home tour pt 3: master bedroom + nursery tour

earlier this month when i started this mini home tour series, i mentioned that we were beginning the process of finding another investment house to renovate. we were thinking that we would take our time with getting this place on the market, but the reality that these spring months are the peak market window made us reevaluate our timeline. so, fast forward a couple of weeks and there's a sign in our yard and we *may* have already found our next home! there's a lot of "hurry up and wait" going on over here. we are no strangers to home renovations or living in a construction zone, but this will be our first time with a baby in tow. this summer just got a whole lot more interesting - providing things continue to more forward. hopefully this time around, i'll get around to blogging before & after pictures before we're about to move out.

anyway, enough about that! here is the third and last installment of the tour series (see here for pt 1 and here for pt 2). there are two bedrooms in this house and they are tiny. i don't have a wide angle lens, so it's hard to really see, but you'll get the general idea.

this is the master bedroom as it was when we purchased the house and it gets the most glorious natural light in the morning and early afternoon. give me alllll the southeast facing windows, please!

this was the first house we have owned that had wood floors throughout, and i don't think i'll ever be able to go back.

i nearly killed that fiddle leaf fig by moving it around the house too much, but it is slowly reviving & it loves that morning light. 

the lights are from target from a year and a half ago. and the bedding is collected from target, ikea, or thrifted.

we opted for no curtains in here as we love that light and curtains just made the room feel smaller.

the mirror was thrifted several years ago and i gold leafed the frame to give it a little revival. the jewelry dish was thrifted and the chest is part of a beautiful mid-centery set that was purchased from a friend.

the wall hanging was made with some leather, a little brass tube and the thickest yarn i could find at hobby lobby.

below is the before picture of the nursery.

the rocker was thrifted for $20. i didn't realize how much a good rocker cost until we began searching for one for the nursery. even though i typically nurse theo in bed, we have loved having a rocker in his room for those (now rare) middle of the night feedings and bedtime stories.

the crib and curtains are from ikea.

the dresser is from ikea and we painted it and changed the pulls. it's the perfect height to double as a changing station.

I like having all the essential oils and homemade creams i use on theo handy but out of his reach.

 those are ikea picture ledges that work nicely for books. theo likes to pick out his book to read before bedtime.

i jazzed up the nursery closet with these wash tape crosses. i followed the tutorial by emily loeffelman and i love how it turned out!

nothing super fancy. we are casual people and i think that was clearly reflected in these pictures (note crooked pictures and a dust bunny here and there). i hope that this little tour is inspiring to other couples who might be considering tackling their first home renovation. there's a lot you can do to small & ugly starter homes on a small budget.

be sure to check out the other parts of the tour as we did lots of fun stuff to the main living space of the house.

home tour pt 1: kitchen & dining room before & after
home tour pt 2: living room and entry before & after

home tour pt 2: living room & entry before & after

this post is part 2 of a 3-part home tour series. check here if you missed part 1 yesterday on the kitchen and dining room before & after. 

this house is a simple, 1,000 square foot box rancher. we bought it two years ago and have completely remodeled it for under $10k. i talk more about how we did that in part 1. 

we aren't fancy people and this little tour is NOT perfect. i decided that if this was going to happen, i had to stop waiting for everything to be just so. you'll see crooked frames, imperfect curtains, and maybe even a dust bunny or two if you look closely. this is just our home on a sunny spring day when i straightened a little extra and removed the pile of unsightly bills and such to snap some pictures. now that we have that cleared up :) ....

today i am showing you the before, during and after of our living room and entry way. 

this was a shot from the mls listing when we first saw the house. you would have seen this view right as you came in the front door. 

as you can see, the floors were in pretty rough shape. the previous owner had removed some serious shag carpet prior to moving and he had had several dogs apparently. thankfully, refinishing the floors in a darker stain masked the splotches and there was no lingering smell.   

the dining room was where that chandelier is hanging, but we relocated it to where the second living area used to be after removing all of the walls. it just made more sense. 

laying tile over pretty wood floors is always a good idea. not! the 70's nearly destroyed this house. haha!

this was after about 24 hours of owning the house.

as i explained in the previous post, we did our research prior to buying as to which walls were and were not load bearing. because the house is so small, those four interior walls were not structural. it made removing them a fairly easy task.

the ceiling needed some serious patching after whole sections of sheet rock came down with the walls.

the wood floors had to be patched where the walls had been. Jeff did a wonderful job and you can't even tell where the walls were now. 

i believe this stain color is "dark walnut" by minwax? anyway, we really like how the floors turned out. as i mentioned before, there was some dark staining on the floors even after sanding them, so we had to choose a darker stain than i preferred in order to help disguise the blotches. dark floors are beautiful, but they do tend to show dust than lighter floors.

that slate tile above is what we chose to go in the kitchen as the wood floors did not extend there - sadly. i love that it's a natural stone and hides crumbs and dust so well. maybe a little too well. jeff hated laying it, but it was worth it - right, honey? ;)

although refinishing wood floors is quite the task, we saved a whole lot of money by renting the sander and staining the floors ourselves. the wood floors are everywhere but the kitchen and bathroom.

and the after...

this view is looking into where the dining room used to be. the kitchen is on the left.

the entertainment center is really a dresser that i purchased along with the rest of the set from a friend's mother. it was taken care of beautifully, and i just couldn't pass up the deal she gave me. the wicker back chair was thrifted for $5 and recovered with some scrap fabric i had laying around. i made the hanging brass orb with the air plant in it.

look who stuck his little buck teeth in my shot! :) we love our little adopted mutt-pup

the curtains are actually drop cloths. the rug is west elm. couch and pillows are ikea and the lamp is target. the basket was thrifted as was the blanket.

this coffee table was a trash pick and is the only piece of furniture that has made it through all of our moves (6). we just can't get rid of it.

don't mind the wonky curtains. i just noticed that.

the couch was thrifted for $60 (i think). as were the pictures. those side tables were "made" from thrifted hairpin plant stands + wood tops from lowe's.

the toy baskets are from ikea.

i spy a little boy in his walker :) and a partially painted closet door! ha!

we have had this ikea couch for several years and it is holding up well. we did recently purchase another white slipcover as i ruined the last one trying to dye it. i love the white though as it can be bleached - and do i ever love bleaching my whites :)

this is my little work station. although one day i would love my own studio, this space works just fine for now.

the desk chair is by lay-z-boy and is soooo comfortable! i scored it for $20 at an estate sale.

jeff recently built that peg rack for me so we could hang our coats and bags on it. seeing as we hardly have a designated entry space, this has helped so much to keep things looking neat. and let me tell you, having a very open concept means that things tend to look cluttered very quickly. the solution i have found it to find a home for everything. and i mean everything.

jeff made the desk for me several years ago. it's a pretty good west elm knock off, huh?

well, this concludes part 2 of the home tour! let me know in the comments if you have any questions.

home tour pt 1: kitchen & dining room before & after
home tour pt 3: bedrooms before & after

home tour pt 1: kitchen & dining room before & after

this month marks two years of us living in this little rancher. it's been fun (i use that term loosely) to completely renovate the simple, 1000 square foot floor plan and make it our own. ever since i started watching hgtv years ago, i had the itch to tear down walls and rip out kitchen cabinets - and that's exactly what we did here. lots of drywall dust, tears, sweat, and chiropractor visits later, we had our little open concept, fresh & bright home. now, we feel like it's about time to begin the process of finding another investment house for us to pour our hearts into. we've learned a whole lot the past couple of years and so we will be farming out most of the work this time around. there were a few too many tears involved last time. but there really is nothing like transforming your house into a beautiful home with your own two hands. there's just something really special about that. so, this summer will be full of soaking up the remainder of our time here and finishing up those last few projects we never got around to. buying and selling a house is a process and you never know how slowly or quickly these things will go. so, we shall see what happens.

when we bought this house, we knew it was going to be a short term thing. it was an investment and a stepping stone to the next house - which would hopefully be a little closer to "the" house i dream about. so, knowing that this was a temporary place, we kept our renovating expenses low. i'll be talking a bit about the money side of things too & how we did some major work to this house on such a limited budget. 

since we are gearing up to put this house on the market, i figured it was about time to finally get around to a little house tour. i posted a lot of "before" pictures back on my old blog right after we had purchased the house and before we had started gutting it, but i'm going to post them again here. 

i was going to do a full tour in one post, but there are so many pictures that i decided to break it down a little more. so, for part 1 of the tour, let's start in the kitchen and dining room. 

here is a lovely "before" shot of the kitchen from the mls listing. i mean, i guess it's ok if you like how florescent lights make the orange countertops pop. and that leaded glass window...yum!

this room was a third bedroom, but the previous owner turned it into a second living room of sorts. he added the back doors out to the porch and made the closet into a walkway to the kitchen. it was odd. and tiny.

the day we closed on the house, we immediately got to work tearing down walls. don't worry, we did all of our research prior to closing on which walls were and were not load bearing. 

we were going to try and salvage some of the cabinets as a complete kitchen remodel was not in the original plan, but they were so dilapidated and really needed to come out. i had never designed a kitchen before and we didn't have the money to hire it out, so we were on our own!

this stage was really rather frightening.

besides hiring someone to help with some of the more extensive electrical work (Jeff did all of the lighting and such though) and to install the countertops, we did every last bit of work ourselves. i am not necessarily recommending that, but we were able to remodel the kitchen from the floor up, paint everything, install loads of new recess lighting and all new fixtures and switches, refinish the hardwood floors throughout, landscape the front yard, and much more for under $10k. and the only way we were able to do that is because we are extreme bargain hunters (aka "cheapos") and we worked our tails off for four+ months straight. and we were fortunate enough to not run into any major, money-sucking issues. we had issues, just nothing major.

as i share the next couple of posts in this tour series, you will begin to see how all the rooms connect after we took out the walls. we basically turned four rooms into one large open space. it's not always a good idea to create such an open space, but in this case, the rooms were so tiny and it was not very functional. thankfully, we did not have to do any structural work as none of the walls were load bearing (keep in mind that this is a very tiny house). 

the stove was a lucky find at a bachelor's estate sale, the cabinets were found at a local resale warehouse, and that island is a vintage drafting table - found on craigslist for $175. the fridge came with the house, and we are too cheap to get a new one until it breaks down. and the darn thing keeps running. 

we chose slate tile for the flooring. i hand-picked every single one of those tiles! whew!

we installed ship lap all along the kitchen wall in leu of a tiled backsplash. i love the look of it and it has held up really well. it gives the wall texture & interest for a very small price tag.

we made the open shelving from pine boards and ikea brackets. 

and this is what it looks like today. i didn't really do any styling to the shelves for the picture - other than straightening a couple of things. this is really what it looks like on the daily. we should probably get some kind of window treatment there, but i just love being able to look out into the backyard without any obstructions. 

the sink is from overstock and the faucet is from a similar site - can't remember the name. the light pendant above the sink is from ikea. 

notice the match strike pad on the side of the stove :). nice and handy!

the countertops are caesarstone in nougat. i have loved the caesarstone and would choose it again even though it wasn't my first choice in pattern. this slab was a leftover piece that was the perfect size and so we got a killer deal on it.

still no hardware on those cabinet doors. some things just aren't meant to be, i tell ya!

the original plan was to build built-ins around the fridge (and get a new fridge as well), but that hasn't happened yet. 

the light fixture above the island is a 1960's pendant from a home here in tulsa. i love giving old things new life. 

a lot of the items in the kitchen are thrifted (including our garbage disposal. haha!), but feel free to ask for sources and i'll see if i can remember.

we turned that odd little third bedroom/second living room into the dining room. it just made more sense after all the walls were gone.

the wall tapestry was purchased here.

the table was a $60 craigslist find and the bentwood chairs were found various places for about $5/each. i painted them all black to give them a bit of coherence. the white, eames-style chairs are from walmart.com.

the pitcher and woven placemat are from ikea. and the linen tablecloth is from home goods several years ago.

the brass light fixture was made by yours truly. and those lovely blooms are from whole foods.

to see more of the home tour:

home tour pt 2: living room and entry before & after
home tour pt 3: bedrooms before & after