Renovated Historic House Back on Market

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/309-E-2nd-Ave-Lenoir-City-TN-37771/41741025_zpid/

Hey everyone!!! Just wanted to stop in real quick & drop a link to the Historic District Home that we renovated!!! It’s back on the market for an amazing deal! Most houses in this neighborhood are nowhere near this size, nor do they have a driveway, garage, storage, and fenced in yard!!! 

Renovated 1900s Historic Home

Bedroom Makeover

         Alright, it only took almost 3 years, but I've finally got around to making over our master bedroom! We moved into this house in March of 2014, and have definitely made some progress as far as decorating/updating the house. Last year my life was pretty much consumed by renovating a 108 year old historic house to sell in our neighborhood. So, now I've got some time to work on our house!

        When we moved in this house, every room in the house was painted yellow. Not terrible, but just not our style. Somehow in the past 3 years every single room EXCEPT our master bedroom, has been painted by now! Poor room, it was left undecorated and unpainted for years! I knew that I wanted to make our room cozy and neutral. I started by sending in my recalled (almost 10 years old!) dressers back to IKEA and getting a full refund in September. IKEA recalled all of their dressers, and offered refunds if you were willing to wait 3 months to get your refund check. If that meant brand new, safer dressers then I figured I could wait! So for 3 months, we had no dressers and just used laundry baskets and little plastic drawer organizers. Again...not horrible, but not good long term!

          In the meantime, I ended up selling our bed frame, mattress, box spring, and nightstand. I  also was lucky enough to have my brother and sister come over and help me paint before we got our new furniture! Once I got my refund from IKEA, I purchased 2 new dressers, a new nightstand, and some lighting. We are using my old jewelry cabinet as a nightstand on Andy's side. I also spent hoourrrsss online searching for new bedding, and finally found the most comfy and fluffy sheets, pillows, and quilts.

          With the help of my brother sister, we painted over the yellow walls and now have a gorgeous dark grey wall color. I used Black Fox from Sherwin Williams. Andy, being the amazing husband he is, surprised me with the most gorgeous new bed!! He even picked it put himself!!! After what felt like 400 years, we finally got all of the new furniture built. Andy helped me hang all of the artwork, pictures, mirrors, and lighting up. Then I just added in some finishing details and amazing candles, the room is finished! I would like to eventually put a huge jute or sisal rug in here, but I can't make up my mind which one I want haha So that will come later!

          Before we get to the pretty new pictures, let's take a look at how the room looked pre-makeover:

And here is how it looks now:

The first thing you may notice (besides the gorgeous bed!) is that there is a whole new layout! I kept the big dresser in the same place, but moved everything else to different walls. Even though our bed went from a king to a queen, and we have more furniture in here now, the room feels SO much bigger! Even in a large room, lots of small furniture filling up the space can make the room feel squished and smaller! So, I went with a huge bed, and a couple of large dressers and the room feels just right. Roomy, and open but still so cozy.

I'm in love with our new tall dresser. It's almost taller than me! I'm not even close to being able to seeing myself in that round mirror...but Andy can, so that's what matters haha! (I have a mirror on the back of our door, and mirrors in our master bathroom which is just behind the door by the yellow chair!)

I spotted that big vase at Target a few months ago, but I wasn't about to pay $30 for it. So a few weeks later, I found it at a different Target, and on clearance for $7!!! The mint green lamp is super cute, and is from IKEA. The white ceramic house is actually a Christmas find from Target last year. It's a candle holder, and I think I'm going to leave it out all year long.

I've collected these mirrors and picture frames over the years, and just filled them with some of my favorite recent pictures & artwork.

This is one of my favorite views! The door leads to our screened in porch where Donut lives! The big mirror belonged to Andy's grandmother. We were fortunate to inherit it when she passed away. It was in rough shape, but I repaired some of the missing plaster. and painted it gold. It couldn't be more perfect!

Funny story...I bought that tassel to put on my purse, but I didn't realize how huge it was! haha! I do love it though, and may end up putting it on my purse eventually (my purse is huge so it may not look too bad!) For now, it's gonna live on Andy's nightstand.

 

I love white bedding. It's so clean, yet still cozy. Another plus, it's super easy to just bleach white bedding if it gets a spot or anything on it! The big bolster pillow is a perfect accent to the bed. I found it at Urban Outfitters. So about the wall hanging...I have wanted a giant one for so long, but they are SO expensive. A couple months ago, my mom and I were at Hobby Lobby and we found this one for $12! It does have a few imperfections, but that's why I like it. I also gave it a haircut as soon as I brought it home, so that helped! It's super cute, and is definitely perfect until I splurge on a handmade one!

Above our mirror hang 4 of my most valued treasures. I spent ALOT of time with my Nanny (my great aunt) when I was younger. Like spent the night with her days at a time, went to work with her, everything. She has made such a huge impact on who I am today. I catch myself doing things, or decorating and think to myself "Omg this something Nanny would do!" She has such an awesome style, and has always had the coziest house on earth! I used to spend hours going through her closets, and trying on her clothes, makeup, jewelry, and playing with old toys. Ugh. Seriously some of the best memories I have are with my Nanny. Nanny, if you're reading this you already know how much I love you!!! BACK TO THE CUCKOO CLOCKS...These used to hang in my Nanny's old house in her kitchen. She used to let me mess with them, and I was fascinated. Up until a couple of months ago, I hadn't seen them in probably 15+ years (she moved into a new house when I was 13 and didn't hang them back up). Well, in October, Amelia (being a nosey-treasure hunter like me) ended up finding them in one of Nanny's rooms, and she gave me 4 of them!!! There are more, including a GIANT one from the Black Forest in Germany that Brent (her husband, my great uncle) brought back for her years ago! I'm SO in love with them, and honored that they get to live at my house. Now I get to see them every day! Something else pretty awesome is that they all still work.

This is my beautiful, dried headpiece that I wore in our wedding.

This is also an awesome inheritance of Andy's. It belonged to his aunt Jenny, and was given to him when she passed away. I love the mustard-colored velvet...and Amelia loves hiding her tiny little toys in the tufts of the seat!

I bought this shadow box to put my headpiece in, but it didn't fit. So, I used some other little treasures from our wedding! I love that I get to see these every day, and that they aren't just tucked away in a box.

I found this nightstand at IKEA. It is super cute, and has a little shelf inside to charge your phone. I like all of the little nooks to put stuff in, too!

The reading lights above our bed are also from IKEA. I put nightlight bulbs in them, and they're perfect to leave on in the evenings to make the room warm and cozy feeling.

So, above this little closet (which stores our shoes on built-in shelves inside, and our TV is mounted in the top of the closet!) is a ledge. Ever since we moved here, I have no clue what to put on the ledge!? Right now I have a little wooden Christmas tree, but that's the first thing that's ever been up there! I don't want to put a plant up there because it would be impossible to water, and other things will get super dusty! Any suggestions on what to put there?

And of course, my little helper in her jammies!


Thank you for checking out our room makeover! Decorating & renovating is my passion, and I'm sure my house will be ever-changing! I've also recently redone our dining room, and Amelia's bedroom so I plan on sharing both of those on here soon!

*Also a note to those who've asked me...besides the furniture (getting the IKEA refund, and Andy buying our new bed) I ALWAYS decorate with things that I already have or switch things out in different rooms. It's just not practical (or affordable!) to pull together a room all in one day with brand new things. Decorating your house does NOT have to be expensive. If I ever do find something expensive that I MUST have, I either save up for it or find something similar at a much more reasonable price!  I am constantly on the lookout for things at antique stores, or on sale at Target, Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, etc. I buy things when they're on sale, and save them until I know what I'm going to use them for! Of course for this room some things I bought new, such as bedding and a few accessories. But my theory is, collected always looks better than things bought all in one day. Mixing a 100 year old mirror, thrifted picture frames, and brand new furniture is what pulled this room together. Just get a theme in mind *I wanted cozy, but clean and simple* and go with it! It took a few months to get everything ready for this room, but in the end it turned out perfect!

Seriously, thanks for stopping by! Getting to renovate the historic house (which is now under contract!!!) and getting to constantly makeover the rooms in our house is my passion. Ever since I was little, I've always loved decorating, and shopping and refinishing, the list goes on! Hopefully one day I can turn this passion into a full time job, but for now I am happy to share my projects on here with you guys! Keep an eye out for the dining room and Amelia's room coming soon!

xoxo
Kila

Finished!

This post has been a long time in the making. We bought the house last August 23rd, and today is August 26th so basically a year. I have spent almost every single day doing work for the house. While I haven't done a *ton* of the physical labor (I have done a bit, and it's so hard but so worth it!) I have done all of the planning, the designing, the appointments, the phone calls, the organizing, the buying, the ordering, the management, etc. the list goes on and on...It has been quite stressful, to say the least. We did have Henry, who used to be a contractor, and did a lot of the labor and helped guide me since it was our first renovation. I appreciate his knowledge & work so, so much.

If you want to see just how far we have come, visit this post before continuing: 

http://ameliacreates.blogspot.com/2015/10/renovation-house.html

I'll be honest. If something could have gone wrong, or over budget with this house IT DID. I am, however, very proud of all of how the house turned out. I used high quality materials such as almost 1-inch thick hardwood floors, custom cabinets, custom interior doors, custom garage door, Carrara marble in the bathrooms, smart home-wiring (it makes it incredibly more simple to install things such as a security system, TV, Internet, etc.) sliding bard doors, energy efficient insulation & new windows. There are not appliances in the house because we are giving an allowance for whoever buys to house to choose their own appliances :) 

I think that the most incredible thing about this whole project is the fact that a house built in 1908 that sat empty for a decade & was going to be condemned, has been saved and brought back to life. I would say that 95% of the house is new (new foundation, garage doors, windows, framing, drywall, lighting, flooring, tile, doors, insulation, electric, heating & air, plumbing, etc) but we did maintain & even add to the original charm and character of the house. I even kept the original front door, and had it refinished! 

I am proud to show you my final pictures of the house, and now it's time to find a buyer who will love and appreciate this house as much as we have! 

I love the front porch! 

Street views:

Back alley way & patio area (that would be amazing with a big outdoor rug, wicker furniture, and some string lights!): 

I painted the porch ceiling mint green for a fun reason! In the old days, porch ceilings were this color because it is believed to repel bugs! Also because mint green is my favorite color :) I can just imagine a cute porch swing out there...

Beautiful garage door! Also, that tree might look wimpy now, but it's still a baby. It'll be gorgeous in a few years & provide some shade. 

Come on in the front door...

2 big closets right inside the front door. Perfect for jackets on one side, & your vacuum & broom on the other. 

This is my favorite view in the house! I love the loft, the railings, the staircase, and the barn door upstairs! 

That tiny door is also a favorite of mine. It's actually the perfect size to fit Rubbermaid tubs in for storage! It also provides water valve access to the powder room, and is tall enough inside to store a small Christmas tree! I also made sure that the tiny door is set about 2 inches into the wall so a piece of furniture can sit flush in front of it to hide it when not in use! 

This is the powder room:

Let's go upstairs...

I spy a tiny hand...

Upstairs hall way. Just wide enough to put a small desk or hallway table, or even a cute set of chairs :)

This is the first bedroom upstairs. I just had to put in that window. You can see the Tennesee river and dam in the distance! It would also be cute to hang a pretty piece of stained glass there! 

Of course it has its own little closet, too. 

This is the second bedroom upstairs. 

It also has a small closet, and a door to the bathroom! 

Another awesome view! Just look at that gorgeous vanity! I love the Carrara marble countertop. I especially love this subway tile shower, too. The floor is also nice! It's porcelain tile, but looks like grey-washed wood. 

Let's head back down the hallway, and go downstairs...

From the main living room downstairs, you head up into the dining room. 

I love this simple chandelier, and I love how open this whole dining room/kitchen/sitting area is. 

LOVE the kitchen. 

Custom cutlery drawer with tons of storage:

Custom shelves I had made & stained to match the hardwood floors 

Many old houses did not have a pantry, so I had this cabinet made to act as a pantry! The drawers slide out, and it actually has 72 sq feet of space! 

Double hidden trash cans! 

The fridge will go here:

We still have a couple of things to clean up, but I still love the kitchen. Those globe lights are from Amazon, and have an awesome woven cord (kind of hard to see in these pics) The counter overhangs about a foot here, so bar stools can be pushed underneath. 

The laundry room is right beside the kitchen. This sliding barn door is awesome if you don't want your company to see the laundry! 

Washer & dryer will go here underneath the window & cabinet:

View from the dining room into the kitchen & there is a large room under that light on the right: 

The master bedroom is off of the sitting room. It has a small hallway & doors that lead out to the patio:

This is the master bedroom! 

Walk-in closet:

I love how the master bathroom looks! Carrara marble countertops, beautiful white vanity, barn wood mirrors, & huge subway tiled walk in shower with a seat! The shower also has 2 shower heads, one of which is a rain shower, a bench on the left side, 2 built in shells, and a pebble bottom. 

The tour ends here, and I hope you loved it!!! I have put my heart, sweat, and tears into this house, and I can only hope that the family that moves in will equally love and appreciate it. 

The house will be listed on MLS on September 1st, and my fingers are crossed we will find a buyer quickly. Here are some quick specs on the house incase you or someone you may know is interested!!! 

Completely renovated, beautiful 3 bedroom//3 bath Historic District home full of charm and character! Featuring an open, airy floorplan. New hardwood throughout, new tiles bathrooms, Master Suite, charming sliding barn doors, gorgeous new light fixtures, Smarthome wiring, large//private back patio with alleyway access, 2 car garage, driveway, large front lawn, covered front porch, large//lit crawlspace, original (refinished!!) front door, upstairs loft that offers views of the Tennessee River and dam! Renovation includes all new electrical, all new plumbing, all new drywall, custom kitchen cabinets and countertops, new solid hardwood floors, new tiled bathrooms, new vanities, new bathroom amenities, new roof, all new energy-efficient heating and air work and new HVAC unit, new Windows, custom interior doors, new front porch, new stairs case, etc!!!! 

Historic District home that is about 2300 square feet. Downtown Lenoir City, less  than 5 minutes to I-40, and 15 minutes to Turkey Creek! 

If you know anyone that may be interested or if you want to see it in person, please call me at 865-924-0306!!!! I do plan on having an open house soon just for friends and family to come check it out one evening!! 

Thank you all for following along, and I can't wait to find our next renovation, and share that journey with you, as well!!!! 

With love, 

Kila