I’ve mentioned our dear, sweet little old house several times before on here. But in case you’ve missed it, here’s the lowdown:
We live in an old farmhouse that’s over 100 years old. It belonged to my great-grandparents. When we started the remodeling process, we imagined we’d slap a couple of coats of paint on the wood-paneled walls and everything would be just fine. What we didn’t see behind those walls was a century’s worth of termite damage, meaning that the majority of the wood in the house was destroyed.
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| My great-grandparents and my granddad (as a baby) on the front porch of our little old house. |
The back bedroom (which is our bedroom) had been shut off from the rest of the house. It was being used as a storage shed. It had dirt floors, y’all. Literally, underneath the carpet was a dirt floor. Once we started the demolition in that room, we began to see just how bad of shape the rest of the house was in. We hired a dozer to come and dig the dirt away from the house. Years of erosion and a poor guttering system had caused mud and dirt to build up around the house, which was keeping the house damp and creating a termite paradise. The dozer came to work and told us that we should honestly just burn the house down and start from scratch. He was the first of MANY people to tell us that. Others told us we were just plain crazy, and after you see the pictures, I’m sure you will too………..
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| As we started ‘digging’ out around our bedroom and the bathroom Notice the rotting floor beneath the tub on the right. |
With the help of a single handyman and my family, we were able to get the house into a livable condition in 6 months. We gutted the entire house, except for the kitchen. It was a later addition to the house, so it was in the best condition. We essentially rebuilt the house from the inside. The house had asbestos shingles on the outside, so we did all of the work from the inside, and then added siding to the outside to ‘sandwich’ the shingles.
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| Asbestos shingles and our ‘non-existent’ bedroom window. |
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| Our ‘mansion on the hill’ as we begin remodeling. |
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| Bathroom before. |
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| The old tub. Yummy. |
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| Living room before. Wood panel paradise. |
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| PB’s nursery before. Check out the unlevel floor. |
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| Our bedroom. Yep. |
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| The kitchen before. |
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| The ‘study’ area and bathroom. |
We tried to do the remodel as budget friendly as possible. We added beadboard to the walls instead of drywall (except in the bathroom). We also used as many second-hand materials as we could, including using salt-treated wood from an old, demolished playground. We used pergo flooring, which looks like hardwood floors, but is cheaper. It has proved to be incredibly durable for us. We don’t have a central air unit, so instead we use gas logs for heat and window units for air. We added more insulation, a new roof, ceiling fans, and new siding, which helps regulate the temperature and keeps the house surprisingly comfortable.
What about y’all? Have you tackled any remodeling projects lately? Did people call you crazy, too? Or are we really just plain crazy?
‘After’ pictures to come tomorrow! Stay tuned 🙂
Have a blessed Tuesday 🙂
