A Reader’s Home Makeover (Before and After)

Hello, friends!

On Saturday, I was at Pet Smart and met one of my blog readers.  I love when I meet one of my readers!!!  She said she felt silly introducing herself to me, but I absolutely LOVED it! 

I love knowing that people are actually reading what I write.  {hee.hee.}

Anyway, she showed me some pictures on her phone of the makeovers she has been doing in her own home.  I was so impressed!  Smile

I asked her to email them to me so I could share them with you.  I think it is good sometimes to see work of non-bloggers who are DIYing and working to improve their homes on a budget.

Here’s what Tonyia had to say about her makeover…

Our 30 plus year old kitchen really, really needed an update!  photo 1(2)

photo 2(2)

We laid a ceramic tile floor, took out the soffitts to open up the space…

photo 2(3)

and expanded the lower cabinets and countertop area to make the kitchen larger. photo 3(1)The eating area is now out in the sunroom area.photo 1(1)

We purchased our cabinets & counter top from Home Depot, but my husband did the installation himself (with the help of a friend). This saved us some $$$.photo 2(1)

Here’s a close-up of my favorite part of our new kitchen (open shelves & IKEA farmhouse sink). I’ve displayed a mix of some glassware that was my grandmother’s along with some newer pieces.

photo 1(3)

 

I have some “before” pics of our sunroom, but can’t locate them at the moment. These pics were taken  after we did the demo part. photo 1(4)Let me just say that this room was awful. We took out 2 sets of sliding glass doors that separated the sunroom from kitchen & dining room areas of the house, raised the floor because we used to have to step down a little into the sunroom, added heat/air, installed new windows & put in a new wood ceiling (it used to be a popcorn type ceiling).

photo 2(4)

 

The walls used to be paneling and this room only had single pane windows before so we basically could only use this room during “nice weather” months before.

photo 1(5)

Now this room is an extension of our home and we can use it year-round!!  photo 3(4)You can see our new eating area in these pictures.

photo 2(5)This project was my favorite during our first floor remodel because of the china cabinet transformation my mom & I did together (bottom picture is a “before” pic of the cabinet) photo 3 and also because of the group of paintings on the wall.

photo 2(6)

My grandmother was a beautiful artist & she painted all the pictures in this grouping. With her permission, I walked through her house and took pictures off her walls to create this grouping.

All of the frames were different (barn wood & other shades of light & dark wood) so I spray painted all of the frames black to give them consistency on the wall. I love how this turned out!! 

My grandmother lost her life to cancer October 2013, but she was able to see this completed project and was so proud that I have them displayed in my home.photo 1(6)

Oh, and the table belonged to my great-grandmother. I knew I wanted to use this table before the project started, so it was the base of the room & I picked out everything else to compliment the table.

 

One last room to share with you of our first floor remodel. I don’t think I mentioned it before, but this whole project took us about 3 years. We both work full-time, and we have a 15 yr old son that is involved in sports, so that doesn’t leave a lot of spare time to work on the house.

The first picture is what our ceiling used to look like in our living room & dining room.

photo 1(7)

We removed this ceiling & installed a new wood ceiling out of natural wood with several coats of polyurethane.

photo 2(7)

It automatically made these rooms look bigger. We installed this same wood ceiling in the sunroom.
You can sort of see what our living room used to look like in the 2nd picture. The funky shape above the old TV had the same dark wood that was on the ceiling. Our dining room is on the opposite side of the wall & then you walk into the sunroom.  You can see the horrible maroon/purple wall color that we lived with for many years . It was this color when we bought the house. . . I did NOT pick this color.

photo 3(5)
In the above picture, you can see the new mantle & entertainment center space that my husband built himself. I found the cabinet doors that are on the storage area next to the TV at the Habitat for Humanity Restore on Southland Dr. (another little trick I learned from you)!!  I found an old cabinet at the Restore that had doors the exact size we needed.  I bought the cabinet, removed the doors & donated the cabinet back to them.  SmileThe doors were brown when I bought them. A couple coats of white paint and they looked brand new!!

Here is the rest of that space…photo 4

photo 5

Didn’t Tonyia do an amazing job?!  I love seeing all of the hard work they have put into their home the past three years.

And I love that she has filled her home with so many precious keepsakes.  That is what makes a home truly special! 

It was so nice to meet you, Tonyia!  Thank you for saying hi to me at Pet Smart, and thank you for letting me share your beautiful home with my readers!!! Smile

 

Have a blessed day!!

25 Comments

  1. Unbelievable! They did an awesome job. I know they must be so proud to show it off to friends and family. Congrats!

  2. I love that you featured a “non blogger” on your page! Sometimes for us DIY-ers we start to feel a little dis-heartened and now you’ve gone and made us feel like what we do is somehow just as good as a daily blogger :) Her home is gorgeous! And you have to feel sooo good that you had a big part in helping her! We really do read what you write and it’s always helpful! So I’d like to just say, Thank you for doing what you do, I really appreciate it, and you! :D

  3. What beautiful pictures! This wonderful lady is a friend of mine and not only is her home spectacular – she has the kindest and most generous heart of anyone I know. Thank you for allowing your readers to see this precious family’s beautiful home!

  4. What a combination of vision and patience. It’s beautiful. I especially loved that you used your Gramma’s art (what a talented woman) and your Great Gramma’s table. Using sentimentality and great decor with awesome results.

  5. Tonyia and her husband are outstanding DIY’ers. With their vision, determination and hard work they’ve created a warm and inviting place. I love it. Thank you for giving us a peek into their beautiful home.~ Nancy @ A Joyful Cottage

  6. They did a beautiful job!! very inspiring… So sweet what she did with her grandmother’s artwork. I love the china cabinet transformation…so pretty!!

  7. A wonderful makeover, so welcoming and showa what hard work can do. Thank you so much for sharing….

  8. Very creative, BEAUTIFUL, and good character. I love the Grandma’s paintings. Priceless! I am feeling inspired! Great job, “blog reader.”

    Andrea

  9. What a transformation. I love that she used her Grandma’s paintings and her Great Grandma’s table. I have that same rug. I hope Tonyia reads the comments because I would love to know the paint that was used to transform the hutch.

    1. Thank you Michelle!!! I just used a basic white paint on the hutch, but finished it off with a distressing technique to rough up the edges.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *