DIY Archives - Farmhouse Flip

The Living Room- Part 2

March 1, 2016 By Kelli

You guys! Here is our living room “after”! Things have changed even a bit more in the last few weeks, but I don’t have those pictures yet and didn’t want to keep you waiting!

A reminder of the before:

Um yes we’re crazy.

I’m so excited to be sharing these photos. We just love this room- it feels so cozy and homey. We (meaning I lol) chose to keep the trim around the windows unpainted. We just brushed some polyurethane on it them. I love the rustic look it lends to the room.

We also don’t currently have any curtains on the living room windows and I’ll think we’ll leave it that way. A bonus of country living.

Our recliner seriously needs a cover- any recommendations? I bought it for like $150 at HEB when we first moved to Houston and it’s super comfy, just needs a little TLC like the rest of the room did.

The line on the picture above is showing the wall we added to create our master bedroom. (And coincidentally it’s also pointing towards the horse that resides in our house.) The original living room was 40 (!) feet long. The house only had 2 bedrooms so we (meaning hubby) threw up a wall and made our living room 24 feet long (it’s sort of two areas) and our bedroom 16 feet long.

See you next time!

Linking up: The Dedicated House

A Farmhouse Christmas Porch

December 6, 2015 By Kelli

Hi there! I’m so excited to be a part of a blog hop with HomeTalk.com and CountryLiving.com (<— um yes, SO excited!) with many other bloggers showcasing our “Home for Christmas” projects. This year, Christmas is especially fun for us since our home is new to us and we are allllllmost done remodeling this cute 1950s farmhouse in Houston.

I had so much fun creating this little vignette. (Don’t ask me me what the other end of the porch still looks like- let’s just say it still looks like we’re moving. *wink*) Harley really enjoyed the rocking chair.

I kept thinking something was missing after setting everything up- I added my grandma’s Bible and it was perfect!

It truly didn’t take long to set all this up- which is just what I need right now- and I love the cozy effect it has on the porch.

A tin I covered in wrapping paper and filled with pinecones, a candle, a mug- all items I already owned. The only thing I bought was the poinsettia and the star behind the rocking chair.

Be sure to check out the other bloggers in the bloghop below- you’ll get lots of ideas of decorating for Christmas!

An InLinkz Link-up

This is Getting Real, folks

November 18, 2015 By Kelli

It has been well over 2 weeks since I posted over here. Something about remodeling a house keeps me from – many of these posts will be in retrospect after we get moved which- wait for it- is happening THIS Saturday! I can hardly believe it. We totally could not have done it without massive amounts of help from friends.

We are over the moon excited- here are a few pictures to keep you somewhat updated.

Here is my sweet blogging friend Sharon. We met at a blog conference last year and just recently reconnected. She came by a few weeks ago to see the house. Sharon just published her first book, Creating Success at Home, and I’m so excited for her! You’ll be hearing more about her soon.

This picture is a little strange but it shows that I conquered an IKEA project. A friend from church also helped me put together several of these. You can also see the colors of the girls’ room- lavendar and pink, and the carpet Ben and another friend from church installed.

Ben and one of our Wednesday workers, Daniel, laying floor in our master bedroom. What’s a Wednesday worker you might ask? It’s two people from our church that have showed up every single Wednesday since the beginning of October to help out on the house. And they are awesome. And I just named them that awesome name. #legit

Our bedroom- I spy packing boxes, IKEA goodies, and trim! It’s getting there!

There you have it. Quite possibly the most random photo dump ever. I’ll be back soon-ish with more, including a few “how to” posts! (Think how to install IKEA closet organizers. I may or may not have spent 3 hours working on our closet to find out that the main components are installed UPSIDE DOWN. But because I’m channeling my inner Joanna, I did not get mad at the person who installed them upside down. Ahem. My own Chip. 😉 )

See you soon!

In the span of 2 fortnights…

October 31, 2015 By Kelli

I’ve always loved the word “fortnight” since I read Anne of Green Gables as a girl- although I’m quite sure I was an adult before I knew what it meant. (2 weeks, for those of you who don’t speak Old English. 😉 ) Yesterday marked one month, or two-ish fortnights, since we closed on our farmhouse.

I did a one week update here, so you can what we did the first week. This is what’s been done since then:

Entire house sheetrocked, taped, floated, and textured (we did not do this ourselves, hallelujah)

Had a new well installed. Also, didn’t do that ourselves. 😉 Here’s proof in this picture: we do NOT know how to operate that kind of machinery, except maybe the tractor.

The rest of this list, Ben and I have done with the generous help of friends (including actual help on the house, childcare, child running around, and meals). And lots of epsom salt. And Advil. And Dr. Pepper 10. And Chick-Fil-A- it’s in the parking lot of Home Depot, what can I say? Okay, we had a LOT of help. 😉

Kitchen cabinets installed (and oh, they are so pretty)

Kitchen/dining room/living room is floored.

One bathroom has flooring, a toilet (also hallelujah) and the bathtub and vanity are sitting in their places. Waiting for plumber to hook those 2 things up.

big back yard

Entire house, minus one closet, is P.A.I.N.T.E.D. I could have not done this without a ton of help from friends in both painting and helping with child care. In the last 12 days, I have personally painted over 30 hours. One day alone, I painted for 9 hours. I couldn’t move that night, but whatever. My biceps better be rockin’!

Our sink is here, just not installed. See how pretty it is by clicking here!

Hot water heater installed. (we went with a tankless this time)

New septic tank links (important things, ya know!)

I think that about sums it up. It makes me tired looking at it, and I didn’t think I could get any more tired. One day this week, I painted the entire bathroom the wrong color on the 2nd coat. At that point, I knew it was nap time and I went home and slept like a baby for 2 hours. And it was glorious. Now, I’m feeling sick, hopefully just allergies. On that note, good night!

I can see color now, the plain is gone!

October 28, 2015 By Kelli

So sorry for the pun, I just could not help myself. With Ben’s sickness last week, trying to juggle remodeling, packing up this house, and feeding my children something each day, I do believe delirium may have set in. 😉

You may remember what our bedroom looked like a mere 3 weeks ago:

Really nice and cozy. Don’t be jealous. And also, in this pic the master is part of the living room. Now there’s a wall separating it from the living room (whew) and a gorgeous color on the wall! Here we are getting ready to paint…

And the color on the wall! It’s so nice and calming. I’ve been eyeing this color online for years- it’s called Sea Salt by Sherwin Williams, but I had it color matched with Behr Paint + Primer at Home Depot because it was much cheaper this way. They did a great job matching it.

Look for more painting updates this week! With the major help of friends, we’ve painted a TON in the last week!

The Big Reveal #1 at Farmhouse Flip!

October 18, 2015 By Kelli

No, the house is not done (nor will it be soon- Ben just got diagnosed with the flu! ) but here is the most-requested picture so far: the new color. First up, the unpainted version of the house: (that sunlight gets me every time!) farmhouseflip with kids

Aaaaand…. the new color!!! I love it so much.

You just never know if you’re going to love the color that you chose en masse as much as the tiny sample you paint on the side. But I love it even more! Oh, and I was away at a blog conference while it was being painted so Ben was giving me real-time text updates which was fun but also made me nervous!

One of my favorite pictures EVAH!

The white trim really makes the color pop. (Oh, did I mention that I LOVE that tree right there? Okay, I did, but I still love it!) Paint color = Liquid Mercury by Behr at Home Depot

Please pray for our family, that no one else gets sick. (Evie is already sick, too). Ben actually took 2 weeks vacation starting tomorrow so we could work hard and heavy on the house, and now he’s down for the count. He has worked SO hard the last few weeks and I think he’s just worn out.

See you soon for another update!

You won’t believe what a week can do…

October 6, 2015 By Kelli

So things are getting done at an INCREDIBLY fast pace! My goal was to post everyday (ha!) while keeping up with the kids, homeschooling, putting something on the table every meal, my other blog, and making approximately 1309103 decisions regarding the house. Oh, and I also spent Friday- Sunday at a food blogging conference, so there’s that. We closed one week ago tomorrow and here’s what’s been done already:

The TON of junk has been cleaned out. I mean a TON. About 25 industrial-sized garbage bags were taken to the curb.

Roof leaks fixed

Exterior of the house painted. (I’m in LOVE with the color!)

Plumbing almost complete

Septic tanks cleaned out

Sheetrock begun

Kitchen cabinets ordered

A/C installed

All the interior walls that we were adding/moving have been finished, reconfiguring the floor plan to add a master bedroom suite with bath and walk-in closet; a dining room; a pantry; a laundry room; a play area, and moving a door to make an office for me(!). Um yea, we added a lot. And by we, I totally mean Ben and Landon. Here’s one of the before/afters:

farmhouse flip living room before

Our bedroom area before it had a wall separating it from the living room, and DID have tons of junk.

Now it’s all cleaned out, and the wall has been built. We added this bedroom because the house was technically only 2 bedrooms to begin with. So now we’ll have one, the boys will share, and the girls will share.

To say Ben and I are exhausted is an understatement. But we’re SO thankful to have this place. Seriously. We sat outside tonight just so thankful that everything fell into place after coming thisclose to having the whole thing fall apart!

We’ll see you tomorrow (or the next day, or the next 😉 ) with the next update!

Oh, and if you want to keep up with our daily-ish happenings, you can sign up here for e-mail updates!

In 12 hours….

September 29, 2015 By Kelli

the farmhouse should be ours! (Depending on when you’re reading this, it might be a “done deal” already!)

I apologize for my lack of posting the last few weeks- some things went wrong and for a few days, it looked like the whole deal was going to fall through. (not on our part or the sellers, all about the appraiser. Strange that one person can hold a chunk of your future in their hands, and not really want to do their job.)

But! After lots of prayer from LOTS of friends, everything seems to have fallen into place. We are SO ready to get to work.

Look for more “before” pictures coming this week! I can’t wait!!

xoxo Ben and Kelli

A Good Redemption Story

September 3, 2015 By Kelli

(This one’s from Ben.) I like fixing old houses because I love a good redemption story. Remodeling is so much more than boards, nails, and paint; it tells a story of making old things new, making dead things live again, making ugly things beautiful once more.

I want to do for our farmhouse what Jesus has done for me. I only hope it tells His story well for those who come to see it.

There was a time in each of our lives when our foundations were shaky, our corners were out of square, and our interiors were full of filth and rottenness. But then Jesus came into our lives! He gave us a steadfast rock to build upon, He tore out the old and rebuilt it with new, and He washed over the ugly with pure glistening white. (See. 2 Cor 5:17)

This may or may not be what the living room looks like right now.

When I first laid eyes on the entirety of the farmhouse we are buying, I have to be honest: I saw an utter mess. Now, we have done a couple fixer-uppers before, but this one is going to be intense. Think 1,800 square feet of total and complete re-do. There’s no quick fixes or gloss overs this go ’round, this house needs the kind of love that leaves it completely transformed.

My heart fills with joy to stop and think that somehow Jesus sees me in the mess that I am in, and He chooses to make me new again. He sees me deeper than anyone ever has, and even still He takes his toolbox out and works until what’s left if a new creation. Praise God for redemption stories. I am one.

Hopefully you are one. And with some time, money, and old-fashioned work, our farmhouse will be, too. Stay tuned on the blog to watch the transformation take place.

Do you need some remodeling at the heart level in your life right now? If you need to talk to someone, we’d love to chat and pray with you and tell you about the greatest Carpenter that’s ever lived.

We Can See the Land (finally!)

August 31, 2015 By Kelli

Now this post will probably have you thinking we’re crazy if you don’t already. 😉 We have just now been able to see the land in its entirety- on Thursday. It had been super grown up (think weeds as tall as me) and the current owner (we close in September) had not been able to find anyone to mow it until this week. So yes we put a contract on a house before we could get to all of the land. Just call us visionaries. 😉

We spent a few hours out there last night walking over the land and dreaming about what we’ll do with it. We’re even more excited!

The tree to the right of the house is a magnolia- I have always loved magnolia trees. They’re just so- Southern, like me. 😉 Starting next week, I’ll begin showing you “before” pictures of the inside. You’re going to feel the need to surround yourself with Clorox wipes. And paint.