tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25607818485150712852020-10-01T18:23:59.921-04:00...A Renovated LifeKatyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.comBlogger254125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-51646766604083515852018-10-14T12:20:00.001-04:002020-10-01T14:16:24.960-04:00

Well it's been a while! The master bathroom took 18 months, because it isn't a normal bathroom. (understatement!) And then I had to remodel another downstairs bathroom (that I just finished, October 2018) - and we are tearing into the kitchen now. Below are photos of the bathroom renos, because a friend keeps asking for updated pictures and I was really lazy because Instagram is a lot easier than

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-78133492383543854172017-11-17T17:53:00.001-05:002017-11-17T17:53:12.831-05:00

Well here it is, Fall again!! And this time, I started hacking away at the landscaping situation. After my soul-destroying attempt at roses this summer, I told myself to just lower my expectations. 6 of the original 18 roses bushes are currently still alive and pushing out flowers. YAY This is a pep talk I have given myself routinely over the last decades. It goes like this: "Katy you really

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-70120182185858701512017-09-20T12:06:00.003-04:002017-11-17T18:18:11.934-05:00

Thankfully I can rant here about design trends that I am sick of, because all the designers do not read my blog. :) I don't know if you've noticed, but the kitchen island with a row of fancy bar stools is the absolute *rule* these days in Design Land. Every. Single. Kitchen. Renovation. If you spend 5 seconds on Pinterest or design mags or instagram, you've seen 5000 pictures like these: from

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-15493425696309054432017-09-15T17:23:00.001-04:002017-09-15T17:23:06.146-04:00

This house is the first opportunity in my life to have a flower garden. I have never lived anywhere before now that included decent soil, space, and the time and money to grow something other than grass weeds. And of course, I never do anything in small steps. It's go big or ... why bother? So this summer I went and bought 18 rose bushes and planted them with PC's help:  He even put in an

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-24439171518489626262017-08-28T09:00:00.002-04:002017-08-28T09:00:21.640-04:00

So we visited Antique Appliances in the Georgia mountains last week, because I have been really stewing over the kitchen in this house. My appliances are 20 years old and are starting to break down, but this house requires something larger (and more expensive) than a $400 Samsung oven. As much as I wish that would suffice. :/ You gotta use your imagination here. This white 8 burner queen

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-59364425118395623212017-08-18T12:07:00.001-04:002017-08-18T12:07:42.242-04:00

The total destruction of the back patio is underway, and the master bathroom is still dragging on... I'm currently stuck in "nail filling and sanding trim" hell. It's coming up on ONE YEAR since we started this emergency bathroom reno, and I just want to stop thinking about it. I still have so much to do in there! Here's the backyard today: looking out the kitchen door to the screened porch

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-47252381590605751602017-06-20T21:01:00.002-04:002017-07-01T22:33:24.155-04:00

I don't know if I should even update this blog anymore, now that I've switched to Instagram! The renovating continues, and the disasters never stop. Literally. THIS WEEK, my AC unit in the attic leaked through the ceiling into my newly finished bedroom, and then the water main to the house ruptured! It's like this house is cursed by water demons. But here we are, 9 months into a bathroom

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-87839533827712733052016-12-12T17:21:00.001-05:002016-12-22T10:23:04.742-05:00

Well now that I am tits-deep in an emergency bathroom renovation, I've been burning up google and Youtube to research my shower options. It's been a long time since I installed a new shower - the Tybee house had one shower, like so: MY PRECIOUSSS!!! So ... this bathroom calls for something quite a bit larger and more expensive. :( August, the hideous steam shower before the demolition.

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-4007669854949404342016-10-28T12:52:00.001-04:002018-10-14T10:13:40.934-04:00

I am just going to slap this up here and call it DONE so I can move on to the bathroom disaster in peace. ha. If you follow me on Instagram you've seen some of this, I cannot figure out how to photograph interiors so that they dont look weird and dark!? But this is my best shot: Okay so this is the before shot of this bedroom - it was an open loft to the great room. Totally awful.

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-83373996932578137982016-10-04T21:22:00.003-04:002016-10-05T10:51:44.198-04:00

{See Part 1 here. } First, a happy picture: Some of my booze (and my blue feather duster?) !! I follow all the decorators on Instagram who show pics of their stylishly dressed up bar carts full of chinoiserie and vintage stuff nobody probably uses, and then I pour myself a shot of tequila. I have to keep all the demolition dust out of my liquor so no bar cart for me :/ GOOD THING NOBODY COMES

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-60606113524202309842016-09-27T17:38:00.001-04:002020-10-01T14:05:31.024-04:00

Once Upon a Time, I had this ugly Darth Vader shower the size of a football field: The duct tape on the left wall is temporary - we found a hidden room behind the shower that I want to make into a laundry room!! And Lo - it was an albatross. None of the faucets or attachments worked. I had to call a plumber just to get one shower head to spray hot and cold water (like a fire hose, you

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-17814625493615057982016-07-22T15:43:00.000-04:002016-07-22T15:43:09.192-04:00

Back when I thought I might end up in a homeless shelter (when I was newly divorced and searching for a job, and then 2 years ago after losing a job, and pretty much all the years in between because ANXIETY!!), I would look around at other people who seemed to have life easier and think "they are doing better because they are better at xyz" -- and my thinking always came back to performance. I

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-82695150381965559962016-07-11T21:23:00.000-04:002016-07-11T21:23:00.567-04:00

Well. I am sitting here with my concrete all torn up for the past month, still waiting for the civil engineering firm to come up with the "plans" to fix the bricks. This is not rocket science, people. I swear to God it is not. I SHOULD KNOW. The only reason I can't do this myself is because I am not registered and don't have my own stamp, so that means I had to hire these guys. SIGH. So while we

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-72103220113402796482016-06-08T20:01:00.005-04:002020-10-01T13:57:16.178-04:00

So the jackhammering came to a full.stop. because we discovered a bigger problem:  the bricks were actually just stacked on top of the (improperly poured) concrete patios/porches. So not ONLY does the water drain up against the house, rot all the exterior doors, and can't be corrected without jackhammering up ALL OF THEM... But now the bricks might fall off the house, so we had to stop

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-38371176773557371062016-06-03T10:35:00.000-04:002016-10-04T16:13:47.690-04:00

I want you to close your eyes and imagine yourself, as a person with plenty of money (note: not enough to live in California but enough to live like a king anywhere else.) and a strong desire to live on a beautiful lake. Pretend also that you are thinking of starting a kick-ass orphanage so you'll need a very large house, a dock, and multiple areas for TV watching etc. (JUST PRETEND OKAY??)  YOU,

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-84417555802498822592016-05-12T12:38:00.004-04:002016-05-12T12:39:46.486-04:00

As if I have time for a hobby right? wine making supplies (and granite that I want to rip out.) Thankfully brewing wine in my bathtub doesn't actually require lots of work. I took my herd of minions to the strawberry farm, where I ordered them to Pick Berries!! For Mommy's Wine Making!! They decided this was fun so my plan worked. I do let them eat some of the berries of course. I

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-57798679194456079042016-05-03T23:38:00.000-04:002016-05-03T23:38:09.902-04:00

Jackhammering up the patios is, so far, a disaster. We are in the process of coming up with Plan B. The concrete must come up, but it will require a crew of people to get it done unless we want to spend a year doing it ourselves. :( This is where the "time vs. money" equation bites us in the butt, and I'm regularly dreaming about snakes slithering through the house. Subtle, no? This took

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-62134682348871351592016-04-20T14:00:00.001-04:002016-04-20T14:00:17.863-04:00

I've upgraded to a tool that I'm not capable of using safely! I feel like this is a milestone of some sort, right?  Finally - I might need to call 911 if I turn this on. woo! Before PC left for the airport (another work trip), he busted a hole in the side patio with a sledgehammer. Just to "Explore" the concrete, mind you. His last words to me as he grabbed his laptop and headed out the

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-68698028227212173562016-04-19T10:12:00.000-04:002016-04-19T10:12:24.830-04:00

The irrigation system for this property is fed by the lake, which is the only reason we use it. If I had to pay for city water to keep this gigantic property green, it would be dead brown in a heartbeat. When I moved here last year I noticed that the sprinklers in the front yard appeared to be broken. According to PC, he believed that the cable guys had broken the pipe in one spot. Because his

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-59758853093187092892016-04-07T12:21:00.000-04:002016-04-07T12:21:39.096-04:00

The builder just left - he was here with 3 different subs to discuss how on EARTH they can fix all of our concrete disasters without spending the equivalent of the national budget of Guam. Bless it. I feel a little panicky. I'm supposed to be building a new master closet. Kinda like this one: Except this is the room we started with: So far we've filled in the big loft "holes", relocated

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-84059531372495294442016-03-28T12:28:00.001-04:002016-03-28T12:35:54.036-04:00

It took months after I moved in here to figure out the electrical system. For a while, we had no lights. Like, when it got dark, we were using flashlights. That is because prior to the pipe bursting/flooding/ServePro events, this house was completely run with a system called "X 10".  No electrician I've talked to has ever heard of entire house like this being outfitted with X 10. Basically,

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-49668996368809600522016-03-20T09:47:00.000-04:002016-03-21T18:44:11.650-04:00

But first, a new painting from Cecilia Rosslee! I was rearranging the great room trying to figure out if I like the dining table in front of the patio. This house has a desperately strange layout. Plus I was trying out white paint colors (behind the plant): And this is where the fun stops. :( Unfortunately we've gotten more bad news, and it all goes back to The Lunatic who built this

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-19649539919682669532016-03-02T11:14:00.000-05:002018-10-14T13:24:08.830-04:00

I really truly think that I have changed. In a deep way. This kind of thing used to make me breathe in a paper bag and Flip. my. shit. I hired a landscape designer to fix the exterior of this house, and she sent me the above photos to give me an idea of what she was thinking. In the process of re-designing the exterior, I had a painter give me an estimate for painting the brick:

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-32070794031411034602016-01-29T21:16:00.000-05:002016-01-30T09:12:29.236-05:00

So have you been thinking about buying one of those electric fireplaces that you plug into the wall? Basically they are just space heaters with a really pretty mantel wrapped around them. Since I am extremely cold-blooded and South Carolina winters actually get down to 30 degrees sometimes, I decided that I needed one of these STAT.  I ordered this one from www.ElectricFireplacesDirect.com -

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560781848515071285.post-13795361695598047962016-01-28T11:30:00.000-05:002016-01-28T11:30:05.492-05:00

Back when I spent 3 years collecting fabric and art for the Tybee cottage, I got a little carried away. Because that dream didn't end the way that I'd hoped, a lot of that fabric was never used and I still have it in a bag in my closet. *sad face* I will probably list it on Craigslist someday. Fruit Doves wallpaper - Palau yellow counter stools I'm trying really hard not to get carried

Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14880982615521740741noreply@blogger.com2