6 The Before Tour: Guest Bedroom & Bath

Before tour day 3 coming at ya! Now that we’ve knocked out all the living areas, let’s mosey on over to the guest bedroom & bath…

The bedrooms will be the easy part. Once the hardwood floors are refinished, walls painted and light fixtures updated, this guest bedroom will be good to go. An easy redo before we tackle the guest bath…

This bath is pretty self explanatory. It all has to go.

A perfectly functional bathroom—other than the 5’6’’ shower head that this 5’9” gal has to squeeze under each day—the pink is just not quite our style. We are dreaming up a guest bath with a more clean & contemporary feel.

See you back here tomorrow when we head on over to the master bedroom & bath!

-Cara

Read more...

6 The Before Tour: Kitchen & Den

Alright, now that you have had one whole day to recover from your introduction to our new living & dining rooms, we feel that you are much more prepared for what you will encounter in the next two stops of our before home tour. We’re kitchen & den bound!

 

 

Welcome to our kitchen. Our dark kitchen. Our no-way-will-Cara-ever-find-her-way-around-should-she-stumble-in-without-her-contacts/glasses kitchen.

Like the pink countertops? As we continue our tour throughout the coming days, you’ll find that this hue was obviously a favorite of the builder.

 
Yesterday, we definitely found a Gone with the Wind theme going on in the dining room. In the kitchen however, I am gravitating more towards Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The scene where the kids encounter the lickable wallpaper?

The oranges taste like oranges, the rasberries taste like rasberries, the shnozberries taste like shnozberries!


Next stop, the den! This was immediately our favorite room in the house for the several reasons…

1. Only room with hardwoods already exposed
2. A very handsome fireplace would make for cozy reading
3. We Wilkersons require a home office and this space was will be Realtor perfection

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: the paneling. It needs to go and is being ripped out and replaced with sheetrock as we speak! We can’t wait to reveal our new light and bright office very soon!

See you tomorrow for more scary goodness as we head to the guest bedroom & bathroom. Prepare yourselves. It won’t be pretty…yet!


-Cara

Read more...

11 Secrets, secrets are so fun!

We Wilkersons have been keeping a smidgen of a secret from you. Want to know what it is? The floor is now open for your best guess.

Preggers?…nice try (My Gran has her fingers crossed that this would be the case. Not yet, Granimal!)

New pet?…We wish!

Give up? Alright, we’ll divulge.

 

Meet our secret…

 

Tada! That’

s right. We’re on the move! Isn’t she lovely? We could just get lost in all this 1950s rancher has to offer. Do remember that we Wilkersons are lovers of a good charity case, hence the Rehabilitation Station. With that said, let’s get crackin’ on the first of several mini “before” home tours.

We’ll start with the front of the house: the living & dining rooms. As the daughter of an architect, I know my drawings aren’t quite up to par, but it’s all I‘ve got people…

  
 
Everywhere you see carpet, the original hardwoods are sneakily hidden underneath. To our hardwood loving hearts, this was a huge selling point and they will be uncovered and shined up pronto! Want a sneak peak of the beauty buried underneath? Alright, you twisted my arm you sneaky thing, you…


I just know the angels sang to you as they did for us upon this discovery.

Next up, the dining room…

 
Your eyes are not mistaking you. That is a gigantic wallpaper plantation scene sprawling across the dining room wall. I half expected Scarlet to come storming out of the kitchen demanding to see Ashley. If you haven’t seen Gone With the Wind, shame on you. Block out four hours of your Friday night and make it happen.

That’s all for today folks! More to come tomorrow for sure, and you can sleep soundly tonight knowing that we’ve already starting tackling our new giant of a project.

-Cara

PS…Eric sends a big howdy your way. He’s just a bit busy tackling the Grandma curtains hanging in the window.

Read more...

3 wwW.indow Shopping.com: Tracy Porter

Fun & fanciful finds from Tracy Porter. Enjoy!…

-Cara

Read more...

5 A Life Changing Discovery

Holy…stinkin’…moly…my life is complete. Maybe I am just slow to stumble upon this haven of inspiration, but has anyone else discovered Knock Off Wood aka the mother load of DIY furniture? There are no words to describe how happy this home nerd is right now.

 

Ana, the genius creator of this unbelievable blog and my newly appointed (by me) guidance counselor, takes fabulous furniture pieces from our favorite stores and recreates them…from scratch.

She does what? We need an example. You don’t yet believe me. Look what Ana did with this beautiful bench from Pottery Barn.

The inspiration…



The master plan…

…and the plans go on but you get the point. For full plans, click here.

You better believe this discovery is a Rehabilitation Station dream come true!


-Cara

Read more...

7 Just Listed: 201 N Ash in Hillcrest!

Updated bungalow in Hillcrest for under $200,000—a rare find! This 2 bedroom/1.5 bath craftsman has been recently remodeled and boasts a separate laundry room, fantastic front porch, and spacious deck in the fully fenced backyard! Walk to all Hillcrest shopping and dining hot spots!

Price: $199,500

Click here for more information and to schedule a time to see this home for yourself!

-Eric

Read more...

5 Post of Note: Mod Podge Rocks

How great are these DIY coasters?!

Now scoot on over to Mod Podge Rocks to find out how you can whip up a set of your own. Go on. You know you want to.

-Cara

Read more...

10 Rehabilitation Station: Ottoman Update

Waking up with a stiff neck on Saturday was zero fun, but I refused to let it ruin the productivity of the Rehabilitation Station. The furniture gods were on my side however, and stumbling across this $12.00 ottoman at an estate sale rocked my socks. Obviously in need of a facelift, a quick and easy upholstery project (along with a heating pad an a couple ibuprofen) worked its way into my Saturday.

With a fabric of choice waiting in the wings, my new friend and I were ready to get down to business! I opted to use a box cutter to remove the existing faux leather seat cover instead of plucking staple upon staple. After my last incredibly-painful-but-totally-worth-it reupholstery experience, my fingers thanked me.

Surprisingly, the padding was in good condition and we were ready to skip right on to the good stuff. A quick fabric trim ensured that approximately 4 inches remained around the sides of the base. It’s better to overestimate a bit here as excess fabric can always be snipped down the road…

In the home stretch, a quick run around the edges with the staple gun should do it. Be sure not to pull the fabric too snuggly to avoid ending up with unintended stretch marks.

That’s it! Simple, right? This Rehabilitation Station friend found a cozy new home in our bathroom.

Budget Breakdown:
Ottoman	$12.00
Fabric	$7.00
Staple gun & staples	FREE—left over from a previous project
Total	$19.00

-Cara

Read more...

3 Let’s Make a Deal: The Slate Cheese Board

Viva Terra: $69.00	Williams-Sonoma: $39.95

-Cara

Read more...

8 Just Listed: 601 N Pine in Hillcrest!

This charming 3 bedroom/2 bath bungalow in historic Hillcrest is one you won’t want to miss! Enjoy 2 living areas, a formal dining room, a butler's pantry, and separate laundry room.  There are beautiful hardwoods throughout and award winning landscaping on the property. Relax on the spacious front porch or walk to all of the Hillcrest restaurants and shops!

Price: $255,000

        
Click here for more information and to schedule a time to see this home for yourself. We look forward to hearing from you!

-Eric

Read more...

4 Pottery Barn Pretties

Oh, glory. Don’t you just love stumbling across forgotten gift cards? I was delighted to recently find a Pottery Barn pot of gold buried inside my wallet. After finishing a happy little jig, I couldn’t wait to get to shopping—online of course. It was my “day off” after all and my cup of coffee and house shoes beat out traveling across town to PB’s brick and mortar facility.

We real estate nerds had to have these babies. I’m not sure what we’ll do with this fancy set of vintage keys, but we’ll worry about that another day.



Next on the shopping list, a pretty little bookmark. I sincerely thank you, Real Simple, for providing me with your fantastic perforated bookmarks over the years, but if Eric is going to take me seriously in my undying quest for a home library I need to walk the walk with a seriously shiny new bookmark in hand.

No worries, that is not a real fly. Just a super lifelike one that scares me every time I roll over to hit the snooze button…

 

-Cara

Read more...

6 LTHL Guest Blog

Be sure to hop on over to At Home magazine’s blog today to check out a guest blog by yours truly!

A special Redesigned to Sell focuses on adding the finishing touches to a living room overflowing with potential.

But don’t stop there! At Home has oodles of other fabulous posts for your reading enjoyment. So go ahead, leave Live the Home Life behind and scoot on over to all of the fantastic fun At Home has in store for you. We’ll get back together tomorrow.

-Cara

Read more...

8 Cat-astrophe

Oh geez. The girls had a bit too much fun this weekend. Too much cat nip? I’m not sure, but what I do know is that this mirror…

Is now this mirror…

Once a contender for a simple Rehabilitation Station redo, the game plan will have to be reworked a bit. I now have an entire trash sack full of broken mirror pieces that I can’t bring myself to throw out.

I need your help friends! What would you do with pounds of broken mirror pieces at your disposal?

-Cara

Read more...

6 Craft Hope for Haiti

Hi friends. I’d like to take a moment to introduce you to an amazing Etsy shop, Craft Hope. 100% of the proceeds of Craft Hope will benefit Doctors Without Borders in Haiti with all items being generously donated by the crafting community.

Please take a moment to visit Craft Hope and show your support for this overwhelmingly important cause.

Last year, before my blogging days, I busied myself with the making of canvas wall hangings—half a dozen of which were still sitting practically completed in a dresser drawer. Sitting idly no more are they. Soon these four friends will be on Craft Hope’s virtual shelves…

If you would like to donate an item to Craft Hope, click here to visit their website and find out how you can help.

-Eric & Cara

Read more...