On the last Beech Street Bungalow update, I shared our progress in the kitchen.  Since then, we are excited to say that we have moved in!  This means we are living in a construction zone, but it is so nice to finally have our own little nest.  ​

We had quite a time drawing up our master bathroom, but I had no trouble at all dreaming  it up.  When you get down to the nitty gritty of planing out a solid floor plan, you realize that the space you thought was plenty of room for a toilet turns out to only be half of the space you need.  The area for the bathroom we were working with was limited in order to avoid relocating an exterior door.  The space was also made a bit tricky due to the location of a window, keeping the brick along the bottom left wall, and including a bathroom door (original re-located glass french doors to be exact) and closet door.  After hours upon hours of trying different layouts, we finally agreed on one we thought would work.  

Now, the fun part.  Remember all that dreaming I was doing before the drawing got in the way?  Back to that.  I loved the look of the subway tile with the dark grout.  I thought it was so classic, yet edgy!  I also loved the gold hardware and fixtures.  Phillip wouldn't let me use gold in the kitchen (he thought it was a bit trendy), so he compromised with the master bath.  Here were my pinterest inspirations for the look I was going for in our bathroom. 

You may not know this about me, but I'm pretty crafty.  When we talked about doing a tile shower, I was like, "Yeah, I can do that."  So confident, and so mistaken.  Luckily, my Dad has tiled a shower or two in the past, so he agreed to help me!  With a handy-dandy tile book, his past experience, and my determination - we tiled our shower.  Let me just tell you, it was miserable. 

It was about as fun as it looks.  I was so involved that I totally forgot to take pictures along the way.  With only being able to work on it two days out of the week, it took us almost two months to completely finish the shower.  Knowing what I know now, I would have chosen a larger tile and built a smaller shower.  Haha!  It is full of imperfections (as you can imagine), but honestly, I do love our shower.

Here's a look at the bathroom once it was sheetrocked, somewhat painted and tiled. 

The bathroom fixtures that I chose were Champagne Bronze by Delta.  This is similar to gold, but much softer, giving you the gold look.  The hardest thing to pick out for our bathroom was the lights!  I knew we would have can lights, but I really wanted sconces on either side of the mirror.  Trying to find a sconce that matched the finish of our fixtures was impossible!  Finally, I took a chance and just ordered the lights that I liked.  When they came in, I realized that they were in fact the wrong color.   Roxie suggested spray painting them rather than heading back to my search.  This made me nervous, considering how expensive lights are these days, but I finally decided to give it a shot.  The closest match in spray paint that I could find was a shade of Rust-Oleum Metallic.  I taped up the parts that didn't need to be painted and sprayed away!  Below you can see the difference in the Champagne Bronze and the original color of the light fixtures.

I thought that the lights turned out beautifully!  It still isn't an exact match, but it is much better than the original finish.  We chose to use the same cabinets and counter tops as in the kitchen, so those will look familiar to you.

Now, here is a look at our finished master bathroom!  Notice the glass french doors--one set was relocated here from the living room!

I love the paint color for this room, Artistic Taupe by Sherwin Williams.  Phillip wasn't sure about it at first, but he loves it now!  I think it is the perfect complement to the bright white trim, gold fixtures and hardwood floors.

Here's a closer look at the Champagne Bronze fixtures with our tile and quartz counters.

The hardware on the cabinets was our finishing touch to the master bath.

You probably don't remember, but we decided to push into the hallway in order to add a master closet.  This choice made the most sense because all we had to do for it to work was make the opening to the kitchen a bit smaller.  Phillip added custom built-ins to maximize our hanging and storage space.

There you have it.  Our master bath was a slow process but well worth the wait.  The guest bathroom will also have tile, but after this, my tiling days are over!  The master bath was a very educational experience for me, and though I joke about it, it is nice to gain a skill like tiling.  I am so thankful to be as far along as we are, but I cannot wait for it to be completely finished.  We are enjoying life in town, and Breeze sure does love our back yard.  

Last week made it an entire year that we have been working on our home.  After some reflection, I have realized that I have allowed the last year of my life to revolve around a house.  Though it seems (and to some extent is) honorable and good to work so hard towards building a home, I believe that I have allowed this renovation to steal my purpose and joy this past year.  Luckily, I have realized the effect it has had on me and have made a decision to now put people first.  The house can wait, loving people cannot.  Though it seems as if I have fallen short this past year at loving the people around me, I will strive to love them even better than before in the years to come.  It is a fine line finding a balance between the responsibilities and stressors of everyday life and living as Jesus calls us to.  I am thankful for His grace and all of the support Phillip and I have had throughout this journey.  We look forward to the day when our home is used as a tool to love others.  Until then, we will make time for the people around us - including each other.   

In my last renovation update, Beech Street Bungalow: The Floors, I was able to show you pictures of our beautiful refinished floors!  After the floors were completely dry, we did our best to cover every inch of them with thick paper!  The last thing we wanted to do was scuff them up or drip paint all over them.

The next project on our list was to begin painting! Phillip informed me that as soon as the kitchen was painted, he could begin installing our cabinets and counter tops!  That was enough motivation for me, so off to Sherwin Williams I went!  I didn't have a problem choosing the color families of my paint, but narrowing it down to a specific color took me a while!  As I joked in an Instagram post, it's easy to pick paint colors when you already have favorite polish colors. And if you know me, you know I have tons of favorite polish colors! (Check out: Why Nails Were Meant to be Painted)

So, my first bite would be to focus on the kitchen!  After analyzing, over analyzing, and analyzing some more, I finally decided on Eider White for the walls!

​I had already visited the Cabinet Warehouse in Fitzgerald to shop for cabinets and counter tops.  Phillip worked with this company for about 7 years, so he is pretty knowledgeable in this area!  He was able to save us a good bit of money by installing them himself. We chose a simple grey cabinet and white quartz counter tops, so I thought that Eider White would work well with those components as well as the other colors in my home.

After painting the kitchen and butler's pantry, Phillip began installing the cabinets!  This was so much fun (for me, not him) and made the house start to resemble a home.  I don't know about you, but the kitchen is always one of my favorite rooms in a house!  I spend so much time in that space doing what I love to do--cooking, baking, (eating), talking, laughing; all with the people I love. 

Just like most of the world today, I love Pinterest!  I love how organized and inspiring this tool is.  Not only do I have a "Home Sweet Home" board, but I also have a secret board for each room in my house!  This was the perfect way for me to organize my thoughts and ideas all in one place.  Later on, I'll share a few tips with you on how to stay organized (and on budget) during a major renovation like this!  Here are three pictures (each linked to the original source) that gave me a little inspiration for this space:

I just loved everything about the last picture you see above.  I love the soft color scheme, the two-toned cabinets, the counter tops, and of course, the lights.  I too would have a large island with a sink so this kitchen was speaking my language. 

Now that you know what direction my wheels were turning, let me remind you what we were working with.

This was the opening we made for our large pocket doors to be relocated.

And with a fresh coat of paint, they were ready to be hung!

We taped off the layout of the island and cabinets to help us determine where plumbing would need to be run and outlets should be put.

Now for the fun stuff.  Here is what our kitchen looks like today:

Phillip was able to build a vent hood cover, and I just love it! It gives this crisp and clean kitchen a farmhouse feel.
*Side note: The Keurig and electric kettle on the counter came in handy while working in 30 degree weather!  Coffee and warm water for the caulk bucket made my workers happy. :)

I searched for the perfect pendants to hang over the island, and all of the ones I absolutely loved (like the ones in the Pinterest picture) were way out of my price range.  I finally found a similar style within my budget, and I am quite pleased with how they look! I also LOVE how the bead board wall turned out once it was painted.  I guess all of the scraping was worth it!  

After we installed the vent hood cover, we liked it so much that we decided to incorporate that look into the island as well.  I knew I didn't want to have a solid grey panel on the back of the island, but I wasn't quite sure what I did want.  Phillip suggested for us to try the matching wood running horizontal along the back and we both just loved it!  This was a great decision, because it not only will be more durable over time, but it also brings the look together (and cost us a little less)!

This view allows you a sneak peek at our beautiful butler's pantry!  I just love how much storage and practical space it provides.  The Cabinet Warehouse was wonderful to work with and they were able to order the exact glass doors that I wanted for this space! I am so happy with how it is looking and I can't wait to put on the finishing touches!  

You can also see how opening up that wall in the kitchen where we placed the pocket doors brings so much light into the room!  It also makes the kitchen feel much bigger when they are open.

Well there it is.  With the exception of cabinet hardware and appliances, we are ready to roll!  Our bedroom, bathroom and laundry room are coming along nicely as well.  We are having so much fun seeing our dreams come to life and we can't wait to relax in our new home.  More updates are coming your way, so be sure to keep up with The Southern Mercantile Facebook page and sign up for our email list on the home page for a weekly website update!

In my last update, I gave you a tour of the new layout of our home.  Although it was called Beech Street Bungalow: The Walls, we didn't have actual walls up yet! In this post you will get to see the transformation that the floors made as well as the sheetrock!  We have had an exciting past few weeks and I can't wait to share it all with you.

Just in case you have forgotten what the floors were like when we purchased the home, here is a little refresher.  Most rooms in this home exposed the original hard wood floors.  In a few areas, we had carpet and layers of linoleum to remove. (And when I say layers, I mean LAYERS!)  

​The hallway and the kitchen became our biggest challenge due to the type of adhesive that was used to lay the linoleum flooring years ago. Whoever put this flooring down did not intend for it to come back up. :)  

The pictures above are a small glimpse of what our hallway looked like--can you say yuck?!  I spent countless hours trying to peel, scrape and dig it up! After many google searches and multiple chats with knowledgeable floor men, I realized that absolutely no one had the magic formula to removing this mess.  Through trial and error, I found that my handy dandy multi-tool was a great help in removing the layer of linoleum from the glue.  This is not a speedy process nor is it fun--and if you're not careful, you will dig into the wood!

The laundry detergent softened the adhesive and made it easier for me to scrape it using a 5 in 1 tool.  Although this seemed to help, it did not remove the tough spots.  The detergent softened not only the adhesive, but also the wood.  This caused a problem when I began to scrape making it easier to dig into the wood floor resulting in deep gashes.  

As it turned out, the angle grinder worked!  However, it did take what seemed like forever and it was completely disgusting. 

We wore respirators to keep from breathing what the grinder was throwing up in the air.  We went  to such extreme measures to remove this adhesive because we were planning to refinish the floors ourselves.  This adhesive would ruin too much sand paper to try to sand it off with the floor sander.  

After a couple of weeks, Phillip and I finally decided to contract out the rest of the floors.  We were running out of time and energy!  We had saved enough money to hire Burris Cleaning out of Fitzgerald, GA to come in and sand, stain and polyurethane our entire house! Alfonso (pictured on the right) was such a pleasure to work with.  He and his team were so dedicated, honest, hard working and kind.  We couldn't have had a better experience and we're so thankful that they came to the rescue!

Now, the moment you've all been waiting for...
​Take a look at our beautiful new floors! (And walls!!)

Little by little, it's all coming together.  We are so proud to have the floors restored to their original beauty and we can't wait to enjoy them for years to come!  

​As we continued the tearing out process, our next focus became the walls. The walls in our home were covered in a particle board-like material. (Almost like thick card board--but much heavier!)  I have been told that this material was used before sheet rock became popular in the forties.  It came in sheets, much like sheet rock, except the seams were covered with 2 inch wooden strips.  Since we wanted to add insulation and give the home a more updated look, we decided to tear all of this out.  Boy, was this a job -- a job that lasted weeks!  This material covered every inch of the walls and ceilings in the house.

We started tearing out in the living room, which was where we discovered the beadboard walls!  We were so excited at the thought of keeping some of the originals walls in the house to add to the character.  As we revealed more and more of the beadboard walls we discovered that some were patched and some were solid.  This means that we would be able to keep some (the ones that were solid) but not all.  
​
The patched walls are the ones you see so full of color--what a terrible feeling tearing it all out!  The colors were so inspiring that we decided to keep a good bit of the beadboard for future projects.

After tearing out the first layer we were able to assess our situation and decide what was salvageable.  Unfortunately, most of the walls had been patched and there would only be a few we could keep.  The other bad news is that we would have to tear out all of the beadboard that we would not be keeping due to issues with trim fit and ease of insulation.  This was WAY more work than I had expected, but little by little we were able to see it through.  

Bedroom #1 (not pictured)
​The Pantry (not pictured)
The Kitchen

* A Helpful Tip: If you find yourself having to remove wallpaper or any other glued substance from the wall like I did, here is a great trick!  Mix equal parts of liquid fabric softener and hot water in a spray bottle.  Spray over a manageable area and let sit for 5-10 minutes (don't let it dry!).  Using a scraper or 5-in-1 tool, start loosening the edges and scrape away!  For my personal situation, this worked perfectly! (And gave our house a nice smell :) You can clearly see the path in which I scraped in the bottom right picture.  Also, I was gifted the electric kettle you see below as a wedding present--and boy did it come in handy!  I wouldn't have had any other way to access hot water in our house!

In bedroom #1, we decided to keep something really special.  As you now know, our entire home was filled with multi-colored 100 year old beadboard.  I LOVE the unique colors in each piece and so wished I could keep a little piece of the fun.  Once all of the walls were down, I noticed how the wall above the fireplace was a perfect little sample of what filled the whole house.  After sweet talking Phillip, and a few other folks thinking I was crazy, we decided to keep this little section of patchwork as a fun reminder of what once was.

Now, fast forward weeks upon weeks to where we are today.  With a clean slate to work with, we were able to tell what would need to be changed in the floor plan.  One major change we knew we wanted to make was to remove the closet in bedroom #2 in order to open the hallway back up to its original width.  ​

We knew we wanted to add a master bath off of the master bedroom, so we took measurements, planned it out and framed it up!  (Planning a bathroom was much harder than I ever imagined!)  The bathroom pushed into what was once the back porch, but was enclosed by previous owners.

We added a master closet as well by pushing into the hallway and relocating our bedroom door.

We removed the exterior door in the kitchen in order to give us more wall space, and brought the window up to give us room for lower cabinets.

​In addition to all of this, Phillip had to go through each room and check each stud.  Since this house was built 100 years ago, it wasn't built to today's standards!  This meant Phillip had to add a great deal of studs to the existing walls in order to get ready for sheet rock.  He had to frame out every doorway, old and new!  The walls were (what I believe to be) our toughest challenge yet, but also the most rewarding. What you find in the walls bring light to the history of the home and those that lived there before you.  ("If Walls Could Talk"--a blog coming soon :)

Phillip and I were so overwhelmed by the amount of work there was to do and how long it would take.  Most nights we left feeling defeated.  More tired and dirty than we had ever been before, but just where we were meant to be.

​We broke it all down just to build it all back up again--isn't that how life feels sometimes?  We couldn't get to where we were going without ripping out every board one by one--and let's not forget the nails!  It was painful more times than not, and much harder tearing out than putting back in.  But that's the beauty of it all.  The Lord has taught us so much in the little time that we have been working on this house, and I know that He will only teach us more.  

Remember when I said that we kept a good bit of the beadboard to use in future projects?  Well here are a few!  First, we decided to build new table tops for The Cafe!  Don't you just love them? ​

We were so inspired by the tops that we then decided to create something else that we could make available to you!  If you'd like to take a special piece of our home home with you,  check out the picture boards we've made out of the beautifully colored beadboard that covered our walls!  

Each display board is unique in color and size.  The beadboard and the trim came out of our Beech Street Bungalow.  Share in celebrating the history of our home by choosing one to take home today!

If you took a look at my previous (also the first!) renovation post, Beech Street Bungalow: Before, I'm sure you noticed how many fireplaces were in our new home!  I love the character and warmth that they bring to a room, so needless to say, I was excited!  Today's post gives you a little glimpse at what we've been working on and what we have in store for a very special fireplace.

The first step in our renovation process was to begin tearing out the existing walls.  We wanted to do this for a number of reasons, the two most important ones being to make it more energy efficient and give it a more updated look.  As we removed the first layer, we discovered bead board was what was hiding beneath it.  This was a happy surprise due to hopes that we would be able to use some of the original walls!

As Phillip peeled the layers back from around the fireplace in the dining room area, he discovered a different brick that formed the chimney.  If you have picked up on my style at all, you would know that I am more drawn to this rustic and industrial look rather than the classic and formal feel.  

The newly discovered brick is known as "fire brick".  The darker brick that made up the outside of the fireplace is known as decorative "wire cut" brick.  This brick cannot withstand the heat as well as the fire brick can--which explains why the fire brick makes up the chimney!  As we began to discuss the possibility of this brick being behind the wire cut brick, our wheels started turning.  We decided to take the risk and begin removing the wire cut brick from the face of the fireplace.

We spent hours (and  I mean HOURS) removing this brick, cleaning it up, and neatly stacking it only to be relocated two more times. You don't realize how many bricks it takes to build a fireplace until you tear one down! ​

We worked into the wee hours of the night in order to see what we would end up with. (And p.s. you will definitely want to wear dust masks if you ever decide to do this!  The amount of mortar and coal dust we stirred up was amazing.)

Not glamorous, I know, but totally my style! The original fireplaces were coal burning, which means that they are more shallow than a traditional wood burning fireplace.  Gas logs would work perfectly in this space, so we hope to have them installed in the future!

The very  next weekend, we diligently started on the living room side of the fireplace.  This is when it really started looking dramatic!

So after removing the wire cut brick from the living room side as well, this is what we got:

We love how it turned out!  We decided to go with a more open concept and let this fireplace take center stage.  The beautiful glass french doors that were on either side of the fireplace are being lovingly relocated to accommodate this change.  

After spending a lot of time (days upon days) tearing out and carrying load after load to the dumpster, this project was such a fun encouragement.  It was a simple and quiet reminder that the best is yet to come.  It's little finds like this along the way that make the aching bones and restless nights worth it.  

I can't wait to share another update with you soon.  I think I'll take you on a tour of the walls! I'll tell you more about the beautifully colored strips of bead board you see above and what we have planned for them.

If you have been keeping up with our posts, then you should know from my last blog, Tips for a Smooth Move, that Phillip and I bought a house!  We are so excited to begin this journey and I am excited to be able to share it with all of our readers!  This home was built in 1910 and boy, is it full of character.  It is located in the heart of down town Ocilla--so much so that I can walk to work!  We purchased this home from the sweetest couple who raised their family there and loved it dearly.  They have certainly placed this home in good hands, and we can't wait to bring it back to life!  I will be sharing our renovation progress with you along the way, so I thought I would go ahead and give you a tour of our home before we begin!

When the sellers purchased this home, they chose to enclose the front porch to provide a work space for the family salon.  Luckily, as you can see below, they left the original columns in place and just added in glass around them!  This is great news for us considering that we want to make this area a porch again.  

This home is located on a corner lot, and as you can see below, we have a wonderful size yard! It is even fenced-in, which is perfect for our Breezy girl.

The exterior door below leads to what will be our master bedroom.  Be sure to stay tuned to see what I have planed for this area! 

The view below is what you see when you enter the front door.  A beautiful foyer greets you along with a hallway that stretches throughout the house.  

To the right of the foyer are these beautiful glass pocket doors.  (One of my favorite things about this home are the doors!)  They lead you into the living area.

The living area is full of light!  We love the tall ceilings, decorative beams, large windows and original light fixtures.  The couple who sold us this home decided to let us have the furniture set you will see below!  Phillip has big plans for using this set as it is VERY comfortable and in great shape!

This shot below could be my favorite view in the whole house.  I love everything about it.  Many memories will be made in this very spot. 

Now, from the view below, we are looking toward the dining room.  This fire place is sure to be a focal point!  This is another area that I am excited to show you later. :)

On both sides of the fire place were original glass french doors. They are beautiful!  I don't have a great picture of them, but you'll definitely be seeing them later. 

From the dining room you enter this small hallway you see below, which leads you to the kitchen.  There is a pantry on the right, that will be wonderful to have!

The kitchen is a small space considering the sizes of the other rooms, but it will be one of my favorite rooms in the house I'm sure.

The kitchen has a large opening into the hallway, which I love!  We won't have a ton of wall space, but I like the open feel that it gives.  The picture below is the view of the hallway from the back of the house.

The room you see below was the back porch at one time, but it was eventually closed in.  We will love using this space as a laundry room!

This room will be our master bedroom.  I LOVE all of the windows, but am a bit afraid of window treatments!  How lucky am I to be friends with Roxie?!

No room is complete without a fire place, so of course our bed room has one too!

This is the only bathroom original to the home.  I adore this old tub and am excited to give it new life!

This room will be the second bedroom.  As you can see, it holds a set of pocket doors that are gorgeous!  Phillip has a fabulous idea for these. 

This bedroom also has three gorgeous windows!

This is the third and final bedroom.  This room has two beautiful windows but are currently boarded up due to the added on salon.  This bathroom was also an addition and will be turned into a closet.

This concludes our tour of the "Beech Street Bungalow"!  I cannot tell you how much fun this process has been, in spite of all of the chaos.  I will never be able to thank Phillip enough for all of his hard work (he does this for a living and comes home to do it some more!) and his constant responses of, "sure, we can do that!"  The Lord knew exactly where our life together would take us and He prepared us for it along the way.  I never would have thought that within our first year of marriage we would be buying our first home and a "fixer upper" at that!  Renovating a home has always been a dream of mine and I know that it will be beautiful.  

I hope you are as excited as I am and will follow along with us on this journey. I will be posting our progress and maybe even a tutorial or two!