Room with a view

The framers are finished with one room in our new home, the study for the master. I must say this space has been transformed. It started out as a closet(more of where that space moved to later) and has now made it into a wonderful room with the best view. We will be spending the majority of our time in this room. Of course I can see it totally finished in my mind every time I walk in the room. It was a dark dungeon of a space, not sure I would have enjoyed it as a closet either
But the window spaces make a huge difference and I can't wait to see it all finished.
Here are some before and after pictures for a better prospective.

This looking into the closet with one door on either side.

This is the framed pocket doors after the walls were removed looking into the study, no windows yet. Still dark and unattractive.

This is with the windows on two of the sides. The three outside walls have windows on them.

You can see the view, but I did not do a great job of showing you the view outside the window. We have a pool that is in good shape and we can now see it and hear the water feature.
Hope you all can enjoy the view!

Door to spark the imagination

Today I ventured into a salvage warehouse, be still my heart and checkbook. They have lots of doors, cabinets, shutters, sinks, drawer hardware, lights, everything... you name it they have it. I was in complete love of all things old.
There were cabinets in electric blue and mint green from the 50's. Purple sinks from the 80's and bathtubs from the 20's and 30's. But I squealed with delight when we found a door we might use for the outside of the Laundry room. It is solid wood and beautiful with four small windows. Hope she fits and she is still there after I talk to framer and carpenter.


This is the outside of the door, the brown paint makes it look more like a cottage door and don't you want to peek through those adorable windows. Keep your fingers crossed it is there when I go to retrieve it.

This is the inside of the door, the white makes it look more modern. We are going to change the paint on the door itself to match the trim. But I think it would go nicely with the rest of our Hathaway Home.

Framing and change in perspective

Framing is well underway on Hathaway, it is changing daily. It is so cool to see a plan come together. The house itself was nice but needed to be tweaked a bit for us as a family. Now with it being gutted more opportunities have been encompassed and we are moving forward quite quickly. I mean we waited forever to get started and now the ball is rolling and we are enjoying the ride.
Here are few photos of the framing and changes that are taking place in our new home.

This is the framing of the new pocketdoors into what is going to be the study/office off of the master bedroom. I will upload another picture of this space with the new windows frames. Spectacular views.

This is the framing for the new master shower.

This is standing in the new doorway of the new master bath looking into the master shower. The door to the left of the shower is leading into our new master closet. Yippee!









But I do have to admit with all the old sheetrock and wallboard gone, the new lumber smells heavenly.

The Demo

Well, we started with the demo only going by our plans drawn by our architect. Meaning we only thought we were moving a couple of non load bearing walls and putting in new bathrooms and new kitchen.
But it was not to be so.... At the last minute the electrician found we have cloth covered wire from the 1940's and the whole house needs new wiring. So a little bit of demo turned into three dumpsters worth of garbage. Here are a couple of before and afters of the same rooms but slightly different views. I will share more once I sort them out.
For your viewing pleasure. (ha ha)

Master bedroom fireplace before. Loved, loved, loved those built-ins. Not to be saved,they were gutted and thrown away. They added a lot of character to the room.

Master bedroom fireplace after gutting. Looks like new mantel and built-ins are in order.

Kitchen bay window area before. Looks cute and cottage like, but who knew what was underneath? (we do now)

Kitchen window bay area after gutting and another angle. Notice all the dark spots that is wood rot and water damage and not sure what other kind of damage but damage none the less.






Our super on the job was walking through the kitchen yesterday and one leg went straight through the floor. Two huge cuts and a few choice words were heard. ( I mean clean choice words too!)
So I think we are in for more than we bargained for.

A closer look

Well, the outside of the house did not scare me off. The broken shutters, overgrown ivy, the cracked paint, horrible choice of light fixtures,the sagging roof.

I am not easily put off by those things.
Inside was not much better I must confess.

Really, did I think this place could be our home.....
Absolutely! I love the work, the sweat (especially this summer in TEXAS), the planning, the waiting and the RESULT!
Even though this place looked like it was going to fall down (more about that little nugget later), it made me happy. The feeling of it needing love and attention appealed to me. I to a fault, can see in my minds eye how it should look. And then I have to brought down to reality with the logistics of how all that is going to occur. But we took the plunge and are in the weeds with demo, AC guys, framers,central vacuum people, plummers, landscape people. You name we have gotten a bid from them.
So here we go.....

A House, a dream and lots of hard work

It all started with a casual glance at the real estate section. You know people say a picture is worth a thousand words... Not sure what this picture said.

Great bones? Diamond in the rough? How much time do you have? Seriously?