House Front Reno - Front Doors

Friday, August 15, 2014

BEFORE Photos of the front of my house and my double front doors. 

In this photo you can see the ugly red clay tiles in the under cover front porch (is it a porch?)

Here are some ideas for replacing our front doors - the black ones are my favourite right now.

House Front Reno Ideas - Stone Work & Columns

Thursday, August 14, 2014

I get a lot of ideas from the internet - particularly HOUZZ and PINTEREST.  

It's amazing what you can find when you are searching for inspiration.  

If you have other site suggestions please share them in the comments.

Some BEFORE Photos of our house front with the red clay brick facing.

I'd like to replace the brick with natural stone like we used in the backyard reno years ago.

Below are some photos of the back of our house.

I'd like the front of the house to have the same rock.  

In this photo it was used under the siding to cover the house foundation

This is Basalt rock and we used it to make a low level wall that wraps around the patio and acts as a fireplace hearth in the corner.  

It's great as extra seating when needed.

Here are some ideas I've found to replace the front brick with stone and replace the arches with columns.
I'd also like to replace the aggregate rock steps and planter.

House Front - BEFORE Photos

August 2014

Next year (2015) we are going to focus on updating and improving the front of our house.

Here are some Before photos

Our house is a typical 2 storey, wood sided house with some added red clay brick accents - fireplace and facing.

We have arches and clay tile on the front entrance porch.

There are steel double doors which we paint whenever we paint the exterior of the house.

Currently the paint is BM Raccoon Fur with a bright white trim.

The doors are painted BM Sundried Tomato.

Next Reno - Negotiations have begun...

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

My DH and I like to do a house reno every other year.  Schedule and Budget permitting of course.

We've been in our house 16 years now and we've done a lot.  But we still have a huge list of things that "need" to get done and also stuff we'd "like" done

So every year, in the spring, we sit down and prioritize the list.

Here's our WISH LIST (in no particular order):

Kitchen - Cabinets and countertops
Master Bath - total gut
Laundry Room - total gut
Outside Front - Landscaping
Paint the Exterior
Replace Windows - not all just 3 large ones on front of house
Outside Backyard (was done 10 years ago but needs some minor work)
Garage Organization - finish walls and install shelving/storage
Misc Repairs and Organization throughout house (on going)

I'm sure it looks familiar to a lot of you!

My Wish....

This year I really wanted to put in a putting green in our backyard.  I thought it would be a fun thing to have for entertaining and we still have a teenage boy at home who is an avid golfer.
We don't have a sprinkler system (no real need for it here in the rainy west coast) and we don't water our grass so every year around this time (July/August) the grass dies and looks awful.
The artificial turf and green sounded like a perfect plan - and that reno would be easy and not disruptive to family life.

It seemed like it was going to happen until the quotes came in and we realized that it was more than we thought and there were other things on the list that should be done first.

DHs Wish...

DH really wanted to do the laundry room/wine storage (or as he calls it "wine cave with laundry").  He has a lot of wine and wanted something "nicer" and more organized to store it.

Results....

After comparing quotes on both projects we decided to pitch the putting green and use the money to redo the laundry room. In the end the costs were almost the same!

That's how the laundry room reno came about.  It's still not done, but should be by the end of next week, so I'll post the completed wine side then.

Our current outstanding WISH LIST was re-prioritized and we also negotiated the next 2 years reno's - House Front (2015) and then Kitchen & Master Bath (2016).

Next year we're going to "try" and do the front of the house.  This will address some problem areas that need repair and add much needed curb appeal.

This is what's coming up for next year's reno -
Replace 3 windows
Paint and repair wood siding
Paint and repair wood trim and fascia
Remove red clay brick from front, arches (yes I have arches) and red clay floor tile porch.
Replace red clay brick front with gray stone (basalt like in backyard)
Replace red clay brick arches with stone and wood posts
Replace red clay floor tile with slate or another natural of "faux" stone tile
Replace front doors (double doors)

I'm going to start sharing my ideas and inspiration here and I'd love any feedback or tips you might have!

Laundry Room Reno ALMOST Done!

Thursday, August 7, 2014

My laundry room is almost done.  The laundry side is now finished and functional.

The wine side is still in a holding position - we are waiting for the racks and fridge to be installed.

 It would be done except DH could not imagine what he wanted there until the room was demo'd.

So we had to wait from that first week of demo - and after I made him consult with an expert - for the wine racks to be made and shipped.

The tentative install date is now set for Friday, August 21.  Unless there is another delay....

Here are some photos of the completed laundry side.

You might notice that the paint is NOT BM Revere Pewter as I had earlier posted.

I had to make a switch to BM Bleeker Beige 

because the room ended up being too "warm" for the cool Revere Pewter paint colour.

Some of the fun things I did with this reno were:

Converted an unused closet into a pantry just outside the laundry room

Kept the kids growth chart - on the inside door frame of the laundry room

Used drink dispensers for my laundry detergent and softener (that's my lost sock basket on the right)

Now we just have to wait for the wine side to be done...

I'll post more pics when its all done!