Hubby's Office Plans

With new (old) floors upstairs, that means the 3 rooms affected will also be getting new looks.  The bedroom's transformation will be minor with just a new rug and maybe new night stands and lamps, but Hubby's office and my office will both get pretty drastic changes.  Neither office got too much design, planning, or thought previously. Hubby's office was regrettably painted lime green (when we first got the house and were in desperate need of some color in the house....) and it inherited Clifford the big red chair when it got ousted from the living room by my reupholstered ikat chair.  Hubby loves that big chair.  I'd love it in another fabric.

Basically, I hate to admit, Hubby's office was where all the bad design decisions in the house went to die.  Out-dated messy gallery wall, clashing colors, ikea desk left over from my bachelorette pad....  Bad designer/wifey.  Hubby deserves better than that.

I'm deciding to finally be a good designer/wifey on this room and take my own taste out of it.  Clifford stays despite my best efforts.  Hubby's finally getting the dark, traditional office he's always wanted.  Complete with oriental-style rug and antique (craigslisted) desk.  The base layer is going to be very traditional.

Color: Behr Marquee Mossy Bench; Anya Chair; Task 1 Floor Lamp; Amida Rug

Hubby would die happy if I let him live in this room (with the addition of his computer of course):

image via Architecturaldesigns.com

It's a little too buttoned up for me.  Luckily, however, Hubby's not as buttoned up as he thinks and there will be a heavy dose of cheekiness in his office.

The fun and funkiness will come in primarily through art and accessories.  You can't have too serious of a room when you have this hanging on the wall, right?

hehe.  I'm really looking forward to styling in here (ya know, once we move the dresser and night stands back into the bedroom).  Mixing traditional paintings from Hubby's travels with a crazy anthropomorphic painting of our cats along with some fun/geeky decor which includes Optimus Prime.  This is going to be one serious room that doesn't take itself seriously at all.

I can't wait to share my office plans with you Wednesday!

Welcoming Back Character

I could never live in a house while it's being flipped.  I know some people do it and it's a great way to save money, but Hubby and I are too much creatures of habit.  With our entire 500sf second floor displaced to get the floors refinished, our routines are severely outta whack. But OMG the floors kind of look amazing now. Once I pulled up the carpet, pad, and plywood, the floors were looking a bit worse for wear and I wasn't sure if they were salvageable.  Big gaps, nails everywhere....

But that's why I called in the pros for this part and didn't attempt a DIY.

It would be creepy if I hugged the floors, right?

Hubby's office, my office, and the majority of the hallway are sanded, patched, and shiny and newly refinished.  We were lucky enough to be able to patch with old salvaged pine pieces from our realtor's own antique floor (thanks Amy!!) and you can barely tell!

Hubba hubba, am I right?  Perfect color and patina.  We had him darken the floor just a bit with a Golden Oak stain and it was totally the right move.

Starting today we'll be able to start emptying out the bedroom onto these floors so I can pull up the carpet and plywood and do the same in there.  Sadly, though, that means we'll be a little off kilter for the next week or so too, but at least once the floor is done, it'll be done!

Did I mention the stair treads are getting refinished and the railing is getting an update too?  Hubby's still not sure why I'm insisting on this part, but the railing has bugged the bejeezus out of me for 4 years.  That orange, bowed wood, 90s railing feels so out of place to me in a house from 1900.

I'm still contemplating reusing the spindles, but certainly not the newel post.  Those are getting an update... or a regression, I guess would be more appropriate.

I found this pretty pair of antique newel posts at an architectural salvage warehouse in New Hampshire and I already feel like they belong in my house.  Right era, right level of detail, right scale.  Now I just need to patch them up and build up the bottoms a bit so they are the right height for a modern railing.  I never make projects easy on myself.

I can't wait for the stairs and floors to be set!  4 years of daydreaming about no more wall-to-wall carpet and a 'new' vintage-styled railing.  Hubby's understandably eager for me to start on the next flip, so I'll stop making new project for our own house.  I'm apparently an addict.  I can stop whenever I want..... I swear!

Officially Crazy

Well, after the roller-coaster of blood, sweat, and tears that was the last flip, Millie, I need a break.  Badly.  I think paint fumes or demo debris has gone to my head, because at this point, a 'break' apparently means a tiny 1000sf ranch to reno.  Yup. Next flip here I come!

Not nearly as much fun as an antique craftsman bungalow like Millie, but hopefully a really quick flip.  You all know by now how much antique houses mean to me, but they aren't fast projects.  Small flips like this, help to fund big flips like that.  We hope to find another cool old house to work on over the winter when we have more time to invest since no sane person wants to buy a house in New England in the middle of winter.  Until then, I get to go super creative on a boxy, prefab, on-slab ranch.

It's not officially ours yet, but we had the home inspection this morning and I met with the contractor and electrician to get pricing.  I'm actually going to (try to) take a different approach to this house (because, remember, I need a 'break') and try and be as hands-off as I can be.  Granted, me 'hands-off' still means some tiling, painting, woodworking, etc. BUT I'm going to hire out a LOT more than I have previously and see how it goes.

She's a pretty gal, ain't she?

And she's a paneling wonderland.  Every. single. wall...

Once the house is officially ours, hopefully by the end of the month, I'll show you the complete 'before' tour (complete with real pictures from a real camera as opposed to fake pictures from my broken phone).  The goal here is to have this house done in 2-3 months and get it sold ASAP.  Fingers crossed.

If I were you, I'd start taking bets on how bad I'll be at stepping back and letting other people do more work.  Not my forte.  I apologize ahead of time to all the contractors/subcontractors/installers/workers for my inevitable micro-management and hovering.