Demo Done!!

Words cannot describe how happy I am with our rennovations! Yes, I feel like I have a brand new house, but it feels so much better than that! It is great to be in the same house that I feel comfortable in and turn it into something that I also LOVE the look of!
Here is the BEFORE picture, huge fireplace and support wall taking up 50 square feet.



DURING the demo process, wall is down to the studs and hole in the ceiling!



AFTER, I cannot believe how much space there is! The fresh new paint, new larger baseboards, new wood floors all look amazing!


So happy with how everything turned out!! Next stop: Operation Decoration!!

Hallmark Hallway!

I am totally obsessed with our updated hallway! We are so excited about our open living and dining room too, but this hallway has had a dramatic facelift. I apologize in advance that I dont have a complete hallway before picture! Im my defense I didnt know I would be so happy and excited about the hallway enough to do a whole blog posting about it!
Before; 1980's globe hall light fixture:




Before; 1980's parquet flooring:



And more before; carpet, chipped baseboards, and parquet:



After; new industrial light, wood floors and tall fresh painted baseboards:


Also notice paint color change and white painted doors!
1980's before:


Updated after:


I'm obsessed! It's still 1 single light but much brighter and more beautiful!

Home Stretch!

Wood floors are down, TV is up! Here's some before, during, and after pics!
Closet before:


Closet extension framing during:


Closet/TV niche dry wall during:


Closet/TV niche painted after:

 
Chair rail, new paint, hung TV complete with wireless remote receptor thingy! All TV components are inside the closet. Oh and I promise you that the TV is centered exactly equally within the niche from left to right!! This picture doesn't look that way, but you better believe that it is. I measured it about 8 times and it's exact. The vertical measurement is a little off but I could care less about that.

Before, boring old coat closet again:


And after, larger, closet TV niche combo, again:

 
Amazing!! This really makes a difference in the living room. Not only will we have more space, but it looks sooooo cool and modern!!

Also seen in this after photo you get a sneak peek of the new floors here in the after shot. More to come on that later!
- Swiss Avenue

Straws and Jars!

I am so happy how my mason jars and straws turned out! These are the wedding favors!!
They have tiny kissing buffalo and our initials and wedding date!



- Swiss Avenue

Without a Trace!

Any sort of trace or hint of a fireplace and a wall are completely gone now!
See here before with wall and massive fireplace:


The progress of taking out the fireplace and wall to the studs:


And now, nothing left, still in progress though, with an addition of a new support beam:


I cannot wait to get paint on the walls and trim!!!!

In The Closet!

Again, here are some more before and after pictures of the closet reno. This is the before shot of our coat closet looking at it from the center of the living room:



And here is the same look of that closet in progress of adding a pantry and TV niche to it:



So the existing closet remains but gets opened up on the other side to create a pantry. A new coat/TV component closet gets built out into the wasted space of the foyer:



And here is a shot of the dry wall completed closet/ TV niche:



Also here is a shot from the hallway of my new pantry!! I don't even know what I'm gonna do with all that storage space:



We have been kicked out of the house since Sunday! They are painting all the trim and doors and walls! Can't wait to see it this weekend!

Demo Derby 3!

Last night we came home to this:
A new built in TV niche and a new closet!!


So this is before:



And... This is after:


On the right is the exisiting closet that's now opened on the other side to form a shelved pantry. I can't wait for all the extra storage!! The framed out left side is the new coat closet. It will be basically the same size that it was. The center outside cut out is what will house the flat screen. Inside the coat closet will be all the tv components. We are getting a wireless remote thingy. I hope all renovations will move this fast!

Frank Lloyd Wright Weekend!

I have always been a huge Frank Lloyd Wright fan and a few years ago I was in Arizona for work and we were put up in The Biltmore Hotel. This was an amazing hotel that opened in 1929 where Frank Lloyd Wright oversaw the design and construction. 

Arizona Biltmore History

It has an amazing entrance and lobby area. There are also little bungalows that were added later to the property that were so cute. You could really see the influence that FLW had over this property.

What added to this amazing place was the landscaping! Poppy's, cactus, orange trees were everwhere:

During the trip I took myself out to Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home and instructional school. From the website:

"Frank Lloyd Wright began building this desert masterpiece in 1937 as his personal winter home, studio, and architectural campus. Located on the beautiful Sonoran desert in the foothills of the McDowell Mountains in northeast Scottsdale, the site offers a broad range of guided public tours. Visitors experience firsthand Wright’s brilliant ability to integrate indoor and outdoor spaces."

  

  This place still operates as an artictectural school and most of the rooms are still functional as classrooms, dining rooms, and boarding rooms.

 Again, the landscaping was amazing. It also helped that my whole entire trip to Arizona (in January), there was not 1 single cloud in the sky. The sky was this amazing blue color. None of these photos have been touched up or enhanced in any way.

 We also got to tour the inside of the buildings. These chairs were original designs. He built most of the interiors out and designed all of the furniture. Its so interesting to me to design everything within the house as well:
"Wright's creative mind was not confined to architecture.  He also designed furniture, fabrics, art glass, lamps, dinnerware, silver, linens and graphic arts."

 All over the property were these "sprites" seen below, designed by Wright. They were so pretty and whimsical.

 There were a ton of little gardens and spots throughout the property. They all were meaningful and related to the area.

 I loved my trip to Taliesin! I have also seen several other buildings designed by Wright. Look for their entries in future posts!

Demo Derby 2!

The fire place, parquet, baseboards, and carpet are all GONE!

Check out before:


And standing, viewing the same place, after shot:


I will miss decorating it for the holidays, like here: Mantle Times. BUT you cannot beat the added space with a stick! We are going to love it!

Today the wall framing should be coming down! Stay tuned for progress shots!

Demo Derby!

So after much deliberation and hard work we have decided to stay in our house and rennovate!! We did have it on the market: listing photos here. But now we want to stay and make it our own!

So excited to go home tonight to see the progress on the fireplace demo! I know people are going to read this and think I'm totally insane for demo'ing a fireplace, normally I would agree, but this thing was MASSIVE! We calculated and estimated that we will gain about 50 square feet in the living/dining room when adding in the dead space next to it that wasn't usable. Yes, you read that correct, that's a 5-0, not a 1-5, in square footage! It also will open the living and dining room into one large "open concept" living space. We are also doing other renovations which I'll get into at a later date.

See before of massive, yet charming, yet cluttered, fireplace:



De-cluttered for demo:


Side view:


So huge:


Stay tuned for after photos!

Oh Lord!

It is Jade-ite AND it's mini!! I'm in love! Maybe someone will purchase for my b-day!? **hint*hint**

- Swiss Avenue

Year Wrap Up!

With my birthday fast approaching I decided to look back at all the happenings of the past year.

September:
Amazing birthday party, thanks to my hunny, in a suite at The Melrose.



October: The Rangers went to the World Series:



December: hard month, Dad had a heart attack Dec 26th. Also my puppy that I got for my 16th birthday, Kayton, passed away. Kayton is on the right, this was his last picture.



I went to NYC!! Again, amazing!


It snowed in Dallas. Enough for a few snow days at work!


I saw Lady Gaga live in concert, about 10 feet from my face.


I met Lisa Loeb!!


Riann and I took wedding engagement pictures!


The Mavs won the Championship. This is a CAKE someone sent to congratulate!


I went to California with my sisters and best friends! The view from our beach house:



Now all that's left is another birthday!!

Swiss Avenue