As the world confronts Coronavirus, everyone is facing their own set of challenges. For so many, that means making real sacrifices and risking their own health. If you’re able, the best way we help is to stay home… or where ever you are. For me, that means staying in Colorado with my family, 5000 miles away from Peter, Chimi and our home.
While this means that I won’t be able to create new content at home, I do have lots of progress to share with you! Over the next couple of days, I’ll share my phone pictures (read: not magazine ready) of what we’ve done in our Zepfenhaus so far, and what we still have left to do. Part One of our Home Tour is focusing on our main floor, Part Two will look at the bedrooms on the third floor and Part Three will take a peak at our first floor and outdoor spaces.
Living Room
When we first started work in the house, our living room was a green nightmare. Our goals were to get remove EVERYTHING, update the electric, install new flooring and re-install the wood burning stove. While the process was definitely tedious, we were able to accomplish all of our goals in this room!
Dining Room
The dining room was a little more challenging than the living room. In addition to all of the same problems from the living room, the subfloor was extremely uneven. We decided to level the floor, put in all new flooring and wallpaper, and install a built-in buffet with a wine fridge. We got all of these things done… eventually. Our poor dining room served as our staging room while we worked in the kitchen. For a while, we even had our fridge in here! Now, with a new table and some decor, we are inching closer to a “final product”.
Kitchen
Our kitchen definitely required the most work on this floor – and we’re still not done! We removed the old cabinets and tiles from the wall, installed a new backsplash and the brick fronts to make the chimney functional again, redid all the electrical work, some plumbing and the exhaust, put in new flooring, cabinets and countertops and put on new hardware. Oh, yeah – we also installed new appliances and a farm house sink. We still need to finish above the cabinets on both sides and install the floor trim.
Because we decided not to take down any walls during this phase, we got creative with things. My favorite solution we thought of is the open shelves! The window ledge came out too far for a door to open, so we just… left it off!
What’s Left
On this main floor, the only other rooms are the bathroom and the hall/stairway. You can read about our budget bathroom makeover here. The treppenhaus (stairwell) is our current project! We are saying auf wiedersehen to the crazy railings, wall paper and window. I’ll be sure to update when we finish!
So there you have it – our main floor! Check back tomorrow for our Zepfenhaus Home Tour Part Two, and a list of our materials and sources! If you have questions about anything I didn’t mention, feel free to ask.
This is Pennie – The Accountability Queen from Insta- Wow I so love what you have done To your new home! We DIY remodeled our 1970’s home from the ground up also, even out the roof on ourselves last March which was the last of the major projects to the house itself and now we are into the back yard and garden area there.
I know how much work it is and you guys have done a superb job! All the pix of you doing the work to it are great! Hang in there with all this stuff going around, you will be home before you know it – P
Pennie, thank you so much! This is so reassuring- in more way than one!