Check out my kitchen!...and dining room, too!

After many hours of hard work, we've finally finished the kitchen and dining room! (ok, we still need to do touchups, but to be honest, that probably won't happen for a few months when we do the whole house at once.)

Check it out!

The big picture:


A close up of the kitchen:


Another work space:


And lest you forget, here's what this space looked like when I bought the condo:


And a bonus...Sealy's belly!

Oil based paint is the devil

Sarah, my friend since 1st grade, visited me this week and we made huge strides forward in paiting the rest of my house.

We learned some important lessons:

1. Sometimes things look worse before they start to look better.
So much white, yuck! Which leads me to....

2. Oil-based primer is BAD. It does not come off. Ever. I still have some in my hair, not to mention my arms, legs, and hands.

3. Paint colors sometimes look nicer when they're dry. I think this is gorgeous. It was not so gorgeous while it was wet....
A white chair rail dividing the two colors is soon to come.

4. Even though painting with white is awful and painting cabinets is even more awful, it's important to remember to keep the big picture in mind.
5. Friends are AMAZING!

All moved in and moving forward in making it mine!

The "master" bath...it's tiny, but cute. And, I got to have my dream of having a purple room!
My sweet new patio furniture! I've got a ceiling fan outside too, so it's somewhat bearable in the heat of Texas summer. Maybe almost would be a better word than bearable. I'm looking forward to October.


This is Steve's room. It looks a little different now because he decided he wanted a bigger bed, moved the dresser into his closet, and added some more furniture.
I'll put up more photos as soon as I'm no longer embarrassed about the state my house is in....

Before and Afters

Well, stage one of the renovations is done! Everything looks so great; I don't think I could be any happier. Projects for the future: painting the walls and kitchen cabinets, and bathroom updates!

Kitchen

Dining Room

Living Room

Laundry

Floors and a Finished Kitchen!

EVERYTHING is set to be finished by tomorrow afternoon. Exciting! See below for the latest updates...

I love the floors--they really update the place. I also like how the color of the fireplace doesn't look as strange next to the dark wood as it did next to tan carpet...

The kitchen is looking pretty great, too. Don't you think?

Another Big Step Forward...

Progress in the Kitchen

I stopped by the condo on Friday to get an update on the progress made this week. They've been working primarily in the kitchen, which should be completely finished by the end of the weekend. I'll probably stop by on Sunday to check it out. Until then, check out how it's looking so far...

First thing's first, the rotten wood is all gone! It's been removed, replaced with new wood, and covered with fresh concrete. It looks a little bit better than before!

Here's a close-up of the granite tile.

From this photo, you can start to picture how it's going to look when it's all put together. The sink is new too. The old one was pretty rusted out. Since I had to replace it anyway, I also added two inches in depth. I'm hoping I won't make as big of a mess when I wash big things like mixing bowls now. :)

Finally, these are the materials going into the backsplash. There's going to be a ribbon of black glass running through the tumbled stone. The grout won't look so stark when it's all put together, or so I've been promised

Check back on Sunday or Monday to see the finished kitchen!

Ups and Downs

As always, start by looking at pictures of the condo before renovations started if this is your first visit to my blog.

Yesterday I stopped by to talk to Josh, the contractor doing the work on the condo. We decided to replace some of the cabinet walls that had sustained some water damage. When they moved the refrigerator, we discovered the floor had suffered from water damage as well. So, that is being ripped out and new materials will be put into place before the kitchen tile is installed. When this work is finished, they'll be able to move onto the fun stuff--installing the granite countertops, stone backsplash, and new flooring. It was a bit of a setback, but not a huge problem. The kitchen will be in better shape than ever before.

On the bright side, Benny and Alice have finished removing the popcorn texture from the ceilings. They just finished painting them this week. They've also removed the mirrors from above the fireplace and retextured the space in the same style as the walls and ceilings. It looks awesome. Both of these renovations went a long way towards getting the 80s out of the condo. :) I'm so glad I decided to do this.

I'll be stopping by again next week, as soon as some more significant progress has been made on the floor and in the kitchen. Look for new pictures then! And....I still don't have a roommate. Pass the word along to anyone you know moving to the great city of Austin. Newly renovated, wonderful neighborhood, furnished; you can't do much better!

Kitchen Tile Choices

Here's a link to the condo, as it was when I went under contract. As you can see in previous posts, a whole lot is changing!

I stopped by again today to drop off another check and to see what progress has been made. Since now they're doing prep work for the big installs, not a lot has changed that is easily visible. So, I've included a photo of 3 of the 4 tiles that are going into the kitchen.

The bottom (cream) tile is porcelin and will be making up the floor. The large dark tile (granite) will be going onto the countertops. And, the small glass square tiles will be a 2 inch stripe in the tumbled stone backsplash (tiles not shown).

Renovations- Stage 1

Before you look at these pictures and get too scared, check out photos of the condo in its whole state.

Renovations have started in the condo now. So far, they have scraped the ceilings, pulled up the carpet, opened up the laundry closet, ripped out some kitchen cabinets, gotten rid of the bad mirrors, and yanked off the formica countertops. Not bad for 4 days, huh?!

Check out the photos below.

Kitchen. Here you can tell they've taken out the cabinets that separated the kitchen from the dining and living area and pulled up the old carpet. They've also scraped the ceilings. The combination of removing the cabinet and losing the popcorn ceiling texture makes the place look so much bigger.

Kitchen. No more formica! Granite-tiled counter tops and a pretty backsplash will be making their way in eventually.

Laundry Closet. Now it looks like it's meant to be there...

Living Room. No more 80s mirrors! Hooray! You can also see here that the floors are being replaced and the ceilings being refinished.

So, what's left? Only putting in new wood laminate floors, repainting the ceiling, finishing the laundry closet and fireplace, building in shelves beneath the bar, and tiling the kitchen floors, counters, and backsplash... It's going to look like a completely different condo by closing date!

My Furniture

Check out pictures of the condo itself first. Here's some of the furniture that's going into it.

The bedroom. I'm also planning on getting a dresser--I just don't have photos of it yet.
(Right now I'm using the space as an office but would move out my books and pictures and things to make room for you...)

The bed is really comfortable--the mattress was purchased from Denver Mattress a little over one year ago.


The living room. There's also a wall-mounted flat screen TV and DVD player, not shown.

The dining room. The table expands to seat 6.

The Condo

The condo from the outside: 4409 Speedway, 2 miles from Welch. There are 2 parking spaces for the unit; you can have one if you move in.

It is a 2/2 unit, with a (furnished) bedroom available for rent. Check out the fancy seashell sink in your bathroom!


The floorplan is fairly open, with a large living and dining area. Before I move in, the carpet will be replaced with "wood" laminate, and the popcorn ceilings will be removed. The tacky mirrors above the fireplace will also be taken care of.



The kitchen is in a galley-style, but a decent size. Before I move in, the cupboards between the kitchen and dining room will be removed to open up the space. Additional shelving will be added beneath the bar to compensate for the lost storage.


The $750/month rent includes all utilities, even internet and cable. There's also an in-house washer and dryer. This pictures shows the previous owner's ingenuity....it will be opened up into a proper laundry alcove before I move in.


The unit is right on the bus line (5 and IF) as well as across the street from a park with a pool and tennis courts.


Also, I should mention that this condo comes with an adorable roommate. Her name is Sealy, and she's incredibly affectionate and playful. She'll love you, and you'll love her, partly because she doesn't know how to bark. :)


Finally, the furniture shown in these photos is not mine. It belongs to the previous tenant. I'll add a few photos of my furniture soon. The bedroom for rent will be furnished with a twin bed, a desk, a dresser, and 2 bookshelves.