702 McKinley - A Remodeling Journey

A Year of 702 McKinley

A year ago September 29th, Sean closed on our beloved 702 McKinley. Here's a few before and after shots of the house and some of it's rooms! Thanks to all who have helped us in the last year...I swear we'll be moving soon! We're within weeks...assuming we get some free weekends!

Some of these are not true "before" shots and NONE of these are true"after" shots, as we're still working and similarly. Additionally, some of the angles of the before and after shots vary, partly due to the fact that  walls were removed and views that once were not available because a wall would have been in the way now are...and points of interest have changed!

 

Front of the house: (different angle)

 

Back of the house: (different angle)

 

Kitchen +  view from old dining room before wall was torn down, and after view of all:

 

Family Room: (different angle)

 

Family Room View Into Living Room: (the true before shot for thise would have shown a another doorway from the family room into the foyer, mirroring the doorway you see below).

 

Stairs - before, middle and after: (not a true before shot, but you get the idea!)

Again, many thanks to those that helped out at any point in the process and especially to those who have devoted hours, even days to helping us with this! It's a ton of fun for me to go back and look at the entire collection of photos from the beginning to the present! I can't wait to be able to show you photos of a clean house with furniture, art, and decorations!

 

Kitchen - With Countertops

I know the kitchen update post I did was missing a photo of the countertops. Though it's not decorated...nor clean, here's a photo of the kitchen..."finished". (complete with cleaning products on the countertops!)

I'm in the process of shopping for a rug to take up most of the kitchen floor...the area is 6' x 6' (roughly) and I'm looking for a 4' x 4' rug....something bright and cheery!

*Note, the crown that goes across the cabinets on the left will also go across the cabinets on the right...Sean just got sidetracked with a million other things!

Kitchen Update

Here are some photos of the progress of the kitchen from the drywall finishing to cabinets and appliances! (Sorry no photos of the counter tops...though they ARE in!) And apologies for the color quality and graininess of some of the photos...with so much dust in the house, it's hard to take photos with flash, therefore I work with available light...which in some cases is not the best!

The kitchen color is Stamped Concrete from Sherwin Williams. It is a fairly neutral gray that has a tinge of green to it! It definitely changes colors throughout the day as the daylight changes.

Counter tops are solid-surface Staron by Samsung - black with white specks!

Appliances are all black, from Lowe's. The refrigerator is recessed into the wall, so that it is in line with the edge of the cabinets/counter tops.

Cabinets are from Marsh (D&S Construction, Sean's company, is a supplier of these cabinets). These High Point cabinets are Shaker style, maple wood, cordovan color (cherry), full access (no center stiles in cabinets or frame on face), full overlay face/frame-less (meaning the doors cover the entire face of the cabinet...no space between doors and hidden hinges). We went with 42 inch upper cabinets with crown to highlight the height of our 9 foot ceilings! Sean also splurged on the end panel where the refrigerator is! (I don't mind the splurge because it really completes the kitchen!)

Floors are maple wood, stained cherry and engineered. We put an inlay of natural finished maple where the dining room table will set. (Sean wanted me to note that the inlay was done custom by him...not ordered online. Thanks to Brad D. for lending his tools for this process!) Sean bought these floors at an auction, so I can't plug the brand, but I must say they're absolutely gorgeous!

Our trim is white...and can be seen in that last photo.

I'll try to get a photo of the kitchen with the counter tops soon!

Again, some of the photos really don't do it justice, so stop by if your in the area...we're always willing to take a break to show off the house!

And as always, thanks to the many friends and family who have dedicated some of their time to help tear it all apart and bring it back together! We really can't wait to host a little (big) get-together to celebrate the accomplishment of making the old dirty house nice and new!

Update!

Be forewarned...there will be no awesome photos accompanying this post. I promise I'll get to it soon! (If our lives would ever slow down!)

Since the last post, the house has completely changed! Here's a list of it all!

• Drywall finished (downstairs)
• Ceilings stomped (up and downstairs)
• Dining room and kitchen floors installed
• Foyer floor installed
• Walls painted
• Interior doors painted
• Cabinets installed
• Hardware for cabinets put on
• Appliances installed (range, microwave, dishwasher, washer, dryer)
• Flooring where carpet will be - scraped and scrubbed (that was a LONG weekend for me!)
• A bit of landscaping planted by my mother (just a few little shrubs)
• Can light covers installed, old bulbs replaced
• Carpet picked out
• Paint for the upstairs (semi) picked out
• Light switch covers installed

And...the grass has been mowed a few more times!

Currently we're working on painting the trim and finishing the upstairs drywall. And, again, I'm working on getting some photos of the progress edited and ready for posting!

Sean & I continue to thank everyone who comes over to help. I especially want to thank my mother for always coming to help, our neighbor Earl for being Sean's right-hand man, Sean's dad for all the help with the stomping and drywall finishing, and my beautiful aunts, cousins and friends who helped paint! We really couldn't do it without the support of those we love! Also, a huge thank you goes out to our neighbor, Dave, for trimming the bushes between our yards! It was forever on my to-do list and never got done by me! THANK YOU!

A Visit from the Electric Company

This won't be an exciting post with tons of pictures on our progress, but instead a funny little story to let you know about the non-progress we've made on the house since the drywall party.

Thursday morning my boss & I had volunteered our time to work at the Shelby Soil & Water Conservation District's Conservation Camp. This year the camp took place at the Shelby County Fairgrounds which happens to be located directly across the street from 702 McKinley! After we got set up at our location, we realized the view of 702 was perfect. Ellen (my boss) and I stood there talking about the drastic changes to the house, both inside and out. A few minutes later, we see an electric company truck pull up in front of the house and sit there. It was slightly strange, but the truck pulled away. Within less than a minute, the truck had pulled around the block and had come through the alley and stopped by the house. A man got out of the truck, walked to the back of the house where the electric box is and was there for a little bit. I figured he was reading our meter, but Ellen reminded me that the meter-reading guy typically walks from house to house and doesn't usually have the big official work truck. Curiosity killed the cat and I ended up texting Sean to be sure he had paid our bill...and that they weren't turning off our electric because of it! Sean has kept up with the bills, so it definitely wasn't that, but curiosity took hold of him too, so he called the electric company.

Turns out, DP&L (the electric company) noticed a huge drop in our usage...to the point where no electricity had been used in the month of June and wanted to be sure we were still connected and hadn't bypassed them somehow!

Moral of the story...we haven't worked on the house in over a month...and I'm not the only one noticing this!

I will say, a couple of things have been done since the drywall party...1- the grass has been mowed a number of times by me. If you've seen me out mowing the hill, you've probably had a good laugh! 2- Sean (with no thanks to me) finished the downstairs bathroom and laundry room. We have a working sink and toilet, the flooring in throughout the two rooms, the tub surround tiled, the walls painted and the ceilings stomped! 

I would imagine in the coming weeks we'll be trying to get our butts in gear to get some more work done! A few pieces of drywall have to be removed and rehung before we can get it inspected. Once that's done, then Sean & Doug (Sean's dad) can start finishing the drywall. AND, once that's done, the Wood women and friends can get their paint brushes and rollers wet!

Here's hoping we're in by September! (the official one year mark is September 29)