I know I haven't updated you all in a few months, but that's because we haven't made much progress lately!  With the school year winding down, Spring events in full swing, and Phillip's business busier than ever, we have struggled to find time to commit to the house next door.   Also, we have the cutest little helper who tends to slow us down a bit. (As you can see, she LOVES ladders.)

We weren't in love with the previous floor plan of the house.  The kitchen was awkwardly large, the living room was small, and it was two bedroom/two baths, with no master.  We were able to maximize the use of the square footage of the home by completely changing the layout.  

Phillip had the great idea to move the kitchen to the front of the home, and create a large cased opening to make the living room feel larger.  I know it is hard to envision the layout when everything is still studs, so I sketched a quick floor plan for you to see!  It is definitely not to scale, but this will give you a better idea of what we're working with.

This is the view when you walk in the front door.  The kitchen and dining room are to your right, and the hallway is directly in front of you.

This is your view looking into the living room from the kitchen.

This is your view looking into the kitchen from the living room.

The house lacked a master bedroom, as I have previously stated, so we definitely wanted to create one.  When Phillip decided to move the kitchen to the front of the house, it made sense to move the master bedroom/bath to the back!  We turned what use to be the laundry room into the master bath and closet.

The picture on the left is the guest bathroom, which turned out great!  This is where the washer and dryer will be located, as well as a large vanity and roomy linen closet.  The picture on the right is looking into the master bathroom.  

We have been busy doing electrical and plumbing work, so hopefully we will wind that up in the next week or two. Then we will have the house insulated and get the sheetrock installed!  Hopefully it will all start coming together soon so that I can share more details with you! 

The last room to reveal in our home renovation just so happens to be my favorite--the master bedroom!  Though I truly love every single room, I think I love this one most because it has become my little nest!  It is where I read, where I rest, and where I feel most comfortable.  I am excited to share its transformation with you, and hope that you love it too!  Here is a reminder of what this room looked like when we purchased the home.  

With 6 large windows and an exterior door, we wondered what this room was used for.  A friend of ours who researches old homes called this room a solarium (sun room), which was often used for gatherings and quite possibly a bedroom.  After talking with the granddaughter of the original owners of the home, she informed us that this was, in fact, her grandparents' bedroom!  She said that it also doubled as a sitting room, and guests would gather around the fireplace to chat after dinner.

In order to make this room our master bedroom, we knew we wanted to add a master bath and move a few doorways around.  Before we could get started, we had the daunting task of removing all of the bead board from the walls, once again!

We decided to close up the middle window to give us a place for our bed, as well as tear out and cover up the fireplace.  This fireplace was no longer in working order and had sustained some damage to the brick over time, so we decided that a solid wall might be of more use.  We had it insulated and sheet-rocked, and we were ready to roll!  The original floors turned out beautifully once refinished.

One night, two sweet friends came over to help me paint the walls so we could be one step closer to moving in!  You might recognize the blonde on the right, that's Katelyn! :)  When deciding on a paint color, I knew I wanted something cozy.  With so many windows and white trim, I knew a dark color would be the way to go.  I saw this bedroom (middle picture) on Pinterest and fell in love with the brown walls!  I ended up going with Less Brown SW6040 by Sherwin Williams , and I love how it turned out!

Now, for the finished room!  You enter our bedroom from the end of the hallway, right next to the guest bathroom.

Phillip built our bed, which turned out perfect for the space!  I was so glad that we decided to get rid of the middle window.  It is so fun to dream something up, and watch it come to life.  It wasn't so simple when I went on the search for our other bedroom furniture.  I just couldn't find anything I liked in the surrounding furniture stores--it all seemed so bulky and traditional.  I wanted a softer look, that would coordinate but not "match" the bed.  I finally decided to take a chance and order something online!  I was nervous, but I am so happy with my choice!  The night stands, dresser and chest of drawers came from Pier 1. 

I have also had the hardest time finding curtains that I liked, and could actually afford!  I had no idea that Ikea had a select few curtains available in 118".  They turned out to be beautiful--and I love how the white just brightens up the space!

One of my favorite things in our bedroom are my monogrammed pillow cases!  Our sweet Ms. Carolyn embroidered them by hand.  What a treasure!  It makes me happy every time I crawl into bed, and every time I make it up.  I just love the personal touch it adds to the room!

This view shows you how we moved the doorways around to make the master bath add-on make sense.

It worked out great that we ended up sheet-rocking over the fireplace.  Now we have a solid wall that provides enough space for our dresser.

Our most recent addition to the bedroom has been a sweet little crib for Lila!  Throughout our journey in foster care, one thing that we have realized is how uncertain things can be.  We decided to just plan on Lila being in our room for a little while, while we get used to this baby thing!  We had plenty of room to put the crib over by the windows.

It has been a sweet thing to look over and be reminded that she will be here so soon.  

As we anxiously await her arrival, we have prepared as much as possible!  I can't wait to see her sweet face, and bring her to this house we've made a home.  I hope she grows to love it as much as we do.

 I hope you have enjoyed the last Beech Street Bungalow Room Reveal!  Don't worry, there are still more projects to be finished and decorating to do--so this definitely won't be the last Beech Street blog.  I have a long list of things that I still want to share with you!  In the mean time, feel free to go back and relive our progress!

​Beech Street Bungalow: Before
Beech Street Bungalow: The Fireplace
Beech Street Bungalow: The Walls
Beech Street Bungalow: The Floors
Beech Street Bungalow: The Kitchen
Beech Street Bungalow: The Master Bath
Beech Street Bungalow: The Living and Dining Room
Beech Street Bungalow: Guest Bath
Beech Street Bungalow: The Laundry Room
Beech Street Bungalow: The Exterior
Beech Street Bungalow: Porch Planters
​Beech Street Bungalow: The Kid's Rooms

Even as I am writing this, it is so hard to believe that I am reflecting on the past 15 years of my life.  In some ways it has flown by, and in other ways 15 years seems so long ago!  You have heard me say before that I was young and dumb when I started this adventure in retail so many years ago! I was fresh out of The University of Georgia with no clue what I wanted to do next.  I always swore I was never moving back to my home town of Ocilla, GA, but it was home that came calling after graduation.  So I made my way back, and here I sit, 15 years later, with a life I never could have dreamed up for myself!

​In 2003, my dad had been retired for a couple of years and was running a floral and event business with his business partner, Lisa.  They decided to take on a huge project in our downtown by renovating this century-old, Greek-revival style bank building.

The renovations began in the spring, and I moved home in the summer of 2003.  The building was to house a market-style retail shop with a café in the downstairs and an event space upstairs.  Dad and Lisa were going to need someone to run the shop while they focused on the floral business, so I agreed to come home for one year and help get things going.

​That June-December of my life flew by!  I worked part-time at another gift shop downtown to make a little money until our shop opened.  On days I wasn’t working, I helped work on the building.  As you look at all of my pictures, you might be imagining a very large work crew that got this place whipped into shape in such a short period of time, but you would be wrong!  Dad and Lisa, with the help of a couple of paid workers, lots of family, and many sweet volunteers, moved mountains that summer.  I have never done so much painting in my life!  

​The Shoppes at Fourth and Cherry opened in August of 2003, and I was blown away by the excitement of the community.  The first couple of weeks were so fun.  People flocked in to see the building.  

The shop was just beautiful and unlike any store we had ever had in our little town before.  Lisa was, and is, a very talented designer.  I soaked up so much from her in a short amount of time and definitely learned a lot about the design aspect of running a store from both her and my dad.  ​

The grueling work didn’t end when we opened, as we had to move upstairs to finish renovations in time for a wedding in October!  I was still painting trim the morning of the wedding while Dad and Lisa were doing all of the flowers! ​

That was a crazy weekend, but I guess at that point, we had all gotten used to the hustle.  Fifteen years later, I can tell you that the hustle continues!  There is always something to fix, paint, clean, move, or cry over in this old building.  It has been a labor of love for sure!

I like to say I went to the school of hard knocks in the early days.  With Dad and Lisa, you have to catch on fast!  One wedding weekend they left me in the florist shop and said, “We need 15 table arrangements; we’ll be back after we decorate the church.”  I guess I should have been honored that they had so much confidence in my abilities, but I was stressing!  It seems I had soaked up a few tricks by watching my dad all those years because the arrangements turned out ok, but I was a nervous wreck!  Another weekend, we were catering a party in a neighboring town.  Dad and Lisa had done an out-of-town wedding and were traveling to be back just in time for the dinner that night.  She had me, by myself, take pot roast for about 100 people to the venue with all of our cookers to cook the roasts, with her giving me instructions over the phone.  I had never cooked a roast in my life!  

In 2004 Lisa’s husband, Harvey, was diagnosed with cancer that would later take his life.  This was a devastating diagnosis, and Lisa had to spend most of her time with him, traveling to treatments in Maryland and caring for him when he was sick.  Around the same time, my grandfather in Colorado became ill so my Dad was away for 8 weeks.  It was a stressful time for me to be pretty much alone at the shop so Dad and Lisa decided to sell the building and business.  The short version of this part of the story is: in walked Matt Seale.  He was a financial advisor from Atlanta and looking to invest in real estate.  Little did he know he was about to get a building, a retail shop, a floral and event business, a café, and a wife!

Matt bought the building and the business in the fall of 2004, so he and I have been in it together almost the entire time.  It was a trying first few years together, as we both had limited experience with events and running a small business.  I think we did pretty well considering how young we were!  We married quickly in August of 2007 because Matt was being sent to Iraq to serve with the Navy Reserve. It’s not the month I would have picked (the day we got married was, literally, the hottest day of the year) but it is pretty neat that our wedding anniversary always coincides with the anniversary of The Shoppes, since it is what brought us together in the first place.  We spent our first year of marriage apart, and looking back, it was probably the hardest year of my life so far.  Because of our quick wedding, I had to deal with the daily onslaught of nosy, southern women asking me when my baby was due.  I was a newlywed with no husband, the owner of a struggling small business with no business partner, and the caretaker of an old building that seemed to just develop one new problem after the other.  I don’t know what I would have done that year without my parents and a few really good friends.   Needless to say, that is not a time in my life I like to look back and dwell on!  

​The years rocked on as we continued catering events, making prom and wedding flowers, and keeping the shop going.   I have been involved in over 37 weddings and rehearsal suppers, countless smaller parties, and more funerals than I could ever count.  ​

Vendors in the shop came and went.  I have had over 40 vendors and 14 local consigners throughout the years.  It was so nice to get through those first few years of turnover and settle in with some serious shop owners that help make The Shoppes at Fourth and Cherry so great!  ​

​It has been so interesting to learn to deal with the specialties of running a business in a small, southern town.  Over the years I have had more than one person call and ask me to look up someone else’s number for them in the phone book.  I’ve had a customer ask me to order her something off the internet because she doesn’t have a computer.  I have customers drop off gifts for people (that they didn’t buy here) because they know we’ll make sure they get passed on to the right person.  I’ve had a customer give her bag of purchases to the mail man, as he walked in to deliver the mail, and ask him to deliver it to her mother at the nursing home (which he did, sweetly and without question).  I could fill a book with stories about customer interaction - some funny and some not so funny! The Fourth and Cherry team has been blessed over the years to have mostly very sweet people enter our doors, and we thrive on providing as many services as possible. We still operate a traditional wedding registry where brides can register for fine china, flatware and other things needed to set up a home.  We deliver to local showers, sell flatware by the piece (so there is something for everyone’s budget) and offer free gift wrap. We try to include the address of the giver on the back of every wedding card to make it a little easier for the bride to send her thank-you notes.  We’ve made salads with croutons only, cut crusts off of bread, and kept lists on the café wall of how certain customers like certain meals. We are happy to help customers over the phone, happy to pick out Christmas gifts when you send over the list, happy to walk your packages to your car, let you borrow our phone, and even fill out your check for you. (Yes we still take local checks and no, we don’t have a stamp.  If you don’t know what that means, you are definitely not from a small town.) 

Over the years our little business has grown, evolved and changed.  At some point we closed the florist, but I can’t remember what year.  The shop and the café were becoming busier, and my Dad was retired and traveling a lot, so it just made sense to let that go.  We have still continued to do weddings here and there because I just find it so hard to say no! The Café has slowly grown and now offers a much more extensive menu than we did in the beginning.  The Fourth and Cherry Company now has three full-time employees in addition to seven part-time.  I can’t pass up the chance to mention that Mrs. Carolyn has been with us the entire time we’ve been in business.  She has long been a friend of my family and came to work in The Café after she retired from the school system.  Her hours have shortened over the years and roles have changed, but she has been a steadfast and dependable friend to us over the last 15 years. She has tried to “retire” at least twice, but we are always thrilled when she decides she wants to come back!  She tells me she is going to retire for good when she is 80, so I’ll keep you posted on that! And one other fun fact, Mrs. Carolyn came to Lily Mae’s beauty shop, located in the upstairs of our building, on her wedding day to get a perm!  Just one example of how the history of our building is so intertwined with the history of our community and the lives of our customers.  

In 2015 (deciding that we didn’t already have enough to do) we created The Southern Mercantile.  I had always loved the name and even threw it in the hat when Dad and Lisa were choosing a name for the shop.  I kept it in the back of my mind with the hopes of getting to use it one day.  We are now growing and building this new brand, while running The Shoppes and Café at Fourth and Cherry, in an attempt to expand our market a little bit and share our love of the South.  We are on a mission to preserve some of our more noble traditions by sharing our simple, southern lives with you.  It has been so exciting to meet many of you at shows when we are traveling, and to hear from you through email, social media and the website.  We have loved every minute of getting to connect with a whole new tribe!

​We are excited to share with you that The Southern Mercantile is currently setting up a brick and mortar home inside The Shoppes at Fourth and Cherry!  The historic bank room of our building is in transition and will soon be our flagship Southern Mercantile location.  The bank vault has already been set up as the Southern Merc office and we are slowly transforming the retail space into a beautiful shopping area.  It’s just another way the Fourth and Cherry Company is growing and changing.

Love for our community is at the heart of everything we do.  In 2011, Matt and I made a choice to stay here and to commit to working hard for Ocilla.  We work hard to keep this building standing, keep this shop running, and keep our online presence thriving because we want to see our little town prosper.  Our team has a deep desire to continue to love, encourage, support and work for the community we live in.  We thank all of you from the bottom of our hearts for your support of our mission.  Whether you have been a fan of The Shoppes for the last 15 years, or if you are a new fan of The Southern Mercantile, we want you to know that you are appreciated.  Every purchase you make, every Facebook post you share, every kind comment you give, strengthens our mission as we move to be a force for good in our community. 

​If it seems this post has been more like the story of the last 15 years of my life rather than just the history of my business, it is because they are so connected, I could never attempt to separate them.  This shop and what it means to our little town is all I know.  It has been my everything.  I am humbled when I think of all of the people that have loved and supported me personally over the last 15 years.  Without your support and prayers (and checking for my horns from time to time), I would have succumbed to stress and discouragement many times.  I can’t wrap this up without a very special Thank You to my parents!  You are such an example of selfless love, always there to help, no matter what the problem is.  Water, termites, absent employees, plumbing problems, leaky roofs, holiday baking; nothing keeps you from running to my aid!

​15 years of perspective has helped me to see that time and time again, the Lord has provided just what we need, when we need it.  I know He will do the same for the next 15!
 

Last Saturday was Ocilla's annual Sweet Potato Day!  Phillip and I decided to invite all of our family and friends over for lunch now that we live in the heart of downtown.  With that being said, you know that I had a pretty large to-do list for us to work on before the big day!  Our guest bathroom was on the top of our list.  I knew that our guests would be using this room, so it was the perfect excuse to finally finish everything up!  As a reminder, here is what the bathroom looked like when we purchased our home.

We knew we wanted a shower in this bathroom, as well as the original cast iron tub.  Though this seems like a simple wish list, we had a difficult time dreaming up the design of the bathroom.

You don't typically want the plumbing for a shower located on an exterior wall due to the difficulty of getting to, and fixing, problems in the future.  For this reason, along with the shape of our tub, our only option was to leave the tub where it sat and work around it!  This posed many challenges, but also made re-plumbing a breeze!  We decided to leave the toilet in the same location as well as the sink.  This was super convenient, considering the floor in this room is 8 inches of concrete!  

Now, I had to wrap my mind around creating a shower out of a floating tub.  I went to Pinterest to help me solve my dilemma.  I stumbled across the picture on the left.  I thought this was a wonderful way to create a shower and lower the ceiling without creating awkward space!  I could add a pantry on one side and have open shelving on the other.  

The picture on the right was my inspiration picture for the bathroom as a whole.   I loved everything about this bathroom and knew I wanted to incorporate some of the same elements in my own.

Once the walls were down, we realized that we had the option to add about a foot to the width of our bathroom by exposing brick and a cast iron ventilation pipe.  However, this decision was all or nothing!  The original wall covered these elements, and pushing the wall back would reveal them.  I was going for an industrial look in this bathroom...so we decided to go with it!  We framed up the walls around the tub and we were set! 

By pushing the wall back in the bathroom, we created a void in the floor.  Phillip filled in the gap with concrete and made his mark.

We added a light over the shower since we lowered the ceiling.  

We plumbed the shower next so we could hang the concrete board.

Once the concrete board was hung, I could begin the tiling process!  I decided to stick with the subway tile for this bathroom as well.  The good news was that tiling to a tub was MUCH easier than tiling a shower from scratch!

I knew I wanted a bold tile for this bathroom floor, like in my inspiration picture!  I visited our local tile stores and searched the internet over.  I wasn't able to choose a cement tile, which was what I really wanted.  This bathroom floor was already higher than the hallway and we didn't need to add another 3/4 inch by using a cement tile.  I did, however, find a similar look in a ceramic tile...finally!

Here is a glimpse of the bathroom once the walls and tile were in place!  We decided to go with the "shiplap" look in the bathroom to add to the industrial feel.  We painted everything bright white to keep it light and clean.  

Here is what my view from the kitchen island looks like now!

I absolutely love how this guest bathroom turned out!  I think I even love it more than my master bath!

The subway tile just fits right in with the industrial look I was going for.  

Phillip built a special frame for the mirror that would wrap around the brick chimney.  This worked perfectly to cover up the damaged area that you saw above.  I went with a more feminine choice for lighting, hoping it would tie in the (somewhat) floral patterned tile.

Phillip also custom-built this vanity straight from my dreams!  I looked at our local cabinet shop and online, and couldn't seem to find exactly what I wanted.  Phillip did a beautiful job!  The butcher block counter top and the dark hardware perfect the look.

By exposing the cast iron ventilation pipe, we created an awkward space between the wall and the toilet.  I took this opportunity to incorporate a few plant stands and live plants to add a little color!  

The pantry provides us with wonderful storage space and blends right in with the vanity.  On the right side of the shower, Phillip has created a cubby hole where we will add in a few floating shelves. (Eventually!)

Unfortunately, we did not have many original door knobs in the house.  We did, however, find these beautiful reproductions online.

So, now that you've seen the details, here is another look at the before...and after!

This bathroom was so much fun to dream up, and now it is so much fun to use.  I love how every little detail makes us smile.  This is a happy little room that I hope our guests enjoy using!

​Check out more Beech Street Bungalow renovation stories here!

If you have been joining me on this journey, then you know how long we've been at it!  My first blog about our home renovation, Beech Street Bungalow: Before, was posted in May of last year.  Now, well over a year later, I can show you the progress that we've made in my favorite room(s) in the whole house!  Here is a little refresher of what the living and dining room looked like when we purchased our home.

We knew we loved the coffered ceilings, but we couldn't wait to update them a bit!  We also looked forward to relocating the glass french doors from both sides of the fireplace to other areas in the house.  Other than those two tasks, the most noticeable change was that we made the fireplace become the focal point in both rooms.  If you have time, check out Beech Street Bungalow: The Fireplace for all of the details!  Here is a glimpse of the room once we removed the walls and brick from around the fireplace.

Once the sheet rock was hung and our floors were refinished, it started to look like a home!  (You can check out Beech Street Bungalow: The Walls and Beech Street Bungalow: The Floors if you haven't already!)

Now it was time to get to work.  We had to remove all of the old trim from the ceiling beams in order to patch the problem areas.  Once the beams were repaired, we were able to hang new crown molding, and boy was that a job.  But, if you think that is bad, try caulking and painting it all!  We chose to paint the ceiling a flat "ceiling white" and paint the beams and trim semi-gloss white.  Me and my neck seriously wanted to throw in the towel on this one.  Jobs that are over your head are almost unbearable--I don't know how painters do it every day!  Other than caulking and painting, I also had to sand the beams in some areas to smooth them out due to the multiple layers of paint applied over the years.  I'll have to say, as miserable as it was, I'd do it all over again for these results.

Since we were able to keep the bead board wall on the West end, we had to find a way to finish the corners where it met the sheet rock.  We decided to go with lattice strips to create a smooth corner.  Once they were caulked and painted, they made the transition seamless!

​I chose "Still Water" by Sherwin Williams for the walls.  I knew this was a risky move, but I wanted to take the chance! And I'm so glad I did.  This big room, full of light and white trim, needed a dark color to add a little drama!

Not only did we have to caulk and paint the ceiling, but also the windows, door trim, and baseboard!  Thankfully, my mom was there to help me!  She worked on sanding the windows and painting the baseboard while I caulked and painted the windows.  This job was too big for one person, and I am forever grateful for how helpful our family has been.

We were able to use the original light fixture in the dining room and we ordered a brass colored ceiling fan for the living room.  (Can you tell how impatient my husband was about hanging our TV?!)

We chose to go with a carrara style tile for the hearth.  We thought this clean surface would complement the beautiful white ceilings! After I finished all of my painting jobs, I started tiling!  We had to build up the hearth with concrete to give me a (somewhat) level surface to work with.

I just love the combination of the brick, the bright coffered ceiling, the natural light from the windows, the carrara style tile and the dramatic wall color.  It couldn't have turned out any more perfect!

Phillip trimmed out the hearth and we were done! 

 Since these pictures were taken, we have moved our dining room furniture in! It was so fun to unpack our boxes of china and linens and put them in their place.  We have since hosted multiple dinners with family and friends, as well as a game night! We love being able to use this space and enjoy all of our hard work.  Breeze even loves this room too!

I hope you have enjoyed stepping into our construction zone!  We can see the light, and we are so excited.  We can't wait to put all of the finishing touches on the house and enjoy every minute of being "at home".

​Check out more Beech Street Bungalow renovation stories here!

Well guys, when you saw the title of this blog you may have been thinking to yourself "is she still working on that house?" The answer to this question is yes, yes we are.  This little house has been quite a labor of love for me.  If you are new to The Southern Merc, and you have missed the story on our Alder Street Renovation, you can catch up by clicking any of the links below! 

Alder Street Social Club
Alder Street Renovation
The Floors
The Porches
The Living & Dining Area
The Kitchen

It has taken me a little while to get the bedrooms and the bathroom "photo ready."  I have moved the furniture several times, rearranged the pictures several times, and have finally decided this is as good as it gets for now!

We'll start with the guest room.  Unfortunately, I did a terrible job documenting our progress in this room.  What you need to know about the room before we started working is that it had a dark, orangey-brown wood floor, walls and ceiling.  Here is what it looked like when we started working on the house.  We closed up a window on the side wall and made the window on the back wall larger. 

Here is the same wall today.  The picture over the bed is hanging where the window was that we closed up.  I chose a pretty light gray by Sherwin Williams for this room called "Aloof Gray".  The trim and ceiling are "Ceiling White" by Olympic.

You guys know I love a well-made bed - in fact, I wrote a blog on that topic!  These vintage embroidered pillow cases that say "Good Morning" and "Good Night" were just what I needed to cozy up this guest bed.  

I try not to clutter my house up with too many collections, but I just can't help myself sometimes! In this room I used vintage jars to house my collections of old dominoes and vintage thread spools.  

The closet in this room was a nice size but only had one small door, making the space hard to use, so I had the opening widened.  Luckily, there was a door from the bathroom that we did not need that matched the original closet door to make a pair.  The antique glass door knobs are not original but I thought they made a nice touch!  Little details like that make nice upgrades to any home, large or small.

This little bookcase is full of family pictures.  I love displaying old pictures, it is so comforting to me to walk in and be surrounded by loved ones that went before me.  

Y'all, what can I say?  I like pictures too much!  Haha!  You can also see in the picture below on the left that there is a mirror and hooks for the convenience of our guests.

This is the little hallway area that connects both bedrooms and the bathroom. When you walk into the hall from the living/dining area, the guest room is to the left, the bathroom is straight ahead and the master is to the right. 

Now, on to the bathroom!  Just in case you forgot, it was disgusting.  You can see the panel box was in the bathroom, so we moved that out to the hallway when the wiring was replaced.  We moved the window to the right so it would not be partly in the shower.  The flooring had to be completely ripped out and replaced. Hopefully, it goes without saying that we replaced all the fixtures!  Ha! 

This is our very small bathroom now!  When you embrace living in 980 square feet, you have to make use of every inch!  When we bought the house the washer /dryer hook up was in the kitchen.  Rather than give up much needed closet space in the bedrooms, I decided to go with a stackable unit and put it in the bathroom.  It is certainly not luxurious, but it works for us!  As long as we keep up with the laundry and keep everything in its place, it doesn't feel too cramped. 

Even the smallest of spaces deserve some special details.  I couln't really find a ready-made shower curtain that I loved so I splurged on some fantastic fabrics. Dad helped me make this no-sew cornice board, and Aunt Janet was quick to lend a hand in sewing my shower curtain. 

Keeping essentials like q-tips, bobby pins, and cotton pads in pretty containers on a pretty tray helps keep your counters looking good while still having everything you need conveniently located.  

Next on our virtual tour is the master bedroom.  I call this the master because this is the room that Matt and I chose to be ours but it really is exactly the same size as the guest room, just with two closets.  This room had been used as a nursery about 30 years before we bought the house!  My dad actually put up this wallpaper for our neighbors at the time when they were preparing for their first baby!  Funny how things come full circle.  Dad did an excellent job hanging that wallpaper because it was a pain in the you-know-what to get off of those walls!

This is my beautiful, peaceful bedroom now!

The walls are painted "Misty Lake" by Valspar.  The trim is the same as the rest of the house, "Ceiling White," and the ceiling is the same as the living area, "Spare White" by Sherwin Williams.  

The chandelier is vintage and is my most favorite light fixture in the house! We have low cielings so I didn't have many opportunities in the house to use a hanging light fixture.  Since this one hangs over the foot of the bed, it keeps us from bumping our heads!

I hope you have enjoyed keeping up with my home renovation!  It has taken a little while to get things settled, but I love a work in progress!  I have been working on the yards this year so that will be the next thing on the list to share!  

If you like what you see in the house, check out the store!  It is full of beautifully currated items that speak to my southern style!

If you have been keeping up with what's happening at The Southern Mercantile, I would love to hear from you. Let me know what you think of the house and if you have a project of your own you are working on! 
​
Check out more Alder Street Renovation stories here!

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!

​​Check out more Beech Street Bungalow renovation stories here!

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!  

​Check out more Beech Street Bungalow renovation stories here!

​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!

​Check out more Beech Street Bungalow renovation stories here!

I am so excited to talk to you about my kitchen because it has turned out to be my favorite spot in this little house.  It was definitely the room that needed the most work in this renovation! I think I mentioned in my previous blog that I don't have any pictures of the space from before we started working. Apparently, it was so horrifying I didn't want to remember it too clearly, haha! So let's get to it so you can find out how my kitchen went from this....

to this!!!!  A bright, happy, CLEAN, efficient kitchen work space.

Just to recap, there were only a few, old cabinets that all had to be removed. There was also a wall that separated the kitchen from the dining area. Obviously, the floors had to be completely replaced!  The original floors were long gone and the existing layers of rotten plywood were so termite eaten that they started falling out when my carpenters starting jacking up the house to replace the joists. You can read more about my adventures in flooring HERE. We took out the wall in the kitchen (it was super rotten anyway) to create a more open space.  I did close up one window in the kitchen so that I could put the stove there.  To be such a tiny house it certainly had plenty of windows so I didn't sacrifice any of my nice natural light by doing this.  

The next step was to get the floors sanded and stained, and the walls and ceiling primed and painted and ready for cabinets! I used the same paint colors in the kitchen as I did in the living / dining areas, treating this as one large room so it would flow and be cohesive.

After doing a little research and some price comparrison, I decided to go with Ikea cabinets.  I could get the look that I wanted and get the most bang for my limited bucks!  *Disclaimer* If you are not a handy person and are not up for a project, then this is probably not the route you should go.  I am very blessed to have some handy folks in my life to help with projects like these.  I will tell you that I had no experience designing kitchen spaces and I found it very easy to use the online design program that Ikea offers on their website.  It took some time to play around with things and learn the program, but I was able to come up with a design that I was happy with.  Matt and I headed up to Atlanta where we were able to have an Ikea professional review my plan to make sure there were no major issues and to purchase the cabinets.  It was a bit overwhelming, being first time cabinet buyers, so we stopped for margaritas and Mexican food at one of our favorite spots before heading home!

I did pay to have a professional to install the cabinets and I highly recommend this! I had a close family member, who had recently been through a kitchen renovation in an older home, suggest to me that I should not try to install these myself and I am super glad that I listened! You might recognize Phillip, (now, Tara's husband) from previous Southern Merc blogs.  He did an amazing job installing the cabinets and counter tops for me.  Because he is so experienced, he was able to deal with things like walls that are not straight and floors that are still slightly uneven.  I was glad he was there with the knowledge to improvise when things weren't working out exactly like I had planned.

I am so happy with the end result.  I was able to stick to my budget and get the fabulous kitchen that I wanted.  When we moved into this house I was coming from an even smaller rental house that had a very small kitchen with minimal cabinets.  For me, this was quite the upgrade!  I also had not had a dishwasher for the previous 12 years so, to have a nice new one has been thrilling!

There wasn't room in this little corner to squeeze in a cabinet so my dad helped me build little shelves to display some of my favorite treasures.

My farmhouse sink also came from Ikea and was quite a deal!  If you have been wishing for a farmhouse sink but didn't think you could afford one, you should check these out.  There are two sizes, one like mine and one that is larger and divided.  Your existing cabinets can usually be manipulated to accommodate this type of sink with the apron front.  I opted for mostly drawers with the lower cabinets.  The large drawers on the right contain all of my dishes and serving pieces.  The cabinets in the corners have two shelves that pull out completely and then swing back towards the wall when pushed in so that no space is wasted.

A very special friend painted this cow for me and named her "Roxanna". It makes me so happy to look up and see her above the fridge.

My favorite cookbooks are proudly displayed on a shelf by the fridge and my favorite ceramic tray corals things like salt, pepper and garlic cloves that I use frequently while cooking.  I keep everything I need to enjoy my morning coffee right next to my coffee maker, including a crate full of my favorite mugs!

You may wonder why I am choosing to show you my ugly old microwave and toaster.  I just want to stress that you can set up and organize your small (or large) kitchen in such a way that your necessesities are made to look as nice and neat as possible.  You don't necessarily have to line all of your kitchen appliances up on your counter top, and if you have a small kitchen, you don't need to have them taking up that much precious counter space!  These wood and metal shelves sit by my refridgerator and hold a lot of important things that I use everyday but, I try to keep it organized and tidy!

Since our house is small, we don't really have a desk or office area where it would make sense to keep things like bills, pens and tape!  Instead, I have a little station set up by the side door to catch all of those types of things.  We also have a designated place to hang all of our keys becuase I am the world's worst to set my keys down and not remember where they are!

I wish I could have you all over for dinner so you could see things in person, but since I can't, I hope you've enjoyed all of the pictures!  

​Like a few things that you have seen?  Visit the Southern Mercantile store to check out these items that will help you get the look!  
(This blog was origianally posted in August of 2016 so these items are no longer available.  We hope you'll take a look in the store and check out our current merchandise!)

​Check out more Alder Street Renovation stories here!