Start of Another Porch Makeover

Switching gears a little bit from the Hummel House to talk about our porch.  Last time I talked about the porch styling was almost 4 years ago when I complained about how tan everything was looking, but did some virtual styling to reduce the monotony of beige.  Last year we did do some major work on the actual porch which made my dislike of the basic furniture seem a little less important, but with warm weather right around the corner I’m back to dreaming of sipping margaritas out here again!

Exterior-After[3]

So, the last time I had checked in I had bought this set from Bed Bath & Beyond, which is no longer carried.

Porch

I also had that Ikea sisal rug that I had plans to paint, but honestly, who has time for that?! 

My plan was to add color by painting the rug, adding pillows and accessories, and maybe one day making slip covers.  They were grand plans indeed!

Porch-After

Well fast forward 4 years and we still had the tan furniture with a couple pillows, which you can see peeking out in the first photo, and that was it.  I was hopeful to take on this space again and everything changed when I got the Bed Bath and Beyond circular last month and I got super excited about new possibilities.

BBB-April-Circular

I decided to stop trying to like my old set and get something I loved, and this Westerly Acacia Wood Chat Set was it!  I knew Mike would kill me if I came home with a new set while we still had a perfectly good one sitting on the porch at the moment, so I reasoned with myself that if I could sell the old one, I would buy the new one.  I posted it to our local Facebook Buy, Sell, Trade group and within 3 minutes it was sold for $150!  I went after work to buy the new set :)

Poor Mike was actually on the porch cleaning it up when I came home with the news that someone was coming by later to take it away.  He’s definitely used to this by now so he wasn’t even that surprised.  I had also picked up a new outdoor rug from Target while I was out and then got to work putting everything together.  I would have liked a larger rug, but we’re limited by width of the porch.

New Porch Furniture

The furniture is surprisingly really comfortable.  The cushions look a little thin, but I sat on the display set before I bought it. 

I’ve got to add some more layers, including a side table for the chairs, planters, lanterns, pillows, and accessories.  I’ve got a couple items in transit, and I’ll share as I add more pieces.   

Hummel House | Master Bed & Bath

We’re finishing up the ‘Before’ tour of my sister and brother in law’s house, aptly named Hummel House.  We’ve only got two rooms left, the master bedroom and attached bath.

The bedroom is similar to the other bedrooms, with simple fixtures, plain carpet and the same style closet doors.

Hummel House Master Bed - Before

The room is obviously larger, has two windows, and two closets.

Hummel House Master Bed - Before 2

Some new paint, upgraded closet doors, new light fixture and furniture will update this room.  It also has an ensuite bath.

Hummel House Master Bed - Before 1

The bathroom has a good sized window that provides a good amount of light.  While not offensive, everything’s dated, but with minimal work I think this could be a really cute bathroom.

Hummel House Master Bath - Before

And that completes the home tour!

We’ve already started plans for different rooms, and I’m really excited to see the upgrades unfold, but definitely not as excited as my sister!  There are daily texts back and forth about a chair or paint color, and I love it!

Soon, we’ll be sharing some plans and hopefully not too long before we start implementing them!

Hummel House | Guest Bath & Bedrooms

This morning we’re moving our tour of the Hummel House upstairs to the bedrooms.

Hummel House Living Room - Before 2

The red continues up the stairs to the small hallway at the top.  To the left is the guest bathroom.  It’s dark, with no natural light, and dated.  Not much else can be said about it.

Hummel House Guest Bath - Before

Hummel House Guest Bath - Before 2

The problem in here is the pink tile, toilet, and vanity.  Like I said, Michelle and Keith aren’t looking to do major renovations, so we’ll have to work with the tile in the shower at least, and hope to use paint and accessories to upgrade the other fixtures if they are to stay.

On the other side of the small hallway are the guest bedrooms.  One will be used for guests, while the other is made into an office.  Below is the guest room.  The room is pretty inoffensive with white trim, dark gray carpet, and builder-grade closet doors. 

Hummel House Bed2 - Before 1

Hummel House Bed2 - Before

The plan is to use paint and furniture to make this room welcoming to guests (maybe even me if I have a couple too many glasses of wine!).

The other room is similar, if not a little smaller.  And green.  Really, that’s the only way to tell these two rooms apart at this point.

Hummel House Bed3 - Before 1

Hummel House Bed3 - Before 2

Hummel House Bed3 - Before

This room will be an office/craft area and I’m looking forward to helping Michelle set up an area for her to get her craft on!  It’s like a rite of passage in my family to get a crafting area, starting with my Grandma, to my mom, and me. 

Tomorrow we’ll finish up the tour with the master bedroom and bath, and then it’s on to the grand plans!

Hummel House | Dining, Kitchen & Family room

We’re finishing up the first floor today and picking up in the Dining room, which is attached in one large open area to the living room.

Hummel House Living Room - Before 1

Hummel House Dining Area - Before

The dining area has nice light from the window and the windows in the living room.  My sister’s hope is to extend similar styling from the living room into the dining room, while keeping it a little more formal than just an eating area.  One of the things on their house shopping list was a seperate dining room to have a space to host family meals and holidays. 

The room is one giant room so the paint color will obviously be the same and we’ll keep both rooms design in mind when working on the other.

Hummel House Dining Area - Before 1

The room behind those weird and totally unnecessary banisters is the kitchen.

Hummel House Kitchen - Before

The room is dated and has a lot going on with the black and white linoleum flooring, bright green walls, and wood cabinets. 

Hummel House Kitchen - Before 4

Hummel House Kitchen - Before 2

My sister’s excited to paint these cabinets and switch out the flooring, but our biggest obstacle will be this corner.

Hummel House Kitchen - Before 3

We’ve discussed ideas that range to quick fixes, like adding open shelving, to more intensive projects like knocking out the wall between the kitchen and dining room (guess who’s idea that was!).  This will probably wait for the space to be used a bit and see what the best option is.

Through the kitchen, and attached to the entry (we’ve gone in a circle if you’ve been following along each day), is the family room.

Hummel House Family Room - Before 2

It’s a nice sized room with lots of natural light from the sliding doors that lead to the backyard.

Hummel House Family Room - Before

The problem is it’s longer than it is wide and has a fireplace on one end, which is awesome, but mulitple doors and openings. 

Hummel House Family Room - Before 1

The only space for the TV is the wall opposite the fireplace which creates two focal points, not to mention that the first thing you’ll see when you walk through the front door is the TV.  Hopefully we can make it look nice enough (and the living room on the other side inviting enough) that people will gravitate to that and this will be a more casual/comfortable room for family TV watching.

The planned projects in here include removing the carpet (it’s super wrinkly) and replacing with some laminate wood flooring, painting, and upgraded furniture.  Michelle is seriously crushing on this makeover from Chris Loves Julia.  So, I’m seeing creams, greens, and blues in her future.  It’s also the room that will most likely be addressed first, and will set the palate for the rest of the house.

Tomorrow we’re moving upstairs to check out the bedrooms and the rest of the bathrooms.

Hummel House | Entry, Bath & Living Room

Yesterday I introduced my sister and brother in law, Michelle and Keith’s new house and today I’ll share the first couple of rooms, the ones you see first when you are entering the house.  We’ll start in the entry.

Hummel House Entry - Before
The front door is this awesome set of French doors with tons a natural light from the windows.  The orangish door is the garage door with a set of closet doors to the left.  Chelle and I agree that the space to the right will be a perfect spot for a shallow table and mirror.

Hummel House Entry - Before 2
Looking straight ahead after you enter the doors is the family room (with the wrinkly carpet), the kitchen peaking in on the left (the bright green color and black and white tiles), the basement door in front on the left, and the half bath on the right.

Moving into the half bath, is a smaller builder-grade bath without any natural light, that can use some personality with some paint, maybe a new vanity, light fixtures and mirror.

Hummel House Half Bath - Before
Coming back out through the entry and making a right (across from the garage door if you need reference) is the living room.

Hummel House Living Room - Before
It’s a dozy, mostly because of THAT RED!  I can’t knock them because ages ago we somehow convinced my mom that a similar shade of red would be an awesome color to paint our living room in our childhood home, but that was a long time ago and it’s a dated trend that makes rooms look a little obnoxious.  What’s especially important is how the red relates to other features in the room.  It’s definitely not doing any favors to that orangey oak floor.

Chelle is thinking some great big built-ins along this wall and a nicer seating area for entertaining and occasional TV watching.

Hummel House Living Room - Before 2
Looking back to the entry, you can see the stairs to the second story and this little area that we haven’t really figured out what to do with yet.  I’m thinking once the built-ins and major furniture is in, we can reevaluate the left over space and see what we should do.

Hummel House Living Room - Before 1
The dining room is next to the living room and we’ll share that space with the kitchen tomorrow.

Introducing | Hummel House

Last week was an exciting time in our family as my sister and brother in law moved into their very first home! 

Hummel House Exterior
I’m even more excited because while the large projects here at the Casa del Danks have finished up, my sister, Michelle, has asked me to help her along the way with the projects she has in mind to upgrade the house to make it a home for her and Keith.  Not to mention, is allowing me to blog about it along the way!

We’ve been pinning away on a joint Pinterest board (which you can follow here if you want to get a sneak peek into the direction we’re headed) for a few months now and I’m lucky because she has a similar style to mine.  I’m excited to help her achieve a bright, modern, comfortable look that will upgrade this 1960’s beauty.

While they were moving last Sunday, I was able to sneak in with Michelle and take some true before photos – moments after getting the call that the previous owner’s were gone and before all of their boxes crowded the rooms.  Over the course of the week I’ll share those photos and in the future we’ll be discussing the plans/progress/reveals.

My sister and bro in law understand their limits and purchased a house that didn’t need any major gut renovations (unlike their crazy sister and her husband (us!)) so most of the rooms only need a good coat of paint and some upgraded fixtures and design focus, but as you’ll see from the baseline photos, it’s going to make a huge difference!

I can’t wait to get my paint clothes out and help them makeover their new home!