Our First Home & Renovation--Part 2

I thought I knew but I didn't REALLY know how crazy home renovation is.  First of all, you have to really put thought into every little thing that goes into the house.  Each door handle, each light fixture, each paint color, etc. Sometimes it is difficult to find affordable ideas. I think that the best advice I can give is to try and get as many things from Lowes and Home Depot (use all the coupons you can get from these places) but Overstock.com also has a great home repair section!  We bought our kitchen door handles, kitchen sink (great selection) and lots of furniture from there. They also provide lots of coupons!


In terms of larger things, my most fabulous buy was our front door which we bought at a local door showroom in downtown L.A.  We bought a mortise lock (which is one of my most favorite things on the house) online to search for the best price.


Although our contractor was a family member, it was still important for us to pick out every detail.  I recommend someone be present when they are installing big things like the floor, kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets, etc.  There are always last minute decisions that need to be made.


I would also recommend doing research on the process of whatever the project is before your contractor gets to work so you know what you're talking about.  I always end up looking at www.askthebuilder.com to see what he thinks is the best way.  I was just looking at his website to see how to properly install wood siding, which is our next project.


Here are some more pictures of our renovation...

Here is the bathroom before. It was ok but dingy. A lot of rusted faucets.

Here is the bathroom now! New wood cabinet/vanity and granite counter. We also replaced the mirror and light sconces. We got our granite from a warehouse so the granite in the kitchen is the same in the bathrooms which was cheaper.

This is the new tile floor. I love black and white.

We moved the toiled over. I don't have a before picture but the toilet used to be where the toilet paper holder is now. It made the space very tight between the cabinet and the tub so we moved it. It feels more open now.

Pretty nasty, right? This is what all the sinks were like before. In fact, many of the sinks in the house were not draining properly so we re-did all the plumbing as well and upgraded it to copper plumbing.

This is the sink now! So clean. I also like a higher faucet. For me, it is always about making things feel more open and free.

This is the old bathtub in our main bathroom/guest bathroom. Nice, huh? I don't think that anyone had used it in 30 years.

Here is the tub now! Also with new white subway tiles, new faucet.  It is a cast-iron tub so it will be around longer than we will.

This was a closet bath/half bath that is in our guest bedroom. It wasn't too bad but we wanted to create more space or symmetry in there. 

This is the closet bathroom now!  We put a new small bath cabinet and sink. We also brought the subway tiles up halfway (as it is in all our bathrooms). Also a nice classic oval mirror from Home Depot. We actually got the bathroom sink/cabinet combo from Lowes.

Here is the closet bathroom now with new fixin's.  Plus the new black and white tiles used in all the bathrooms. It is updated but still has the vintage/classic look of the house.

This was the old laundry room. It was partially being used as a storage area for random things.

Here is the laundry room now! We have to still replace the windows but it has my favorite new appliance... the new Samsung front loading washer dryer in fire engine red. Fell in love with it. I also love our cheap little laundry sorter with a hanging rack from Bed Bath & Beyond.

The laundry room is off of the kitchen.  We replaced the tile floor in there as well to the black and white tiles.  There used to be laminate floors which are no good to anyone.