Mayfield Road House

So we bought this house in August 2015.  A year and a half ago??!!  What have we been doing with it all this time?  Well, for a long time....absolutely NOTHING.  It sat, and sat, and sat.  Looking sad and forgotten.

The day we took possession of our new "project" 150 Mayfield

We finally got our act in gear and decided to "fix it up".  To flip? Maybe. To Rent? Maybe.  Every week it changes. Both ideas have merit but in the end, we've both decided to lease it (I think).  Our main reason is because we hate the thought of selling it.  Yep, emotional attachment.  Never a good idea when you're a real estate investor.  Breaking the #1 Rule.  Oh well.    

So on to the fun stuff.  Before and After Pictures.  Unfortunately, I lost most of my before pictures.  I think I stuck the card in one of my deer trail cameras and then accidentally deleted it.  BUT, I do have some early into the demo pictures which give you a pretty good idea where we started with this house.  We bought it from a sweet old lady who had inherited it from her mama.  The house hadn't been touched (other than a fairly new water heater and roof) since 1949.  Have I mentioned how much I love 50's ranches (or technically '49's ranches)?  Man they knew how to build houses back then. Solid as a rock.  This house had great bones.  A bit smaller than the ones we usually do, but great bones.

Exterior BEFORE

Exterior: AFTER

We knew from the begining we would need to paint the brick.  For one thing, we were taking out some windows, and adding some others, at which point brick would need to be filled in that wouldn't match exactly.  Another reason for painting the brick was to give it a more updated & modern feel.  On the downside, all of a sudden, we've taken a maintenance-free home and turned it into a home that will need regular exterior painting.  But, like I said. It had to be done and I think it looks fantastic.

We also knew we wanted to add a BIG front porch.  This home is right on a major thoroughfare and we thought it needed to have more presence.  Make an impact.  Also, how fun to sit on that big porch, drink a glass of wine, and wave to your friends as they drive by.  Every time we are at this property, one of our friends honks and waves.  Part of living in the Garden District of Downtown Alpharetta, Georgia is being neighborly and waving at passing friends & neighbors.  It's part of being in the South y'all!

Beautiful Front Porch

 Our guiding design principle was Rustic Modern.  El Rustico Moderno - an inside joke from when we finished our basement (which I may share with you later).  Basically this is a modern home with a flare of rustic thrown in (rustic wood beams, ceilings, fireplace).  You'll see these elements in the photos.  I'm in love with our contemporary front door! Although, when it was first delivered, I thought "well that's a bit drastic - no turning back now!".  The landscaping is stream-lined and gives it that final touch.  Thank you to Lane Landscaping for doing such a great job!

Front Walk-way BEFORE

Front Walk-way AFTER

The inside of the home was pretty easy to figure out.  Originally there were 2 small bedrooms on the main level that shared a bathroom.  Our plan was to turn the 2 bedrooms into one big master with an en suite bathroom.  Where the old bathroom was, we made it into a half bath and part of the master closet.

Master Bedroom BEFORE

2nd Bedroom Before - now Master Bath

Hallway BEFORE leading to bedrooms

BEFORE - one bathroom on main level

Master Bath AFTER

Master Bedroom AFTER looking towards en suite bath

Master Shower

The wall between the formal living room and the den had to come down.  This opened up the kitchen and living area into one big room.  

View towards Kitchen from Den. Wall coming down between Den and Living Room

Front Door and Living Room BEFORE

Front Door and Living Room (now Dining) AFTER

The final thing that had to happen was vaulting the ceiling.  We lost a bit of attic space but the open feel given by the vault was well worth it.  Plus, it gave us an excuse to put cool beams on the ceiling.  We splurged and did spray-foam insulation in our new ceiling so the heating/cooling costs for this home should be low. 

Please excuse the floors - final coat of poly going on this week

We also thought the home needed a fireplace to center the room hang your TV over.  Notice the 2 doors on either side of the fireplace?  Those go out to a nice big deck for entertaining.  Since this home was on the small-side, it was important to add additional outdoor "rooms" with the front porch and back deck.

We turned the former living room into the dining room by hanging a beautiful chandelier.  I can just picture a cool rustic table underneath it.  The large kitchen takes up the whole far side with a nice peninsula bar to sit at.

Kitchen BEFORE

Kitchen AFTER

Kitchen Bar area (or cutout?) BEFORE

Kitchen Bar AFTER

We enclosed the carport so now this home has a nice big garage. We decided to do board and batten on the new exterior walls which adds a nice contrast to the brick.  The style of the garage door is also more contemporary.

Carport BEFORE

Enclosed carport makes nice-size garage

The terrace level (no longer a basement since we opened up the stairwell) has 2 bedrooms and we added a beautiful modern bathroom with a tub/shower combo.  We did grey hardwood tile on the floors, with carpeting in the bedrooms.  This home has a large unfinished area with a garage door for storing your lawn mower and tools.  This area also serves as the laundry room.  Since we wanted this home to appeal to empty-nesters, we also added a stack-able laundry hook-up in the master bath room (for those who don't want to deal with stairs!).

Secondary bedroom on Terrace Level

 We used galvanized pipe for stair railing

So I guess that's about it!  Other than floors getting their final coat, a couple mirrors being hung in half bath and terrace level bath....we are DONE!  Thank you to Jamey's cousin Kenneth Bagwell for being our fearless contractor and taking us through this long process.  We're excited to put the FOR LEASE sign up this week!
 

The BEFORE & AFTER

Well, I've decided to finally post some before and after pictures of our renovation.  I took the after pictures a couple weeks ago when we still had our Christmas decorations up so I had to move a couple things around.  I didn't even get a picture of the great room because of our ginormous Christmas tree.  Maybe I'll add those later (or maybe not given how infrequently I update this blog).  Ok, so here's what I do have.

MASTER BATH
Ahh...the master bath.  Notice the gold everything in the Before Picture..  That was so the style in the early 90's when mom and dad built this house.  Although, the glass blocks between the shower and tub almost scream 80's Miami Vice to me.  Mike, our handy-man, ended up taking the jetted tub and gave it to his ex-wife.  It's nice to know some of this stuff is being re-used.  Also, the HUGE mirror was removed in one piece and I listed it on craigslist for free.  Some guy came and got it and is using it in his basement for a dance studio.  Used http://www.vintagetub.com to order my claw-foot tub.  Free shipping!  If you Alpharetta/Roswell people are thinking of renovating your kitchen or bath, go to Ferguson's to pick out what you want, but then order it from vintage tub.  You will save SO much money! 

Master Bath Before

Master Bath After - soap stand is actually antique ash tray, crystal chandelier was a wedding present

Master Bath Before

Master Bath After - notice our sweet dog in the background on her bed

MASTER BEDROOM
The Master Bedroom only needed some hardwood floors, new windows, trim-work on the ceiling, and, of course, our barn door (again, found someone on craigslist to make the door for me).  Mike hung it for us - something he's never done before but did a great job.  The hardware that came with the door was wimpy so I raced off to Tractor Supply Co. and bought the hardware pictured.  The rustic piece of wood holding the door is from a tree in lower pasture.  The lamps are Jamey's grandmother's (Helen), and the sconces came from Pottery Barn.

Master Bedroom Before

Master Bedroom After

KITCHEN
The Kitchen ended-up taking longer than it should have.  A must-have for me was the same farmhouse sink we had in our old house.   Again, I ordered it through Vintage Tub and Bath and saved a fortune (an additional 8% off if you also go through Ebates.com first).  So with the sink, we had to have the granite re-cut.  That proved being more difficult than you would think.  They ended up using granite from the desk area to make it work out.  What that meant for us, was weeks of no counter top and using a hose outside to wash pots and pans.  NOT fun.  The cook-top, fridge, and dishwasher are new.  We kept the ovens and under-counter microwave.  We also ended-up keeping the cabinets and just panting them.  I want to switch-out the pendants but as of yet, I still haven't found the perfect ones....still on the look-out!

Kitchen Before

Kitchen AFter

MUDROOM
 The mudroom is probably my favorite change to the house.  It used to be a laundry room and a hallway.  We removed the walls so when you walk in, it's just one big room (well...not big but bigger room).  The laundry room we moved to a 2nd half-bath over by the Master Bedroom.  The thing I like most about the mud-room is the rustic wood we had put on the back wall.  Years ago my dad had an oak tree taken down in the lower pasture and this is the wood from that tree.  Dad had it planed out thinking he would one day make a table or something out of it. Well, it sat in the basement for 10 years so when we bought the house, I asked that the wood be included with the sale.  Originally I thought it might go in the study but, because we didn't have enough, we used it in the mud room.  The other thing I like is the sink I had made out of a copper pot I bought at Queen of Hearts.  I also got the sink stand at Q of H.  My plumber, Terry, kept asking if I was sure I wanted him to cut into the antique dresser for the drain and plumbing pipes.  "Cut Away!" I said.  Terry did a great job.  The cowboy on the horse painting was actually painted by one of my father-in-laws best friends, Dave Barrett.  Love it!

Laundry room Before

Mudroom After - The chicken pictures were a wedding present (thanks Becky Conners Neece)

Laundry Room and Hallway Before

Mudroom After

Desk Area

Since we used the granite from the desk in the kitchen to go around the farmhouse sink, we had to put a new counter top.  We decided to raise it up, do away with the desk area, and add drawers for storage (Jamey still has not added the hardware to the new drawers - I don't expect he ever will).  We had a lady come paint the cabinets to look like wood.  You can barely see the rope chandelier over the kitchen table in the after picture.  It's actually the first thing I bought for the house (and yep, I bought it at Queen of Hearts).  Also notice the wall paper.  There were TWO layers I personally removed through out the whole kitchen.  My fingernails suffered greatly from that (as did my spirit).

Desk Area Before

Desk Area After (we call it the Bar now)

THE STUDY

The study (or TV room as the kids call it) was by far the easiest room.  All we did was paint the walls, put in hardwoods, and add glass french doors.  DONE.

Study Before (I should say during...this is where we hid while work was going on in the rest of the house)

 

The Study After

That's all I have for now.  Like I said, no current pictures of the Great Room.  I guess I could go downstairs and take one now (since the Christmas Tree is gone) but that would involve removing laundry from the couch and I'm just not feeling up to it.  I equate living through a renovation to giving birth.  It's extremely painful but once you are holding the beautiful results in your arms, you almost forget how hard it was to get there (almost).  The difference is, I would give birth again (and did!) but I pray that I will NEVER live through another renovation!! (especially with 2 young children).

Hope you enjoyed!

Let's celebrate!

Well, I didn't do a very good job of keeping up with this blog.  I guess it's because I've been super busy with the renovations/end of school/etc. and couldn't find the time.  Enough excuses.  Here's my best attempt at doing a recap of the last couple months.  Let me start with this post about last night and then work my way backwards.  We had a big house-warming party to celebrate everything being done.  It was so great seeing everyone and finally being able to entertain.  Our new cook-top was installed Friday, and the party was Saturday....talk about waiting until the last minute! 

Here are some pictures from the party.  Unfortunately I was so wrapped up with enjoying everyone's company that I completely forgot to take pictures until nearly half our guests had left.  Oh well.  But here are a few of the shots I did get:

 

Lance, Brian, and Jamey.  Two of our groomsmen from our wedding and Jamey's good friends from college.  Thanks guys for making the drive to come see us!  It really means a lot!

Nothing like a good game of corn-hole.  Nice toss Zach! (p.s. love the pants)

Sorry this photo is out of focus but I had to put Hannah in here.  Hannah is our babysitter and next door neighbor.  She was such a big help last night helping look after the kids.  Thank you!

 

 

 Uncle Mike, Jada, Dad, and cousin Kevin.

 The Bausanos and the Tanners

 Kids, Kids, Kids!!

 Reagan enjoying the back deck

 My party life-savers!  Aunt Mary Anne and my Momma.  Thanks ladies for all your hosting help!

 The Bagwells aka best beach buddies ever!

 Me and Jamey

 The Brothers - Dad and Uncle Mike

 The Hudsons and Jay

 Kevin and Helen

 

 Sarah, Dave, and Ava

It's not a party until the Crenshaws are there

Me and Jenny doing a sorority pose

Thank you so much to everyone for helping us break-in the "new" house.  It has been a long rode since we closed on the property in February.  I had my fair share of a few tears with the stress of it all.  Now that it's done, I can say it was definitely worth it.  However, I hope to never do it again.  Just having workers in my house all the time was enough to drive me crazy but then add to it the effort of keeping a 3 and 6 year old out of their way while also having to eat out every night, doing laundry at my in-laws house, not having any furniture to sit on, the fridge in the garage, no kitchen sink for a month, yadda, yadda, yadda.  I'm getting stressed all over just thinking about it.  Last night was such a great time simply because we are DONE and I could let out a big sigh and just relax.  Whew!  Now what?  Well, my brother and his 4 kids are coming on Tuesday and we can't wait!  Right now I need to go clean up the house from last night and get ready for our house guests.  When I do get it cleaned up again, I'll be sure to take some pictures and post the finished product.  I'm not making any promises that it will be any time soon though!

~Kelly