House Hunters With A Little Remodel

"Hey, Gretch, I'm going to sign us up to be on House Hunters."

"That's a terrible idea.  I don't want to be on T.V. This is allll you, I'm having nothing to do with this."

(me thinking Steve has A LOT of ideas that he never follows through with, I thought I'd go along with it, he'd forget about it, and I wouldn't the be 'dream squasher' he says I am)

"Gretch, House Hunters called--they are coming out to film us in three weeks."

"What?! You followed through? You never do that! Why would you choose this of all things to follow through on?!"

Steve did follow through on House Hunters and it was an experience we'll never forget, because even if Steve tried I'd remind him of all the stress he put me through.  It was five full days of filming with multiple outfits and site locations.  The House Hunters filming coincided with Harrison starting first grade, Gavin starting preschool, and of course, us moving into our house.  It took a large group of family, friends, and an awesome realtor, Holly Roberts to move into our house in the three day deadline House Hunters gave us. 

Filming at the restaurant 'Oliva' as we decided which house to buy.
  And by decided I mean we told the cameras the house we already had bought.

Steve chatting it up with the light and sound guys. 

 The downtime was fun getting to know everyone. 

The first day of filming we filmed the house that is our home.
 Kinda crazy to see a film crew in my house.

If you watched the show you saw the before pictures of our house......if you missed (shame on you!) here are a couple of still shots.

Before kitchen

After kitchen.

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  I told Steve I wanted an old stove, as usual, he doesn't fail when it comes to hunting something down.  He found this beautiful O'Keefe and Merritt on Craig's List complete with the original Vent-a-hood from the early 1950's.  We had to patiently wait while the only antique stove restoration man in town spent four months turning our stove into it's original masterpiece.  The stove is made complete with the vintage Domino's powdered sugar tin my GrandmotherJane gave me.  It's the focal point in our kitchen and I just love it!

 

 

 Steve found this fish platter at an estate sale.  

My friend, Shanita, says he's creepy looking, but, hey, 

it's a perfect match for our kitchen.  So he stays, sad fish lips and all.

Steve made a matching bench to go with his South Carolina table, Ikea light fixtures, and curtains, courtesy of G-Jo's sewing, finishes our new kitchen. 

Steve and I both enjoy remodeling.  The difference is Steve enjoys the demolition more and my love is putting on the finishing touches.  Like these chrome drawer pulls that are the perfect compliment to the chrome handles on the stove. I was so excited when I found them.  I guess kind of like the excitement some girls get from clothes shopping.  It was as though these pulls were waiting their whole life just for me to find them...on Ebay and on sale.  *sigh*

With the stove, black cabinets, and white counter tops I was concerned the kitchen would take on too much of a retro look in our very traditional house.  I thought adding these classic glass knobs to the cabinets along with the island butcher top would tie it all together giving the look I was going for.

 My friend, Alissa, and her mom have an Etsy store where they sell pieces like this one here.  A new twist on the typical cork board.  You can check out more of their stuff here  Just Me and Mom

I got mine for my birthday, it's a perk of being friends with crafty people.

 I don't have a before picture of the study.  But, like we said on the show, we don't study, we play.  

A play room filled with all the kids toys would get a lot more use then a desk.  

 

But, as a matter of fact, we do have a desk in our play room.  It's a desk my mom played with as a little girl.  It's one of the many treasures I have from my Grandpa and GrandmaPits. I'm pretty lucky with all the antiques both my grandparents have given me. 

My Mom helped me put together this room by making the curtains and the cushion covers.  

I love the yellow curtains with grey walls.  This is a happy, happy room that is never this picked up.

 Before Formal Living Room.

After.
Our 'quiet room' as Harrison calls it, or even better, Steve says the 'phone booth' because it's where I go to talk on the phone.

 Before Formal Dining Room

After.
A room which is used more as a scooter race path then anything else.
I read that one of the ways you can make your 'track' home look more custom is to change out the builder lighting fixtures. We, of course, haven't done this to the entire house, but in the rooms we have it's made a big difference.

We tiled around the fireplace and had the concrete floors redone over Spring break. 

I continue to love our house and neighborhood.  It's a great place to raise our family