Earlier than & After Home Images: 14 Months In!

Observe: This submit was born from an up to date Earlier than & After web page that we heard folks have been having hassle discovering (because it wasn’t on the high of our weblog feed). So right here it’s, ceaselessly immortalized as a chronological submit. And now, since we’ll proceed to replace our Earlier than & After web page over time, we’ve this submit frozen in time, which is sweet to look again on. Want we had performed it round 6 months in and on the 12 months mark too.

We downsized to this 1,400 sq. foot home in Northwest Florida on Might of 2020 after a quick, livid, and long-distance three-month renovation. You possibly can learn extra about how we discovered ourselves craving a pared-down life-style for our household right here and right here (that final one is a extremely good synopsis of what led us to this actual spot). However onward to the earlier than & after footage!

NOTE: We created this Store Our Home web page that can assist you seek out any furnishings/equipment that you just see in our home, together with our paint colours.

The Exterior

We stored the entire similar cedar siding, black steel home windows, exterior doorways, and steel roofing…

… however up to date the decking, railings, entrance steps, and gave all the things a recent coat of white paint! You possibly can see this submit for extra images & particulars on the outside renovation.

Then we began layering in all of the tropical landscaping and it developed to this. We have to take extra images and do an up to date weblog submit quickly.

Right here’s the aspect of the home because it seemed after we purchased it again in Feb of 2020:

And right here it’s all painted, with new horizontal railings on that second-floor deck. Eradicating the steeply pitched steps to the higher deck immediately made us really feel safer (somebody exterior with the ability to entry our second-floor home windows & doorways simply felt off). And even small modifications like eradicating the guard rails that lower by way of these extensive steps that you just see (whereas sustaining the railings on the surface ends) made a giant distinction too!

There’s extra that we did to this space (fences, ferns, and a firepit – oh my!) however let’s pop inside for a second and head again exterior once more in a while within the tour.

The Kitchen

The kitchen concerned some giant renovations and a few small tasks to get it to its present state. That is what we have been beginning with:

We repaired the flooring, eliminated the soffit, added further lighting, and changed the drywall (goodbye popcorn ceiling!). You possibly can learn extra about these tasks in this submit and this submit.

We steadily up to date the room in just a few reasonably priced methods, like hanging new lighting & DIY cabinets and portray the cupboards (it’s also possible to see a full tour of how our kitchen is organized). Then we scored an superior deal on secondhand home equipment & tweaked the room’s format and later added an Ikea pantry that we inbuilt across the fridge, which we moved to the other wall (weblog submit about that coming quickly!).

By shifting the fridge to the opposite aspect of the room, you possibly can really see that aspect window now! It was once virtually totally blocked from this vantage level by the fridge (scroll again up just a few images to see what I imply). Plus we gained a whole pantry stuffed with storage round our newly relocated fridge. Win-win!

In an effort to get pleasure from a snug little sitting space on this aspect of the room, we closed off that extensive doorway that you just see under. You possibly can nonetheless enter that room by way of the door subsequent to the loveseat within the subsequent picture (it’s our bed room – in order that extra-wide doorway wasn’t mandatory). You possibly can learn extra in regards to the sitting space right here & we’re planning an up to date submit all in regards to the kitchen now that we added the pantry, so keep tuned.

This room is deceptively giant, so together with having room for an eat-in kitchen desk, we love that we gained this informal bonus hangout spot (since our huge household room with the TV is upstairs, we have a tendency to assemble in right here when somebody’s cooking or when pals drop in for a espresso or a drink). It’s additionally nice to have when somebody desires to hang around or learn with out listening to the TV upstairs). Having two frequent areas in the home that aren’t open to one another (which means that the sound doesn’t journey between them very a lot and one child can do homework whereas the opposite watches cartoons or does a giant half venture) is vital to feeling like we’re dwelling giant in a smaller footprint. If we had one bigger adjoined area as our solely shared space in the home, we’d really feel much more cramped & on high of one another, I feel!

The Stairs

The steps that result in our upstairs household room and second-floor deck had cool vertical planking and acquired a number of pure gentle due to a window above them within the household room. However the wooden treads had some end points after we had them redone, and it didn’t match our wooden flooring downstairs (extra on that right here).

We ended up including a very nice textured runner (and portray the treads to resolve the end problem), which provides our canine Burger some much-needed traction. It’s an indoor/out of doors rug, so it’s tremendous sturdy (extra on that right here). Don’t thoughts this older shot of the kitchen earlier than we added the pantry – we’ll take an up to date picture ultimately…

The Household Room

The one room upstairs is this massive multi-purpose room that we use as a TV/film room, residence workplace, and children’ crafting space (due to the pandemic it was a virtual-learning spot too). It’s by far the biggest room in our home (two 8 x 10 rugs can slot in right here with out touching!) so it’s superior to all get to get pleasure from it – and for it to carry out so many capabilities for our household. Right here’s the way it seemed after we purchased the home. Observe that scummy mildew alongside the highest of the ceiling…

And right here it’s extra lately after some easy ground refinishing and a recent coat of paint (these huge home windows and funky paneling have been already there!). You possibly can see extra of this room on this submit – and see just a few updates we later added on this submit. We’ve additionally made another modifications up there, so we’ll should take extra images and a video for an up to date submit.

Right here’s the opposite half of the room because it seemed after we purchased the home. It was pouring rain after we took this image, therefore it being so darkish (and people foggy home windows):

Right here it’s extra lately from the identical angle. That is such a superb demonstration of how including furnishings might help a lot with capturing a room’s scale! Doesn’t the room look half as extensive within the earlier than shot above? And it seems to solely have a sliver of area between the home windows on the right-hand wall when there’s actually over 70″ for a large bookshelf with 4 spacious drawers. It’s wild!

The Higher Deck

Proper exterior the lounge is a big upstairs deck that all of us use as an extension of our dwelling space. It was massively improved by changing the rotting deck, railings, and rickety pergola.

That is what the deck appears like now, due to the magic of latest decking, railings, nixing that chimney that popped up in the course of the place our huge 8-person desk now lives, and a complete lot of white paint. We’ve additionally added some extra seating, a eating space, and a few string lights to make this certainly one of our favourite hangout spots! You possibly can learn all about the small print of this area proper right here.

One other enjoyable earlier than & after shot of this upstairs deck is that this one. I can’t let you know how significantly better it’s with out that vast chimney jutting by way of the deck (after we purchased the home it was majorly leaking down into the bed room under).

And right here’s the after shot from that vantage level now. That is certainly one of our favourite areas in the entire home – for sharing pizza with pals or having a household sport evening up within the bushes. It’s actually cozy and makes our home really feel a lot larger due to this enormous out of doors room.

Our Bed room

Right here is our bed room because it seemed after we purchased the home. This home solely had one bed room with an precise door that you may shut after we purchased it (it was initially listed as a one bed room, one lavatory!), so we transformed this lovely light-filled area into our bed room by closing a big further doorway that led to the kitchen.

We refinished the flooring, gave it some recent paint, after which it simply took some snug issues like curtains, furnishings, and a comfy rug to make this really feel like a welcoming retreat.

Right here’s a earlier than and after view of the mattress wall, because it’s laborious to see within the picture above…

We added much more storage to the room and rearranged issues and closed off 2 of the 8 exterior doorways (sure we actually had that many doorways in right here, which is why the 2 on the mattress wall within the earlier than image above are actually gone – however the room continues to be flooded with gentle). We additionally added a closet (storage, wonderful storage!) which you’ll be able to examine right here. That replace actually was a game-changer!

Now we have eventual plans to create an hooked up lavatory in an present underutilized nook of the room (you possibly can learn extra about that plan right here). Sharing a toilet hasn’t been almost as unhealthy as we anticipated – so we’re not in any rush.

Right here’s one other earlier than shot of our bed room again after we purchased the home:

Right here’s the identical angle now. It truly is a life hack to have a puzzle desk by the hearth if there’s randomly room in your bed room. It retains the kitchen desk clear for meals – and gives a enjoyable spot to take a seat and decompress each time the temper strikes (John will be discovered right here much more than I ever anticipated. He has change into a real puzzle lover).

Talking of the hearth, we up to date ours and shared these particulars in this submit and this submit. It’s such a comfy characteristic to have in a bed room.

*And now for a long-winded bedroom-related aspect observe, as a result of the most typical query we get about our home is that if we ever thought of making the big upstairs household room into our bed room. The brief reply is that we did, however ended up nixing it for a variety of causes:

• 1) all of us choose to sleep on the identical ground
• 2) that room upstairs is sort of twice as huge (it’s the one greatest room in our home!), and we’d a lot fairly share it than take all of it for ourselves
• 3) entertaining a bunch of individuals on the massive upstairs deck would imply everybody must stroll by way of our bed room to entry it
• 4) there’s no plumbing upstairs, so including an ensuite lavatory could be a lot pricier than the one we’ve deliberate for downstairs
• 5) we already talked about this, nevertheless it bears repeating for anybody who’s seeking to downsize & worries they’ll really feel too cramped. We’ve realized that it’s SO HELPFUL in a smaller residence if there are two frequent areas that aren’t proper subsequent to one another (somebody can watch a film upstairs or do a zoom name for work whereas another person is downstairs on the kitchen desk working undisturbed or studying within the sitting space). We’ve additionally discovered that when our pals & their youngsters drop in, the youngsters all run upstairs to play & we sit downstairs within the sitting space and chat & have drinks or a snack.

You could find extra format ideas for a small home (& different normal downsizing data) proper right here on this submit. Okay, however on with the tour!

The Lavatory

Our home solely has one lavatory – and it didn’t even operate after we purchased it! The sink and self-importance had been torn out, there have been leaks festering within the partitions behind the drywall and the tile, and the bathroom couldn’t even be flushed because of the absence of a sewer line. Right here’s what it seemed like again then:

Earlier than we moved in, we had mainly all the things changed (apart from the window!) to make this area practical. I gotta say, as a lot as we just like the enjoyable ground tile, and the cheerful equipment, a bathroom that flushes actually is the very best a part of any lavatory. You possibly can see extra of the room on this submit.

The Laundry Closet

We transformed a (weirdly double-sided) closet proper off the entrance door right into a laundry closet, which really reminds us a number of the laundry nook that we had in our very first home.

Along with the brand new home equipment, we constructed some good deep cabinets and added a number of hooks to make it further hardworking.

Our Daughter’s Bed room

A few of our favourite transformations on this home are our youngsters’ bedrooms, since we have been in a position to vault the ceilings in each rooms – making these areas really feel a lot larger and brighter than they used to really feel.

Yup, this is identical room, from the identical angle. Loopy the distinction that ceiling change made, proper? It wasn’t structural (the roof already had that slope, so we basically eliminated a drop drywall ceiling, added insulation, and simply adopted the slope of the roof with the planked ceiling). You possibly can click on right here to see extra images (and get a DIY channel headboard tutorial). Now we have since modified up the aspect tables and added a desk so we’ll should share up to date images quickly.

You can too see this room particularly had a really colourful previous…

… which we embraced by hand-painting a big mural on the newly vaulted wall throughout from our daughter’s mattress.

Our Son’s Room

We have been additionally in a position to vault the ceilings in our son’s room to comply with the slope of the roof, in addition to including extra planking and beams to the ceiling, which provides character and a few good dimension. Right here’s the earlier than:

And right here’s what it appears like nowadays:

This tremendous cozy room is certainly one of our youngsters’ favourite spots to hang around collectively (ever since the seaside home bunk room they’ve liked quiet time collectively in a small area). We constructed within the mattress by making a easy DIY wraparound headboard, which they hang around on form of like a daybed.

Right here’s one other earlier than shot that was taken with the digicam swung extra in the direction of the correct wall of the room:

And right here’s the identical angle of the room because it appears now:

Each inch issues in smaller areas like this, so the built-in bookshelf we made is actually practical too. That foot or so of ground area alongside that wall works a lot more durable for us now! You can too see that we added some horizontal planking alongside that aspect wall and painted it a bunch of enjoyable colours. You possibly can see how we did that complete venture proper right here. Now we have additionally since added customized cabinets to the closet and inbuilt a desk – so once more, we’ve to shoot new images and share an up to date submit quickly (new ingesting sport ever time I say that on this submit…).

The Outside Bathe

We weren’t fairly positive what to make of this area after we purchased the home as a result of it felt fairly grody with a lot grime occurring…

… however after some stress washing, resealing the cedar with teak oil, and including lights, vegetation, and new bathe fixtures, it has really was certainly one of our favourite areas. The entire household prefers this bathe to our indoor one! You possibly can see extra of it on this submit and we simply stored including extra vegetation from there (so that you’ll see that it’s much more lush on this up to date picture under):

Whereas we’re speaking in regards to the out of doors bathe, the world that results in it’s form of like a coated aspect porch, and that is what it began out trying like.

It has come a LONG WAY, due to eradicating the mildewed screening round it, changing the rotten ground, rebuilding the railing with a contemporary horizontal design (just like the one we added up on the second ground deck) and a complete lot of paint. And for anybody questioning what our secret is to avoiding mosquitoes with out screens – it’s that ceiling fan we added! They hate flying into shifting air, so after we’re on the market we flip it on they usually don’t trouble us. You possibly can learn extra about our aspect porch replace and how we constructed the hanging daybed.

We even have a coated porch on the opposite aspect of the home, which seemed like this after we purchased the home:

Now appears like this, due to a number of paint and a dangling swing that each youngsters like to lounge on (okay, us too). You possibly can learn extra about this area right here.

We additionally added a fence to create extra of a personal courtyard and made a comfy little firepit zone from a previously unused space that felt uncovered to the road. That is the earlier than:

And right here’s what it appears like now that there’s a fence to outline that space and make a pleasant little non-public courtyard:

Right here’s one other angle from earlier than we painted the home, redid the railings, and added the fence to create this new out of doors area of ours.

It used to simply be an space the place we by no means spent any time, and now it will get a lot use. We are able to entry this by way of a gate within the fence close to our entrance porch, or from the wall of glass doorways in our bed room, so it’s very nice to hang around at evening and make s’mores with the youngsters – or sit exterior with a chilly beverage after they’re tucked into mattress.

And in certainly one of our longest-running updates thus far (it took a couple of 12 months from after we utilized for the allow to completion!), we additionally added a pool to this previously weed-riddled a part of our yard. Right here’s the very best earlier than image I can discover, which was taken proper after we added that fence on the correct, however earlier than we painted something:

And right here’s what it appears like now that we painted all of the fences to match and added a pool with a retaining wall and three fountains that sound higher than any white noise machine we’ve ever had (it’s so soothing!). We additionally added a pool deck with some spots to lounge and planted a number of leafy landscaping that’ll fill in a bunch over the following few years. Oh and including some extra huge vegetation to that enormous mattress behind the retaining wall is subsequent on the checklist:

In order that’s our progress thus far on this home, a couple of 12 months and some months into dwelling right here. We are able to’t wait to take some up to date images and share the opposite ways in which this home evolves for our household over time. Within the meantime, you possibly can try these associated pages for much more data, particulars, venture tutorials, and so on:

P.S. And to see all the makeover of our home in chronological order, this class has you coated!