Vintage Life: Our Renovation Continues Part 1

Many of you have asked whatever happened to the little 1920s bungalow we were restoring. Have we finished it? No, we haven't yet - although we are now very, very close! We will move in prior to Thanksgiving 2014, whether it is completely finished or not. As you can imagine, we are currently in a race against time to get it done. Just to bring you up-to-speed, I'll tell you how we started this labor of love.

Our 1920s bungalow on the day we bought it

Greg and I just love old things, and especially old houses. One crisp day in late September 2011 we were out with our dogs Jake and Rudy on our favorite dog-walking street. (Jake and Rudy like the street too, so that's always a good omen.) The road is in a historic neighborhood here in Newberry, and as we wandered along we saw a "For Sale By Owner" sign outside a 1920s bungalow.

We had noticed this bungalow before when we walked past, and we always thought it had great bones, but we had also wondered why the owner didn't seem to take better care of it. As I explained in my very first blog post on our 1920s bungalow renovation, the front yard was a mess and the back yard was literally a huge, overgrown jungle of poison ivy. Still, we were curious enough to want to see the inside.

What a disaster! There were horrible paint choices, yucky flooring, ugly paneling, and nasty kitchen cabinets. There was only one tiny bathroom that seemed it would soon fall through the floor.Add to that a burned out fireplace, a dilapidated lean-to garage, and a stairway that lead to an uncompleted renovation project in the attic. You can see the full interior horror story in my Look Inside the 1920s bungalow posts.

Of course, our minds were racing. If we took out a fireplace here, moved walls there, added bathrooms, finished the attic to make a guest bedroom, added a charming, custom kitchen, and cleaned up the yard - it could be a showplace!

We mulled it over for a few days and then, much like our decision to start EuroLux, we decided we just had to take the plunge. That little house needed some love! We planned to do much of the work ourselves, with the help of our cherished handyman, Frank. We planned that we would do it over time.  But when we stepped inside that front door, we just didn't know the house would turn into a three-year project!

We purchased our little money pit in October 2011 and immediately went to work ripping it apart. As part of the demolition work on the bungalow, we took it down to the studs and joists, and even survived a killer bruise and a few broken ribs. We pulled down the false popcorn-textured ceiling and found original beadboard ceilings. Wait until you see how beautifully they have turned out!

My post on Our Vintage Bungalow Renovations Part 2 tells you about some of the other renovations. Ready or not, we can't wait to move in!