This Old House

When we lived in Indiana we owned this house.  A 1913 farmhouse that the previous owners had bought for a $1.00 and moved to this location. A 2.5 acre plot of land that butted up against a creek and row of beautiful mature trees. It needed TLC but we loved it as soon as we saw it and placed an offer right away.   It had four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and in the winter had such bad drafts/insulation that we had to install a space heater with a auto on timer in the bathroom so when we woke up in the morning we could pee without freezing. lol. Ah, old houses….pretty on the outside, full of mischief on the inside…..

In the seven years we lived there we did A LOT of renovations. Basement, bathrooms, gardens, and my favorite renovation, the kitchen.  I am very lucky my husband is DIY and knows a lot of trades. We were able to do all the renovations ourselves over the years and the kitchen was no exception. We didn’t have the money to spend on a complete kitchen remodel and I didn’t want to take away from the history of the kitchen.  So what to do?  The cabinets were solid hardwood and didn’t need torn down, just updated and made more functional. So we decided to replace the cabinet doors. We measured all our cabinets and I found a great place online to order them.  We shaved the top cabinets up to give us more counter space height.  On the drawers, we put in rollers so the drawers were easier to open and close. We installed a microwave over the stove. These little changes gave the kitchen more function and space.

The BEFORE photo. Quaint, but not my style.

Here is another angle of the old kitchen

Notice the lack of counter space?

 

 

When the cabinet doors came we painted them a cream white and installed new door handles that we found at Lowes.  We splurged on black granite for the countertops and installed a beautiful tin like backsplash that gave the kitchen an updated historical look. We also installed trim on the top and bottom of the cabinets and gave everything a fresh coat of paint.  A new sink and faucet completed the fresh look. The whole renovation cost less than $4000.

This was the result:

Fresh Looking

 

I loved the cabinet handles and backsplash – gave it the historical touches it needed

 

And this pot rack – I miss it. Our current home does not have one and now that I see it again I am thinking how can I install one in our current kitchen? lol.

Finally got the microwave OFF the counter and above the stove!

 

When we moved to Florida I wanted NEW. No projects, no drafty cold bathrooms.  So we built a new house.  I love it, and of course love that we don’t have fix or rehab something every other week. But this old house will forever hold a special place in my heart. Old houses just have SOUL to them. And it was our first house we owned together.

What has been your favorite home remodel?