Reno Inspiration

Lately we've been spending a lot of time on Preservation North Carolina, a great site offering resources for those in older homes in the state and it also has a great catalog of already renovated homes and those waiting to be rescued.  I personally spend a lot of time swooning over the homes that need saving, stripping away layers of paint, refinishing floors, and bringing out the original grandeur of the home in my mind.  It's a great feeling.  You really feel like you've accomplished something until you open your eyes and remember this was all just in your head and the home still exists in its dilapidated state in the pictures before you.  

Sometimes though I stumble across an already renovated home like this located on the Haw River in downtown Burlington.  Best of all, if you find it through a preservation society, you know the home was done right and the historical integrity stayed intact.  The outside is stunning, the unassuming color almost causes you to miss some of the details but they're there.  I love the contrast of the black trim on the doors and window panes with the brown exterior.  

The inside does not disappoint.  The bead board ceilings are perfect and just like ours, slight imperfections still intact.  Imperfections we cherish, unlike some who have openly wondered if we want to cover them up with drywall.  Cue dropped chin and wide eyes.  The tongue and groove walls are a great treat as well.

Maybe the greatest part of this house is the kitchen.  Modern and full of all the requirements of a gourmet chef while still being unassuming and staying true to the home.  Concrete countertops, a favorite of ours, add a flair of modern that blends seamlessly, and the white cabinetry with exposed black hardware are beautiful.  

Lastly, the master bedroom, while simple is perfection.  I would kill for a small bench under our windows, not to mention the available storage that comes with it, and tongue and groove walls and ceilings are wonderful.  My favorite part, however, is those original heart pine floors.  I swoon over them, dreaming of the day when the floors of this old home might also look like that!

Hope you enjoyed this home and much as I did and you can find more about it here and be sure to check on Preservation North Carolina for even more great homes, imagination required for some. 

The Beginning

Welcome! Before we begin this crazy journey together I thought you might like to know the story. I'm a history graduate from Meredith College and my husband is a Poultry Science graduate from NCSU (Go Pack!). We married soon after graduating and moved to middle-of-nowhere Florida where we lived in a string of company owned straight-out-of-the-90s homes. While these two years were great for our marriage, we couldn't pass up an opportunity to move back to North Carolina, be close to family and friends, and live in the home of our dreams.

 

 

 

 

Ok.. maybe home of our dreams is a bit of an exaggeration. Our 'dream home' was a 100-year-old farmhouse, abandoned for nearly five years, and before that housed a string of tenants with no strict rental guidelines. What does that combination mean? Linoleum on the walls. You can read that again but you did read it correctly. Linoleum for FLOORS on the WALLS. A purple master bedroom with green trim, wallpaper made from wine bottle labels, falling drop ceilings, and seven layers of industrial carpet and bargain box Pergo floors. However, that was just the cosmetic stuff. Structural damage, rotting floors, peeling plaster, and a severe lack of insulation were just a few of the bigger problems.

 

 

I was in love. Those falling drop ceilings revealed the original beadboard. Those scratched and stained floors, below the seven layers, were original heart pine. That green trim would be gorgeous with a few coats of white paint, and those peeling doors were solid wood.

 

 

Raised in home improvement stores with a faux finish artist mother, a master Mr. Fixit father, and a husband who works to bring my crazy design dreams to life, I knew we could it.
 

Fast forward one year and we've done a lot and have even more left to do.  We're finally figuring out the tricks to living in house with one bathroom/laundry room and no dishwasher.  Don't laugh.  It was an adjustment.  I'll chronicle about the more "boring" projects that brought us to this point and sometimes fast forward to the where we are today. 

Hope y'all enjoy!