Hammers Start Swinging tomorrow!

& We're SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!

An the interim, we've picked out tile for the whole house, so here are some pretty pictures for you to ogle :)

First-up....Utility Room....

& then Kitchen backsplash behind the hood  - will be like this, but with White instead of grey & also some dark aqua mixed in.  Some of the tiles will be bubbled & others will be flat. 

The Remainder of the Kitchen Backsplash will be a mix of these Matte Flat & Inverted Subway tiles...

Then - the Kitchen Floor, though this is not a great picture of it - it is a white tile with thin strands of Gray & Blue running through it.  This will also be on the floor of the Guest Bathroom.

The Main Tile in the Master Bath - Shower, Floors, Walls, etc.

Accent tile for the Master Bath

& Main Tile for the Guest bath, which will cover the walls & shower

Accent tile for the Guest Bath.....

Then we have the Floors of the showers in both bathrooms......it's going to feel SO GOOD on your feet!

& finally the floor tile for the Bar Bathroom....

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our permit was FINALLY Approved by the backlogged City of Austin LATE TODAY!!!!!

& this week, these things appeared......

Demolition of the interior starts early next week - YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!

Getting Impatient :)

We started removing bits & pieces....ripping up some carpet, getting rid of the old ugly fireplace insert. Waiting....waiting.....

PERMITS & The Waiting Game.....

All we're waiting for now is PERMITS!!
Which, with all of the boom that Austin has had, is quite the adventure, as it's wait, wait, wait until your papers get to the top of the pile.

UGH!

As soon as that comes through, we can get started - YIPPEE!!!

CLOSE TO Swinging the first hammer!!!!!

Home Improvement loan......CHECK - signed our life away TODAY!!

City of Austin Construction Permits.......PENDING - We can start taking out all of the OLD UGLY stuff to make room for the new stuff as soon as the permit clears

So Close........Stay Tuned!

BEFORE Photos!

So here's what we're starting with.  The place needs LOTS of work, which is why we're waiting to move in until the renovation is complete on the main house.  So here's a bit of what we're starting with:

Kitchen.......to be taken down to the studs & footprint expanded into the room next to it (formerly the Game Room)

Hallway - all old tile will go.  To be replaced with CORK flooring

Former dining room.  Will be merged with the living room to form one living space

Sunken Living room

Living room - former dining room to the left. Stairs to the master bedroom behind fireplace

Room to become Caroline's office after reconfiguration, etc

Full bath off of the dining room.  To be turned into a Laundry/Utility room, along with a small office behind it

Guest bath to be gutted & redone with all tile

Master bath to be gutted down to the studs & reconfigured

Harvest Gold toilet!  To be put on Craigslist soon!

Backyard view from where the bar will be

Also from where the bar will be

Back of house.  All wood siding to be replaced with Hardie board & painted not brown (final color TBD).

We dig the front doors.  Plan is to have them painted a light Aqua color & replace the hardware with Starburst hardware.

 & the same doors from inside

Pretty Colors!!!!  Can't wait to see which ones we use :)

Here's the abode today.  Pretty much original 1975 with a few minor exceptions.  It's got good bones & an interesting floor plan that will work well for us.

We'll be keeping the doors, but they'll be a fun mid century AQUA when we're done!

OOOH!  BIG Fireplace!

 Old dining room, which will be married with the sunken living room to become 1, 2-level living room

Dark, dank, small depressing kitchen
BIG plans for this room!!!

View of downstairs from up by the Master Suite
(Fortunately, the Grand Piano finally left with the previous owners)

& the skeezy Master bathroom

FUN FUN Backyard with POTENTIAL!!!

 & THIS is where the bar will be!

It's been quite a while since we updated this blog & we've had a bit of a change of direction that we're EXCITED about!!

1st up: We decided not to build in Lockhart, so we SOLD our land there

And....We moved into Austin proper, which is a better fit for us than small town Texas :)

On October 9th we closed on a house in Austin - YAY!!!

BUT!  We're not moved in, yet.  The house needs a gut & remodel, and we're going to build the Moai Icehouse (BAR!) in the backyard.

Soooooo....We'll be using this blog to keep ya'll updated on our progress along the way :)

Wish us luck - the next 6++ months will be an interesting ride!

While we're awaiting the ever-slow-turning wheels of Construction Financing 101, we've got a little diversion in that our ranch truck is almost FINALLY done!!

Here's a little preview of it's awesomeness! :D

NOTE:  The wheels & tires are still the old, crappy ones - we've got much better old wheels to get on it along with new tires......

SWEET re-covered '70's Chevy Suburban seats!!

& a Custom Dash, too!