Our First Home

Good Afternoon and TGIF my friends! If you have been following along on my frequent Instagram stories, you may know that we recently modeled our upstairs attic into a finished, liveable space and just put our house on the market (added to the MLS 15 hours ago). I wanted to share a home tour and all the things we have done (or at least that I can recall from the top of my head) to improve it the past 4 years! Feel free to skim along or just check out the pictures. BEWARE of a few “BEFORE” photos I included for fun!

Our Front Yard

-Installed a mailbox
-Edged all flower gardens
-Mulched all beds
-Trimmed bushes
-Planted 4 Evergreen bushes by front steps
-Replanted day lillies & 4 azaelea bushes
-Planted perennials
-Planted 2 hydrangea bushes by fireplace
-Removed Day Lillies filling entire front garden
-Added small stones by front sidewalk
-Moved 2 tons of dirt from flower gardens to front of yard to smooth slope by sidewalk

Our Front Porch

-Put a cover over fireplace to keep out flying squirrels
-Changed fan light covers
-Painted ceiling blue
-Pressure washed porch
-Pressure washed every square
-Repainted railing
-Repainted all trim
-Scraped & Repainted all outside windows
-Wired front lights for Christmas lights
-Added gutter water pulls
-Painted front door glossy black
-Replaced door hardware with keypad entry
-Installed Ring System

Living Room

-Painted walls – “Stonington Grey”
-Painted trim – “Snowbound”
-Filled inside fireplace with heat resistant, black paint (usually made for grills)
-Had ceilings remudded & sanded to fix cracks after the upstairs was finished
-Painted ceilings again
-Created wireless set-up for television
-Plugged chimney to assist with power
-Replaced broken blinds with curtains

The Guest Room/Closet/Office

-Painted closet
-Painted walls & trim – both in “Extra White”
-Installed metal closet rod to replace bent, wooden rod
-Mudded dents & holes
-Replaced fan

Guest Bath

-Repaired broken tile
-Closed open spot behind vanity to prevent rodents
-Repaired hole in wall
-Added shelving in linen closet & painted
-Painted walls in “Charcoal Black”

Master Bedroom

-Painted walls Benjamin Moore “Nebulous White”
-Added a door to the hot water heater & Painted

Master Bathroom

-Painted bathroom
-Touched up after leak that resulted in new roofing
-Laid flooring in closet

Kitchen

-Adjusted cabinets
-Replaced lampshades/bulbs over the island
-Fixed permanently stuck drawer
-Replaced kitchen faucet (twice)
-Dishwasher leak repair
-Replaced refrigerator icemaker

Cabinets are Annie Sloan “Old White” and Island is Annie Sloan “Duck Egg Blue”

Our Appliance Cabinet

The Laundry Room

-Added cabinets
-Hung a shelf
-Painted walls

The Dining Room

-Hung curtains – TJ Maxx
-Hung wedding Gallery Wall
-Lifted chandelier & added a chandelier pendant
-Covered & painted the old electrical outlet as it was exposed when we purchased house
-Fixed hard to open french doors
-Painted trim – “Snowbound”
-Painted walls – “Egret White”

YARD BEFORE

YARD AFTER

Back Yard

-Tore down a rotten shed & removed leftovers
-Replaced rotten boards on garage
-Filled cracks & holes in garage with filler to reduce bugs
-Wired garage for electricity
-Installed overhead light & replaced garage opener
-Repainted the entire building
-Sheetrocked, mudded, finish, & painted inside of garage – Benjamin Moore’s “Egret White”

-Built a 16′ x 20′ deck with benches
-Painted deck twice
-Wired lighting system for the deck & cafe lighting
-Painted backdoor
-Sanded down backdoor

-Cut & trimmed trees
-Removed weeds behind shed
-Removed an old clothesline
-Tree stump removal
-Removed ivy vines
-Trimmed all bushes, trees

-Added a firepit where a trampoline sat previously

-Edged a back border & added mulch along back fench
-Filled missing stone brick from foundation
-Added a brick pathway to trash

Major Surprise Repairs

-Bought new roofing for roll roofing on corner master bath addition after major leak = $1400
-Replaced downstairs HVAC system after 3 major $300-$700 repairs with new Payne unit = $4500
-Replaced 10′ portion of plumbing to prevent backups for our old plumbing system – $700
-Installed new HVAC pipes where water filled our master bath & flooded closet & HVAC pipes in floor due to old sink fittings – $300
-Replaced old sink fittings with modern, shark fittings to prevent leaks in the future – $100
-Updated all HVAC covers from light –> dark, stylized versions
-Put a cover over fireplace top to keep out flying squirrels
-Sprayed home for pests regularly & had mice removal 3x

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Upstairs Addition

The Contractor:
-Enforced 6″ beams to support upstairs weight
-Framed attic into 1 bedroom, 1 misc room or office, & 1 bathroom, & attic space
-Plumbed upstairs bathroom
-Wired upstairs with a new breaker unit
-Installed separate split heating/air unit for new space
-Installed a NEST
-Insulated upstairs
-Installed drywall, mudded
-Added trim, installed sink & tub
-Added skylight to roof

Brad, Me, & My Parents:
-Installed tile & grouted bathroom
-Caulked trim
-Mud touch-ups to walls
-Primed trim, walls, & ceiling
-Painted trim in Benjamin Moore “Dove Wing”
-Painted walls in Benjamin Moore “Gray Mist”
-Repainted staircase
-Installed engineered hardwoods upstairs
-Repainted downstairs walls + trim
-Sanded steps, stained them in “Jacobean,” & lacquered for finish
-Installed shower curtain & final cleaning, paint touch-ups
-Installed doors and hardware

Overall, finishing the attic cost added 370 square feet. I am thrilled with the additional bathroom, loft, and bedroom. Special thanks to my Dad for helping us lay tile, start the flooring, and to my Mother for helping us along the way and priming/painting with me!

We never got to expanding the gas lines for a grill and a gas fireplace. I would also touch up the wood flooring in the kitchen with some mineral oil if we were planning to stay there longer. I would repaint the back porch. Finally, we would add a retaining wall at the front, sidewalk portion of our property. We would bring in a few tons of dirt and fill any empty spaces with sod grass.

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Our first home has treated us so well. We got our first puppy there. We spent countless days working on improving our lives. Brad asked me to marry him on our move-in day!

Take a look at our home 1 month after we moved in! We took in this Goldfish that is now buried under our dogwood!

Why Are We Moving?

My heavy heart pounded through my chest as Brad beat our “FOR SALE” sign into the yard of memories. However, I feel our time is complete here. Brad and I are ready for change and progress. Our 2 year first house turned 5 year home no longer has all the yard work, projects, & growth I crave. It will be a perfect home for the right family, but Brad and I are ready to make our return on the investing we have put into this home. I am ready for new projects and Brad is ready for a larger garage.

CHECK OUT THE LISTING FOR OUR HOME HERE

We invested love and good vibes into our little Carolina Avenue home and I cannot wait to meet the sweet family to adsorb them next!

With Joy,
Audrey