Renovating the Calland House
January 1st, 2020Out with the new and in with the old. Not exactly the phrase you would expect to hear at the start of the new year, but we never do anything traditional. Today has been all about figuring out our future goals with our “New to Us” Old House. To say there are no end of projects would be an understatement. Staring at this ceiling just reminds me that we have absolutely no idea what all this house holds for us in terms of headaches and adventures.
The header image for this blog is one of the many projects we are currently working on: pushing up the floor joists to level out the floor upstairs. We’re realizing this isn’t a simple feat and poor Rob is trying to fix this floor while dealing with the fact that I would still like to be able to have a living room in here. Oh, and we’re counting down the days to the end of the month – which is when I have to be fully moved out of my apartment. At that point the living room furniture will be here and it may or may not actually go in this room for awhile.
We knew that these projects were going to be difficult. What can you really expect with a nearly 200 year old house? As I type this, I’m glaring at a cabinet shaking from the movement of the dryer in the room above me. *sigh* Just another thing to work on. Below is our Top 10 list of projects we’ll be hashing out by this years end.
Our Top 10 Projects for the New Year
1. Living Rooms: Upstairs & Down
Aside from the normal paint everything and make it looks fresh mentality, we actually found we had a lot to do in these two rooms. Namely, the floors had to be fixed to be level as these two rooms are the very center of the house.
2. Molly’s Studio
Ugh! My future office space is this horrible wallpaper and border that reminds of a couch my mother had in the 90’s and it HAS TO GO! I am not that girly. So, wall repairs and a fresh coat of paint will bring this room to the modern era.
3. The Dining Room
We’re taking the old lath from the ceiling in the living room and using it as an alternative to bead board along the bottom wall between the chair rail and the trim. Then I plan to paint it a moody blue and turn this into a more intimate dining experience.
4. Wyatt’s Room
Wyatt’s room is BRIGHT green, which isn’t really his style. He’s looking for a burgundy. So wall patching and painting, then I’m building him a custom desk, putting together his trundle bed and moving in his stuff. Simple.
5. Downstairs Bathroom
The downstairs bathroom is the only one of the two with a shower…which happens to be in a claw foot tub that has been raised up on bricks. It’s awkward. We’ll be updating this to an overly large walk-in shower. It’ll be great!
6. Doorsteps & Landscaping
Every step that leads into the house needs replaced. They are falling apart and create a major hazard. Landscaping is just your run of the mill needs – flower beds, new gravel in driveway, trim trees, fix gutters, install better lighting, maybe even add lightning rods.
7. Fireplaces
We have two functional fireplaces in the house – one in my office and one in Rob’s Den. They both need cleaned at the least. The one off Rob’s Den is falling from the house, but also has a Propane Insert that does not use the floo. Bizarre, but something we plan to change.
8. Kitchen
Our favorite part of the house needs some minor updates so that it can be more functional. For one, we are going to have to cut out cabinets so that our fridge will fit (they took the one that was here). We need to add back in the wood burning stove (Yea, they took that, too). Finally, we would love butcher block countertops.
9. Rob’s Den
Rob’s Den needs floors. He hates the orange toned cheap click together faux wood stuff that’s in there. To reduce noise, we are just going to put rubber flooring on top with a better looking grain. Besides that, this room just needs drywall redone and some paint thrown up.
10. The Top Secret Project
Oh, this – yea this is top secret for a reason. You’ll have to stay tuned here as we release hints of information over the next year. I suspect it will take the full year before this gets to where we want it.
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