RedScare Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 As a small contribution to our newest section, I thought I'd throw a few "before and after" pics of my house up here. I give high marks for affordability and attention to detail to the contractor. Before: After Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumapayam Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Tied in with the lighting and landscaping, the after picture looks great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 i thought it would be more red and scarier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumapayam Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 i thought it would be more red and scarier. dare I say it, it was very "puny"! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted October 11, 2006 Author Share Posted October 11, 2006 i thought it would be more red and scarier. Well, the door is red. Does that count? As for scary, that's pretty much the inside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Well, the door is red. Does that count? As for scary, that's pretty much the inside. i'll give you credit for that.....so is the inside finished? refresh my memory, where is this located? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted October 11, 2006 Author Share Posted October 11, 2006 i'll give you credit for that.....so is the inside finished? refresh my memory, where is this located? Thanks. It is in the Heights. It is one of only 4 unaltered (out of 20) homes on my block. The inside is very habitable, but has never been added onto. The bathroom has a 1970s redo. The kitchen looks to be largely original. No central A/C, no dishwasher, but the floors have been redone and the walls painted...though I am going to repaint the interior. Like many have mentioned on this forum, I initially thought I would add on and completely update the house. But, as I settled in, I realized how comfortable it is, and did not want to ruin it's charm. Now, 2 and a half years later, I find myself bragging that I have one of the quickly vanishing originals. Renovations have slowed to a crawl, as I re-evaluate every idea I had, in the interest of keeping the house as original as possible. My concession to the 21st Century will be the garage. I plan to tear down the termite infested shack, and replace it with a 2 story, with a gameroom/apartment upstairs. Hopefully I can start on that next year. BTW, I want to see pics of your and danax's cribs. There's room in this section now. That goes for some of you other posters who are or have renovated, too. Don't be shy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Like many have mentioned on this forum, I initially thought I would add on and completely update the house. But, as I settled in, I realized how comfortable it is, and did not want to ruin it's charm. Now, 2 and a half years later, I find myself bragging that I have one of the quickly vanishing originals. Renovations have slowed to a crawl, as I re-evaluate every idea I had, in the interest of keeping the house as original as possible.My concession to the 21st Century will be the garage. I plan to tear down the termite infested shack, and replace it with a 2 story, with a gameroom/apartment upstairs. Hopefully I can start on that next year. BTW, I want to see pics of your and danax's cribs. There's room in this section now. That goes for some of you other posters who are or have renovated, too. Don't be shy. i'm glad i left mine as is too. i will post some pics of my bathroom and the rest as i find them on my other computer. my house is pretty much done except for kitchen. i want to paint exterior with some color but have been vascillating too long. It is still the same bland white as when i bought it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendyps Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 (edited) WOW! how did you deal with the lead issue? the original paint on that house was surely lead based. I want to do a scrape down on mine, but for that reason do not think I can. The prev owner painted it, but I'd prefer a diff color and it is flaking off in parts anyway, so it needs work... would you mind telling me/us about how much that cost? I wish I had before shots of my "bungalow", these pics are making me want a project house of my own! Red, what style do you call your house? Mine is very, very similar. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if we had the same builders/designer (whatever they were called back then). Its not quite a bungalow but not quite a cottage either. p.s. nice avatar Edited October 13, 2006 by wendyps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest danax Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 BTW, I want to see pics of your and danax's cribs. There's room in this section now. That goes for some of you other posters who are or have renovated, too. Don't be shy. Red, the place looks sharp! A nice eye-candy add to the Heights. I think the street impact of one restored original has the power to neutralize 3 mondo-condos or bungled bungalows. My crib is still in the pre-photo stages. I've been very slow in deciding and now that I've decided, I have no more excuses except that I'm just very slow. I've done a lot compared to how it was but nothing worth showing. I'm working on adding continuous soffit ventilation and replacing the original fascia and am doing a custom creation using diamond mesh with screen behind it. I would've rather not had to change it but my attic needs to vent badly. My intent is to not make it look too garish and I'm happy with it but it's taking me forever. I've got the curved portion in my porch to do soon and that will be challenging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted October 13, 2006 Author Share Posted October 13, 2006 (edited) Thanks, Wendy...on the house AND the avatar. Actually, I believe my house would be considered a bungalow. I tend to describe it as a "Craftsman Style Bungalow", since I am certain that it is not Craftsman, but rather resembles one. According to wikipedia, it may also be called a "ranch bungalow", due to the fact that the living quarters are on one side, with the public areas (living, dining, kitchen) on the other. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bungalow As for lead, that is a shaky issue. Lead was banned outright in 1978. The house has been painted several times since then. The peeling paint is likely not lead. However, it is certainly possible that some of the previous leftover lead paint came off too. The biggest problem with lead paint occurs if it is sanded, especially indoors. Since this was an exterior job, I was not concerned with dust. The painters used drop cloths to catch most of the scraped paint. I have been picking up the remaining pieces myself, to keep the dog in the avatar (you can also see her to the far right in the 'after' photo) from inadvertantly eating it. Cost was between $2500 and $3000. PM me if you'd like the contractor's name and number. I highly recommend them. As for having your own 'project' house, come on over. I am not selfish. I'll share the fun with you. PS - Thanks, danax. One of these days, I want to come see what you and musicman have done in person. I want to see how tough some of my DIY ideas will be to do. Edited October 13, 2006 by RedScare Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendyps Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 yup. our houses are the same i'm sure. you should swing by some time (wink wink) and check mine out for ideas/do's and not do's. The previous owner did a great job renovating the inside and leaving the outside in its original footpring. It is modernized, but with a slight nod to the past.for example, the took the 3rd bedroom (middle one) and converted it to a W/D closet and pantry in the kitchen, and a huge bathroom and closet on the bedroom side. So that I have a master "suite" and still have a guest bedroom and bathroom (original). He separated the public area of the house into a living/dining room and a kitchen/den area. The kitchen rocks if I do say so myself. I'll post pictures if there is interest, but again, no before shots (although I'm told it was ratty when he purchased it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted October 13, 2006 Author Share Posted October 13, 2006 I'll post pictures if there is interest, but again, no before shots (although I'm told it was ratty when he purchased it).Of course, there is interest! As musicman said on his post, there have been many inspirations from this forum. Post away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 (edited) PS - Thanks, danax. One of these days, I want to come see what you and musicman have done in person. I want to see how tough some of my DIY ideas will be to do.you're more than welcome to stop by. we're a short bike ride away from each other. just excuse my housekeeping skills. Edited October 14, 2006 by musicman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmainguy Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 I saw your place in person the other day. What a great shock of color for your block! When you build your garage you should think about flipping the colors: do the base in blue, trim in yellow and keep all the moving parts red. You can always do a sample with your left-over paint to see if you like. Just my 2 c. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted October 14, 2006 Author Share Posted October 14, 2006 I saw your place in person the other day. What a great shock of color for your block! When you build your garage you should think about flipping the colors: do the base in blue, trim in yellow and keep all the moving parts red. You can always do a sample with your left-over paint to see if you like. Just my 2 c. Yeah, there's a lot of earth tones on my street. I wanted to shake it up a bit, but, as you might guess, I was pretty concerned that this color scheme might be over the top. But, once they finished, it looked better than I thought it would. The neighbors have been complimentary, too...probably because they are glad I finally cleaned the place up a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Marty Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 (edited) Well, the door is red. Does that count? As for scary, that's pretty much the inside. My door is red also. The exterior paint job is crisp and clean kinda inspirational i love it i give it a 10 Edited October 15, 2006 by Marty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted October 23, 2006 Author Share Posted October 23, 2006 OK, so I decided to yank those nearly wall-to-wall rugs that the previous owner had left in my living and dining rooms last week. I was pleasantly surprised! The floors aren't that bad! So, encouraged that the living/dining room floors were in good shape, this weekend I decided to pull the carpets in the hallway and bedrooms. The result? ...and, to top it off, I have this lovely linoleum in the bedrooms. At least, the linoleum caught all of the paint spills...but I get to scrape the glue off the floors! The best laid plans.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmainguy Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Red...you gotta look past the bad to see the beauty and trust me, those floors will be beautiful once they're refinished. When we bought this house I'm guessing the previous owner gave his painters a 15 gal. barrel of white paint and said "Just paint everything white." Well they took him literally because they did just as he said: the walls, the ceiling, the floors, the toilet, sink and bath tub [seriously!!!], the switch-plate covers, the door knobs and of course all the woodwork. I feel your pain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 a simple sanding will do wonders. I had dry rotted carpet on mine probably from the 50's. when i pulled it off, i knew that it would look great. Your living room looks good already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest danax Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 a simple sanding will do wonders. I had dry rotted carpet on mine probably from the 50's. when i pulled it off, i knew that it would look great. Your living room looks good already. Red, find someone who really is good for your floors. They have a great color, oh yeah, I mean, patina, and the wrong bozo will just sand that thin layer of "cream" off and, you're still going to have beautiful floors, but they'll look like Joe Bob's townhouse instead of Redscare's Temple. I haven't had mine done yet (they have swirl-gullies from the last yokul who did them ) but I've been reading up on the subject. Here's an example of what I consider beautiful wood floors, the beauty coming from the aged wood. You might get away with just a minor sanding or even just cleaning. Then again, everyone has their own idea of what a great wood floor looks like. Although, looking again at your pics, you do have some color variance where a rug once was, it appears, and that's not something that can be cleaned away as the wood has been altered by light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted October 24, 2006 Author Share Posted October 24, 2006 danax and musicman, you two are reading my mind. I want to keep that worn in contour, as opposed to the 'perfect' look. Since I do almost nothing quickly, I plan to clean the floors only at this time, and research the best way to get them back up to snuff. That website that danax referenced is EXACTLY the way I want them to look. Thanks for the advice....and the encouragement. Oh, and if I decide to paint my bathtub, I'm calling nmainguy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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