1970 home renovation Archives | Page 15 of 17

1970 home renovation

We purchased a 1970 brick ranch house in Washington County, Maryland in September of 2022. This wasn’t the home I envisioned us purchasing, but we thought it was a little gem that needed the kind of updating we were eager to do. We have had the privilege of meeting some of the children of the original homeowners, who built this Better Homes & Garden floor plan as their dream home. Follow along as we make updates to the home, big and small, while retaining the original charm and best features of the home.

1970 home renovation

billy bookcases for the studio

I don’t do this very often, but I fell off the face of the blog world at the end of last week. I really just needed to dive into getting things done and, as you can imagine, stopping to take pictures and write about it all slows things down quite a bit. So, I took some unplanned time off to make some real headway in my studio (among other places) and I can’t tell you how amazing it feels to have some areas of the house put together. Not finished, but put together. Before I bailed on the blog last week, I shared that I had purchased four Billy bookcases from Ikea to hold my books in the studio. We do plan to build shelving in the dining room to have a library, but that project might not happen for a while and, until then, I felt like I needed

March 6, 2023 45 Comments

1970 home renovation

faux boxwood topiaries

When we had the bushes removed from the front and the pine and holly trees removed, it made the house much more visible. That is what we wanted, but now the things we need to work on (like power washing and painting) are a bit more prominent and the porch looks a little naked. I stuck a couple of antique concrete planters (that belonged to my Oma) when we first moved in, but the porch definitely needed more. The thing is, it’s a shallow porch, so furniture isn’t going to work. It just needed some greenery to spruce it up. I had faux boxwood topiaries on the porch of our MN house, but with all of the weight in the planters, it seemed like it would be best not to move them and I ended up selling them with the house. As soon as I saw this house, I envisioned

February 27, 2023 36 Comments

1970 home renovation

books, bow windows, & blinds

One of the challenging parts about a home renovation following a move (in which things were packed up not knowing what house they were going to) is the stuff management. I mean, we’re still not fully unpacked and definitely not even close to being organized. Spending time on organizing even seems pointless when things will just be moved again. Being the tidy person that I am, it’s a challenge. I have to keep reminding myself that it’s temporary and there will come a time when I can dig it, sort through stuff, and feel on top of the stuff in our house once again. But, there are hundreds of dominoes that need to fall before that happens. One of the areas that has crept higher up the priority list is my studio window as well as getting things a bit more manageable in my workspace. Just as a reminder, here

February 23, 2023 14 Comments

1970 home renovation

front garden plans | 1970 home renovation

When we tell people that we moved to Maryland from Minnesota, the first thing they mention is the winters. “Oh, I bet you’ll enjoy these winters a lot more!” Well, actually, no. I’m one of those rare people who prefer the cold. I am pale, blonde, with light eyes, and I just melt in the heat. I turn beet red, I burn, I break out in hives, and too much heat makes me feel nauseous. I’m already missing the snow. But, I am looking forward to having a longer growing season and a wider variety of plants when it comes to gardening. Gardening in Minnesota was hard for me! We had some particularly harsh winters that killed even hearty boxwood bushes. Since I broke my gardening baby teeth just about 40 minutes away from here at our former PA house, I feel like I can make a pretty good go

February 21, 2023 91 Comments

1970 home renovation

evolution of a window

As I was thinking about what to write about here on the blog, I walked past the door to our room and the light streaming through the window caught my eye. The way it flooded through the window and fell on the floor in front of the antique French chair and wardrobe was lovely. It reminded me of our early days in this house and how the same light falling through this very window captured my attention for a moment in the same way. The details of the room, however, are not the same. It’s easy to feel like things aren’t happening fast enough in a renovation. I just ache for more rooms to be finished. So, it’s good to take a moment to acknowledge how much has been accomplished and celebrate the things that have been transformed. Here is how this window looked the week we bought the house.

February 20, 2023 16 Comments

1970 home renovation

new lights for the hallway | 1970 home renovation

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Lamps Plus. As always, all words and opinions are honest and my own. As I shared yesterday and in other posts about our 1970s home, one of our goals is to brighten it up. So far, we’ve removed unnecessary window coverings, added recessed lights in six rooms, and pulled out or trimmed overgrown landscaping that blocked natural light. Little by little, we’re noticing a difference and the house is becoming well-lit, which is not only welcoming, but it’s practical. We can actually see what we’re doing! An area that still felt so dark, though, was the hall. It is the only space in the house (excluding parts of the basement) that doesn’t have any natural light. It relies completely on the windows from the adjoining rooms. My boys like to keep their blinds drawn and doors closed (they are teenage boys, after all), so

February 14, 2023 24 Comments

1970 home renovation

tree trimming | 1970 home renovation

As soon as we saw our soon-to-be house in the real estate listing, we knew that landscaping would be one of the projects. We loved this house and the neighborhood because of the mature trees and landscaping, but some of the landscaping around our house is well overgrown. We are planning on keeping a lot of it, but some of it needed to be removed because it was either too close to the house or it was beyond trimming. We received a mailer from a tree trimming company a few weeks ago and I decided to give them a call to get a quote on having the large pine tree removed that is in front of the garage. (You can just see the edge of the branches on the right of the photo.) We felt like we could remove the holly bush in front of the porch on our own,

February 8, 2023 60 Comments

1970 home renovation

reno recap five | windows, wallpaper, details, and more

Since there has been a lot happening in our 1970s brick ranch renovation, I thought it was time for a reno recap. If you missed the previous work that we’ve done on the house, you can catch up with previous reno recaps HERE. I am glad I’m keeping a record of it because it’s already hard to keep track! The last few months of 2022 were about tackling the large and immediate projects in the house like flooring, replacing the roof, and updating the electrical panel. I feel like now we’re getting into more of the fun stuff like refurbishing the pool and renovating the kitchen. We’ll get there. Here’s what has happened over the past few weeks… new windows in the primary bedroom As I shared in more detail in THIS POST, we found a budget-friendly solution for updating the windows in the house, which we’ll do a few

February 2, 2023 21 Comments

I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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