resources

just thought i would share a list of my go-to websites during this wild ride.  i don't know what i would do without these resources and it helps to have this list for personal reasons right here on my blog:-)

a wonderful outlet for paint color dilemmas
http://www.peacockpaint.com/paint_colors/

such a cute girl with great ideas.  very casual style like mine.
http://www.nestegg.typepad.com/

love these lighting ideas for out screen porch, kitchen, and casual lighting inside http://www.barnlightelectric.com/
but for more modern lighting, i ordered from http://www.jonathanadler.com/ceiling-lights
and for reasonably priced elegant lighting i usedhttp://www.tarashaw.com/maison/index.php in NOLA

great site when i need to show a visual to my contractors!
http://www.decorpad.com/index.htm

for everything in our bath
http://www.ferguson.com/homeowner.shtml

for pretty tile
http://prosourcejackson.leads.com/Products/naturalstone/Pages/BrowseProducts.aspx

for solid surface counter tops...ask for remnants!
BJ's Ceramic Tile (couldn't locate a web address)

for hardware i love getting ideas from restoration hardware  and then matching them at lowes or ridgeland specialty hardware for better prices

cool outdoor gardening stuff http://www.shopterrain.com/

hmmm that's about all i can come up with for now.  will update when i start on interior decorating!

during



family room vault



master bath gutted

                                                                       
 


pantry door from old house depot




pantry goes in middle door and brick archway to the left



view from family room of brick archway

 

new opening to master

mollie lost two small closets for a bigger master bath...



raised casings to living, dining



made two bedroom closets more efficient

closed off lots of doorways in hall

our soon to be home

after searching (with the best, nix tann) high and low for the perfect new home in jackson, we stumbled upon an old one.  it was built in 1959 by a doctor and his family.  they lived there until they sold it to us in July.  after interviewing 13 different contractors to take on this project of a project we found the perfect candidate, structural solutions.  what i know is that their bid came in the lowest.  what i also know is that they were formerly a foundation only company and decided in the past couple of years to take on the rebuild types of projects.  let's not call my house a "guinea pig", although that is sort of what it is.  scary.  instead of going with a build+design firm, i bravely decided to be the "design" part.  you would laugh if you saw my drawings. 
read my lips..."i will never build a house", although obviously renovating is more work since we're dealing with existing. moving states and getting settled in my parents home, while searching for a lender, contractor, etc was tough but the day-to-day quick decisions have been stressful too.

below are the before pictures i took and i will also include some during pictures in my
next post. this is all very difficult to explain without you seeing the space, by the way. just keep in mind that we are doing a TON of work:-) definitely looking forward to after pictures in a few weeks...

the front is mostly cosmetic-painting the shutters, door, railing, and putting new stone on the walk-way and steps, new lanterns, landscaping

this is the family room. we are vaulting the ceiling with heart pine beams, re-working the fireplace (making it wood burning and more modern) and adding a french door leading outside on the left and the right side window will be a wall where you see a window and door

tearing out the book shelves, raising door ways, vaulting, all floors will be re-stained

long hall way from front foyer to all bedrooms: closing off doors, adding doors, etc

the good ole master...the bathroom is discombobulated that i couldn't get in to take a before picture. we are gutting it.

the kitchen is generally ok. it's getting a brick archway to the family room and a new island. bye bye wallpaper.

impossible to explain but this nook will now be a pantry from the kitchen (and this is the window that's now wall)

 this is that window from the family room that's getting walled off, the door on the side is part of the pantry and the sliding doors are now french doors

carpeting the playroom/sunroom. the door i haven't explained yet leads to the garage.  oh and guess what...a new half bath is going in this room.

back patio is getting a screened in porch on part of the flagstone, new beams, and a fireplace

existing half bath in guest room"nursery" is getting paint, lights and a bigger closet

mollie's room! just painting and lightsliving room/dining room. new lighting, hardwoods, raised doorways