1970 home renovation Archives | Page 8 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

Building our new antique-style mantel

Several of you guessed we would build fireplace mantel option number one and you were right. All of the antique-style mantel options I shared in THIS POST were strong contenders, but I kept coming back to the first one. It was the first picture I saved as inspiration and the one that I imagined in our living room. I think the others would’ve worked, but there was something about this one that I just couldn’t shake. So, I went with my gut and this is the one we built. Photo via Becca Interiors Because our fireplace had three two-by-four supports for a mantel shelf built into the brick, it made the most sense to work around those. We could’ve simply cut them off and then build whatever mantel style we wanted, but having support foe a shelf built into the wall was a better option than trying to build up

November 27, 2023 49 Comments

1970 home renovation

new plans for the mantel

I shared early in the fall that I found an antique mantel removed from a local home built circa 1810. I was so excited about bringing that piece of history into our house. Overall the measurements seemed like they were going to work, but after we got it home and inspected it more carefully, we realized that it would need more than the few tweaks I initially thought. I was pretty bummed, but Jeff and I were sort of excited at the idea of designing and building our own mantel. So, I sold the antique one on Facebook Marketplace and started looking for some inspiration. This is mantel option number one and the one I looked at initially when I searched for inspiration about a year ago. I liked the uniqueness of the curve above the firebox and I felt like the simplicity of it would work nicely in our

November 21, 2023 30 Comments

1970 home renovation

tips on painting wood paneling

I know that some people are scared to paint paneling or perhaps are against it, especially if it’s wood. As with any to-paint-or-not-to-paint debate, I take this stance. If you love it as is and/or you think that painting the subject of the debate will devalue or damage said subject, then don’t paint it. If you don’t love it as is and it’s a good candidate for paint, then paint it. There are always what-ifs to consider but the thought that someone else down the road might not like it painted isn’t a good reason to not transform it into something that feels more like your style. And I am no stranger to painting paneling so I figured I would share some things I’ve learned. The first paneling I painted was in my friend Shari’s farmhouse. Not to confuse her with my Minnesota antiquing buddy, Cheri. Shari and Cheri are

November 14, 2023 16 Comments

1970 home renovation

1970 home renovation | only making decisions as needed

There is one thing I’ve reminded myself over and over as we’ve been working on our 1970 home – I only have to make decisions about the house when I need to make them. Of course, decisions that really and truly NEED to be made about a house are few and far between. When we’re talking about aesthetics, preferences, cosmetic changes, etc. the decisions are typically self-imposed. But, once you get rolling on a renovation, there is pressure to make every decision about it as soon as possible when the truth is, there are a lot of decisions that can wait until you see how everything comes together and live with it for a while. I still get asked about a backsplash (or the lack of one) every time I show my kitchen. I knew that was a decision I didn’t have to make right away when we were working

November 13, 2023 21 Comments

1970 home renovation

what Dorothy would’ve done

One question I’ve been asked on occasion through the years of sharing our home on the blog is, “What do the previous homeowners think of your changes?” With our PA house and then our MN house, I never heard from the previous owners. I never really expected to or even wanted to. I know that changing a home is a sensitive thing. For some people, they are happy to see a new owner make a house their own. For others, it’s painful and even insulting to see their home changed. I wasn’t very mindful of that when I first started sharing our PA home here on the blog almost 15 years ago (mostly because it was my mom and a handful of other people who read the posts!) But, I have since become aware of the fact that I am sharing a place that someone else called home and they

November 7, 2023 37 Comments

1970 home renovation

tips on painting ceilings

There are some DIY projects that are a lot of fun and rewarding and then there is painting ceilings. I was so happy that the ceilings in our last house in Minnesota didn’t need to be repainted, but the ceilings in every other house we’ve owned have needed to be painted. I don’t think painting ceilings is really that terrible, but they aren’t as rewarding as ones that are dramatically different when you’re done. You could spend an entire day painting a ceiling, clean it all up, and other than a lingering scent of paint, your family would probably have no idea how hard you worked. You painted a white surface white. And, not only that, but it took two coats to do it properly. In this post, I’ll share some tips on painting ceilings that I’ve learned over the years. So, painting ceilings is a literal pain in the

November 1, 2023 19 Comments

1970 home renovation

1970 home renovation | painting the “garage side” of the house

We had three warm, sunny days in a row towards the end of last week, so I put painting the garage side of the house on the calendar. We were running out of paint-friendly days outside and I wanted to take advantage of them so the two most visible sides of the house were painted and checked off the to-do list. We’ll then be ready to do landscaping in the spring. The front is painted, has new windows and replacement shutters on the garage and it’s looking great. We just need to replace the panels below the windows on the right side of the house, but that’s a one-day project we can squeeze in on a nice day. Now we’re moving to the garage side of the house, which functions as the front of our house since it’s where we park. As a reminder, here’s how it looked when we

October 30, 2023 36 Comments

1970 home renovation

1970 home renovation | working on the side of the house

I realized I haven’t shared what we’ve been doing along the side of the house. It’s still in the works, but I think it’s important to share the reality of a home renovation… Sometimes progress is made in leaps, but most of the time it’s just one small step followed by another small step. The side of the house isn’t normally very important, but in the case of our house, the “garage side” of the house functions as the front. Since it’s where we park, this is the door we use all the time. It’s also where guests enter, where packages are dropped off, and where deliveries are made. We want to spruce it up to make it more welcoming and charming, but it’s going to take some time to implement all of our ideas. Here is how it looked when we bought the house… When we started cleaning up

October 19, 2023 20 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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