Bringing New Life to Old Floors

Hello dear friends! 

Things have been busy at the Wellman house. What's new you ask? Well for starters, we've made the decision to SELL! 

Yes, you heard that right. Our adorable little home you've watched us paint, spackle, strip, and stain for the past seven years is going on the market. How does this make me feel? To be honest...ALL OF THE EMOTIONS! 

For real. We have put so much love into every inch of this place, the idea of packing up and leaving it behind makes me want to cry a little. On the other hand, Harrison has become a pro at circling the four main rooms that make up the first floor and could really use a bit more space to roam. We always knew that this would be our "starter home", and didn't plan to live here much past the first kid. Time has come to move on. 

It really is perfect for a young couple who want to take that first step to own property, it's big enough, but not too big, has a beautiful yard and is in a very central location with easy access to both I-75 and I-71 (can you tell I've been working on my sales pitch?). 

Since making this bold choice to move into "phase 2" of homeownership, we made a shortlist of things to tackle before selling. First on that list? Refinish the floors. 

Ever since our first walkthrough, the mismatched foyer and kitchen tiles have bugged me. They're close...but not close enough. Since it wasn't an urgent issue, we pretty much just lived with it. But no more! After some investigation, Eric concluded that under those sticky tiles were original hardwoods. Let's bring 'em out and let them LIVE!!! 

A bit of elbow grease, a long nap from Harrison, the help from two FANTASTIC friends, and voila! We have wooden floors! 

The foyer was simply a click together vinyl and only took about 30 minutes to pull up. We could tell it had been finished at some point in time, but the kitchen was a different story. Three layers of linoleum (yes. THREE), one subfloor, and a GAZILLION STAPLES were attached to this poor poor original flooring. 

Bit by bit Eric removed the staples, while I followed closely behind, broom in hand. Something about having rouge staples hanging around with a 1-year-old in the house didn't sound wise to me. 

Because of the incredible scope of this project, we decided to hire the professionals. We did NOT want to try and tackle this DIY style. Since the whole refinishing process would take about four days to complete, we packed up and planned to head to our parent's house for the week. Before leaving though, we had to decide on a stain color. A couple employees from the flooring company swung by the house and laid out our options. 

I wanted something dark, but not too dark, and also not too warm. Out of the four choices we were given (#1 being the lightest, #4 the darkest) #3 spoke to me. 

So after taking down all our fun decor and packing everything we wanted out of the way into the living room, we took one last look, kissed our old floors goodbye, and hit the road. 

One week later, we returned home to beautiful original hardwood floors brought back to their former glory! 

SO PRETTY!!!! 

I couldn't wait to snap photos and Harrison couldn't wait to explore. And as much as I love tackling a good DIY, there's something magical about walking out the door knowing everything will be complete by the time you get back. 

Can you believe these stunners were hiding under that horrible tile all these years????? I adore how much more warmth there seems to be in our home now. Especially in the kitchen, the contrast between the floors and white cabinets makes me absolutely giddy. 

Excuse the mess, things are still in a bit of disarray. 

BUT OMG just LOOK at these before and afters! 

I can't stop looking at them! With all of our projects, I've always prided ourselves on staying true to the character of our old home. The trim is big and bulky, the ceilings are high, and the floors are now absolutely glowing. 

Makes me almost want to ditch the idea of moving and stay here for another seven years...*trips over Harrison's toys taking over the living room*...almost. 

Check out all of our home improvements and decor, by visiting the OUR NEST page.

What did the RUG say to the FLOOR?

Don't move. I've got you covered! 

Hahaha! Shouldn't everything start with a classic Laffy Taffy joke? I think so :) 

Since last summer, when we painted all of the brown trim in the foyer and up to the second floor white, this is your view upon walking into our home:

Uber attractive isn't it? 

On a happier note, I'm still 100% head-over-heels in LOVE with our black and white banister! That's partially why the rest of the stairs are killing me. The old carpet with the icky brown color lurking from behind is NOT what a dead sexy banister deserves as it's counterpart. It deserves glamour! style! a completed paint job!

With this new found ambition, and the fact that we haven't tackled any major house projects in months, I am DETERMINED to find a runner rug and scratch this task off the to-do list. Knowing this is not something we'll be able to bring with us if/when we move, I have to take into consideration the taste of future buyers. So when my addiction to anything animal print lead me to drool-worthy images like these:

Source/Source/Source

Eric had to gently pull my hand away from the computer mouse, and remind me that although these homes look unquestionably stunning, leopard may not be the best option for us....

HA! JK, his exact words were "HELL NO!"

A few of the more practical ideas had similar themes of neutral colors, and a geometric pattern. 

Source/Source/Source

Currently I'm leaning towards either a grey, or black and white pattern. My only reservation for the black, is how easily hair, lint, and dirt shows. I had a black rug in my room all through college, and I can't begin to guess how many lint rollers I went through trying to keep that dang thing clean. Yes I used lint rollers instead of a vacuum. I was young and lazy, so sue me. With the stairs being a decently "high traffic" area, I'd hate to deck it out with black carpet, and then curse my brains out when I'm sweeping it for the 20th time that week. But you GUYS!!!! How absolutely sharp would these black and white stripes look?! Jenny from Little Green Notebook used these IKEA rugs on her stairs ages ago, and as low the cost for the rugs are, that's how high the level of style is. Of course I had to Photoshop my own stairs to see how they'd look in a similar fashion. 

Totally digging it. 

At $25 a pop, we could get the whole stair case done for around $150. I think that's pretty reasonable, considering some of the other options I was looking at started at $150 for ONE RUG. 

Then there is this guy. Another geometric pattern, but in a lighter grey that could maybe hide dirt and grime a bit better. Plus with the sale Overstock is currently running, and our in-store credit, this option would actually be cheaper. 

I'm so torn. 

I feel like it's going to be almost impossible to make a decision without a sample or something to physically see in the house. We could always order one of each, and just lay them in the foyer for a while to see how we like them after a few days. 

What do YOU think? 
A) Can't go wrong with classic black and white! 

B) Go the sensible route with a grey! 

C) Ignore Eric and give leopard print a try!!!

Happy One-Year-As-Homeowners to US!

We have OFFICIALLY been homeowners for one year! Wooohoo!!!!! 

*throws confetti* 

This past year has been a completely new experience for us, taking care of an entire house is incredibly different than a two bedroom apartment. I have though, been impressed on multiple occasions, the level of handiness Eric has demonstrated. The man's got skills. 

To celebrate our transition from new homeowners to somewhat-experienced-but-not-really homeowners, let's go on a little "before meets after" home tour! Disclaimer: this post is kind of long, so if you don't feel like reading, just skip down and look at the fun pictures! 

Let's begin with the front of the house, here it is when we moved in: 

 And here is what it looks like today: 
Not a whole lot of change, but we did add some potted flowers, pillows on the porch swing, and some adorable red lanterns. 

A few more items on our To-Do list is are:

• update house numbers 
• give mailbox and porch light a fresh coat of paint
• paint front door a fun color 

When you walked into our home that first week after we moved in, this is what you were greeted with: 

And here is what is looks like today: 

New wall color, white trim, and the creation of our gallery wall are all updates we made. We also swapped out small old lighting that was in the foyer, for this chandelier I found at Goodwill and spray painted yellow.

A few other things on my radar for this room is a runner rug, console table, hang a mirror in the hall, and update the flooring.

• paint walls, ceiling, and trim
• replace light with painted chandelier
• remove bars and replace carpet on stairs
• paint/refinish banister
• create some sort of landing pad for keys, shoes, ect.
• install door stop
• install hanging light going up the stairs
• runner rug

Next up is our living room in all its olive-green glory:

And thanks to panoramic iPhone magic, I can show you a fish-eye view of what it looks like today:

We've painted, updated the trim to white, bought new furniture, hung some pictures, and updated our side tables. I would like to update the carpet and hang some curtains in here soon as well. 

• paint walls, ceiling, and trim
• hang curtains
• new furniture
• new carpet
• end table between chairs (paint current set white?)
• revamp/replace coffee table (spray paint gold?)
• update IKEA light  
• TV that actually fits in the space
• widen both doorways?

Our dining room was looking pretty sad for a while: 

 But now it is easily one of my favorite rooms in the whole house: 

We've painted, gave my grandmother's table a new home, hung pictures, added a rug, tracked down some chairs, and decorated our china cabinet. I'm still debating if this room needs curtains or not, I kind of love the bare windows with the shutters, and I still want to paint our chairs white and reupholster them. 

• paint walls, ceiling, and trim
• curtains?
• new rug
• chairs for table
• paint chairs white (like this) and upholster

 Before the kitchen was just a giant wash of brown and beige: 

 Now it's bright walls and white cabinets: 

This room has probably had the most cosmetic changes in whole house. We've painted the walls, painted the cabinets, and hung curtains. Which may not sound like a lot, but it all made a huge difference. The rest of what we have planned for the kitchen is a bit more complicated, including updating the counter tops as well as redoing the floors. 

• paint walls, doors, ceiling, trim, and cabinets
• replace back splash (subway tile?)
• install crown molding on top of kitchen cabinets (like this)
• replace counters (butcher block? like this and this. Also like white like this, or a contrast like this and this)
• re-upholster bar stools
• get a refrigerator that actually fits
• change cabinets above stove to fit microwave there, and add a vent
• make roman shades for windows

Heading to the second floor, this was the view up the stairs: 

 And here is the view today: 

Painting the banister was another giant project we tackled this year. Finding a new rug runner to replace the brown one, and finishing the painting is next on the list for the staircase.

I had dubbed the upstairs the "hallways of brown", brown floors, brown walls, brown trim, and brown ceiling....not exciting. 

 Now we've brought in some light!:

We painted the trim, walls, doors, and the only thing left to conquer is the ceiling. 

Our bedroom was blue...very blue, and so NOT somewhere I wanted to end my day in: 

 And today it is looking quite delightful if I do say so myself: 

We painted the walls, the trim, hung curtains as well as pictures, and updated our bedside tables. Our hope for the future is to swap out our queen bed for a California king, as well as maybe get a matching bedroom set. 

• paint walls, ceiling, trim, and doors
• new ceiling fan/paint white
• headboard
• rug
• hang curtains
• bedside lamps
• nightstands
• matching dresser set 
• B&W print of each of us from wedding, flanking the windows
• hang mirror on closet door 
• set chair in corner with reading lamp
• accent wall like this?

The other two bedrooms upstairs are nothing to brag about....but also have had some improvements since we moved in. 

Less boxes, but really not much else.

 The bathroom though had quite the makeover, It went from this: 

 To wonderful peacock purple bliss: 

This makeover was one I was especially proud of. If there are anymore updates I'd like to make, it would maybe be to paint the cabinetry under the sink a brilliant color. 

Heading outside, this used to be the view from the back porch: 

 And holy-green-grass Batman! this is what it looks like now: 

The previous owner's dogs basically took over the backyard, and it ended up looking absolutely terrible. A few months after we moved in, Eric and his Dad dug up everything that looked dead and completely replanted. 

Other things we've been thinking about doing are building a pergola, and creating more of an outdoor eating and entertaining area. 

• replant grass
• backyard furniture
• fire ring
• cafe lights
• add a pergola or something for shade/coverage (love this and this)
• outdoor bar
• get a grill

The last stop of our tour is the rec room aka Eric's "man cave":

Slowly but surely Eric has been adding his own charm to this space, and claiming it as %100 his own. I'm not really sure what his goals are, aside from covering every surface space with Beatles, Cincinnati Reds, or Purdue memorabilia. 

And that concludes the end of our tour!  Sorry for the SUPER long post, but I hope you enjoyed taking a peak into our little home. We still have a ton of plans for the future, and I can't wait to get started and share our progress a long the way.