The Wired House Rehab

Finally.  You'd think getting our hands on a great rehab would be easy...but it wasn't.  Several offers were made before we came across this dated beauty.  The ugly kind of beautiful.  That's a thing, right?  This baby was the epicenter for being wired.  I think every room had a phone jack, cable cord through the base board, and internet hookup (plus a few extra UWH- unidentified wire hookups).  It was wired.

We went back and forth on just how much updating we should do, and between Jason's perfectionism and my subborn vision...well...let's show you what happened!

Exterior:  We didn't go crazy, but a little love went a long way!  We cleared out that funky bush...tree...thing that was planted directly underneath the power line.  Seriously, who thinks that is the ideal place to plant a tree/bush?  We painted the shutters and front deck and replaced the front door.



























The kitchen was one of my biggest undertakings of all that we did.  We painted the upper cabinets white, and the lowers a dark gray, installed a subway tile backsplash, replaced the appliances and included a built in microwave (which required us to tear out and install new cabinets above the range to allow enough clearance between the microwave and the range), installed new countertops, new sink, new faucet, new garbage disposal, and of course, the hardware.  Oh, did I forget painting walls and replacing the light fixtures?  Yeah, those things too.  BUT...it looks like the kind of place I would want to cook now!


I set up shop in the garage to prime the cabinet doors before painting.  I chose to spray the doors, but had to sand down drip marks or spots from the times the sprayer spit.  I opted for Zinsser Cover Stain Interior Oil Primer.  I chose it because I didn't want the wood to bleed through, and based on my test piece, discovered it worked better than Kilz (which I've read is better for sheetrock and walls).  I wouldn't use an oil based primer again, particularly with my sprayer, but I would use one of Zinsser's other primers next time.  

For the top coat I used Valspar Cabinet Enamel.  I bought a gallon of white and a gallon of gray.  It may have been costly and overzealous of me to buy that much...but I didn't want to have to go back and buy more (especially when the cost of 2 quarts is the same as 1 gallon).  Sure it would've been far less expensive to paint them all the same color...but that whole stubborn thing I struggle with...
In short, I didn't need that much at all.  Pros to Valspar Cabinet Enamel: it's forgiving and doesn't show brush marks, a little goes a long way, it covers well, cleans up easily, and I liked how well it hardened.  Cons: it's kind of watery so it drips and will leave drip marks if you don't go back and check on each section shortly after painting it, and it didn't hide the wood grain quite as much as I hoped.  Overall, I was happy with how they turned out, and would use this again (granted I won't be able to tell you how well it wears)!

The hardwood floors were missing a section, so we weighed the options of tearing them out and replacing with pergo or finding someone who could match and replace the missing section as well as sand them down and stain them.  After getting a few quotes from contractors we opted to go that route.  It was expensive, but less expensive than replacing them and less work...for us.  They stained them Dark Walnut and I love how they turned out!




The bathrooms.  By far one of the most dramatic changes.  Of couse we repainted the walls, but we also changed out the light fixtures, replaced the countertops (using the former bases- and naturally doubling down on my excess of cabinet paint I painted them using the kitchen cabinet leftovers), replaced the faucet, and hardware.

The detail around the mirror was a quick build for Jason (see Tag & Tibby's how to here for details on how to build it yourself), which I finished (using Cherished Blisses method which you can find here).   The master bathroom had an odd sized countertop which the in store specialist quoted around $350 to specail order.  I went home and found that the same store had options online for half the price!  It took about 2 weeks to get in, but was worth the wait!

Mission accomplished!  I got the look I was aiming for in the bathrooms and without spending a fortune!





As for my favorite element in this wired rehab:  it was the front porch.  Jason rocked this project!  We special ordered tile bricks from Lowe's and used them to cover a bland, ugly porch and give it a little personality.  It actually gave it A LOT of personality.  It was a time intensive project, and the brick tiles aren't cheap...but it certainly sets it apart!







Tell me what you think!  And please, let me know if you have any questions, or want me to go into further detail!

Until next time...happy rehabbing!


XO,
Jackie E






"After" photos credit:  Alishia Potter of The Potter's Hand Photography