I am missing pictures of the third guest room-which according to David will be his work out room!

Patching + Packing + Painting = Fall Break Fun!

Well this weekend is our fall break and we are patching, packing and painting, oh my!


David contributed by taking down the brackets that held huge curtains up. I should have taken a picture of the screw holding them to the wall- some on them were 6 inches long. D didn't think they were ever coming out.


Patching-We are patching the holes where we had the complete rewire. Well, let me clarify, neither David nor I are qualified to patch this much drywall, so we recruited Clay, David's brother-in-law! He has been helping us out when we gets off work in the evenings! Thanks and we love you Clay!

Packing-When it comes to packing, I am a pro! When David played ball, during Spring Training, they would decide where he was going to play for the season and stick him on the first flight out. I, on the other hand, was in Arizona with a cat and a dog, responsable to the cars transportation to IOWA, finding an apartment, plus the whole packing for two for 8 months thing! Wow, that was a particularly stressfull year. They waited until the last day-last cut- to inform David he would not be traveling with the team to Chicago, but returning to AAA in Iowa! That year he made the cut from about 100 or so, down to 27, and only 25 can make the team! Can you just picture me in a hotel room with a dog and cat, waiting to find out where we will be going for the year so I can make arrangments. Hopeing for Chicago, I get a phone call from David to plan for Iowa, yet again! He is crushed and there is nothing I can do, but pack! I cried my eyes out while packing. Anyhoo, packing, I can handle! I have been packing the house for some time now and have everything grouped with like items. This may take a little extra time, but it makes for such ease when the time come for unpacking.




Painting-Did I mention that EVERYTHING needs painting! I mean EVERYTHING! All ceiling, all trim, all cabinets-everything. Exterior too, but lets not go there yet! We are very fortunate that my other brother-in-law, Gavin, owns a small environmentally friendly paint company, Mythic Paint!
We look forward to painting our homes interior with the super paint! Mythic Paint is a NO VOC paint company that got its start at the University of Southern Mississippi. It is safe for people, pets and the earth! There is very little odor, great coverage, and an endless supply of colors. This is because Mythic can match any paint color from any line. Lets say you love the color of a Ben Moore paint in your Pottery Barn catalog, but do not love its toxicity, well you are in luck because Mythic can match it! This is one of the many great features of this earth friendly paint! Lets get to painting people- I know I am!

Check out their website http://www.mythicpaint.com/


Daily, I see the home making progress, due in large part to our wonderful families, and we look forward to officially moving in!

ps- floors are finished and looking GREAT. I'll post more pictures soon!

You are doing WHAT?

As the hardwoods were being beautified, that old linoleum in the bathroom started bothering me even more! So the other night I just started Pulling it up! This is a trick I learned from my mother. When I was younger we had this wallpaper in the playroom that she wanted to get rid of. It kept getting put on the back burner until finally one day, she grabbed a little tag that had come Away from the wall, and began ripping. Needless to say, my dad got on the task really quickly and she had a wallpaper free playroom with a fresh coat of paint!

Now that linoleum is up, what will I do...hummm....

I am a step ahead of you. I have painted the wood floor! Yes, that is right, I painted the bathroom floor! My husband thought I was crazy for this one! But I think I can turn

him around with a great result and just a little cash! I primed the wood floor first,

then painted it a creamy white.

Next comes the creative part!

THen I will let it dry then hit it up with a couple coats of poly!

TAh Dah! This will get us by until
we really tackle this bathroom! How do you think it turned out?

Side note-the shower curtain needed to be larger than normal, so I grabbed some burplap, added a little fringe to dress it up and attached some dark brown hooks! I love the way this turned out! Goes well with the painted floor I think!

Rewiring, check! Floors, in process!

Our 1949 fixer-upper is in Valley, Alabama, or an area better known by the locals as Langdale. The home is on a great quiet street that my mother actually grew up on. As the old saying goes, buy the worst house on the best street possible....well, that is exactly what we did!This house really needs a lot of work, but the street and location are simply perfect for us.

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I know the original owner, so we were able to score a lot of great old photos of the home. It was one of the first homes built in the subdivision and in it's day it was a looker! We hope to bring it back to it's former glory, with a few updates.

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We have already begun this updating process. The first on our list....the wiring! Wow! We have a few holes in the walls and ceilings, but we did a complete rewire with new light fixtures inside and out! After seeing the old brittle wiring, I am amazed there was never a fire! Yikes! Well, with one big task behind us, we have already moved on to the next, the floors!

Before: sellers furniture and old carpet!

I think this will make a huge difference in the home. There was dirty old carpet down and when we pulled it up it exposed beautiful oak hardwoods. Well, they were not quite beautiful...But they are well on there way! They have been sanded and the first coat of poly is down. Two more to go!

After: clean canvas to start working with

Who are we and what were we thinking....

Typically one would think those buying a fixer upper are the D*I*Y types. We on the other hand are NOT! I thought we would document as we fumble through this process of fixing up our 1949 charmer. So if we are not DIYers, then who are we? I am glad you asked!

We are Meredith and David Kelton! We will be celebrating 6 years of marraige this December. We grew up minutes from each other in a small town on the Chattahoochee River. He was on one side of the river inGeorgia, while I was on the other in Alabama. We knew each other in High School, but it was not until we were older that we began dating.

David is begining his first season as the assistant baseball coach at Lagrange College. He previously played pro baseball for 9 years(8 years with the Chicago Cubs, 1 year with the Atlanta Braves). When his playing days came to an end, we sold our dream home in Birmingham, Alabama and headed back to our home town. After baseball took us all over the world, it is nice to be back close to our families.