We're Renovating Our Home!
Many years ago, there was a little Emery that spent months on end dreaming up her next big design for her bedroom. I think honestly, it started sometime in 6th or 7th grade when I discovered my love for completely transforming spaces with a combination of simultaneously discovering HGTV and Ikea. Also, I’m not joking when I say this, but I memorized every product that Ikea sold on their website circa 2006-2010. I used to go to people’s homes and be able to point out every item that they bought from Ikea—just one of my many party tricks in high school (and obviously, you can tell I was widely popular at the time). There was even that one time I went on our local television station in 6th grade for a cookie I made that won 1st place at our state fair, and I told the the morning host that I was planning on putting my award money towards building a stage in my room. (I was heavily into becoming a rock star at that age.)
Which brings me to the point that I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up for a really long time. I had all this creative energy and ideas that piled up and felt like a fraud because I wanted to them ALL! How could I pick JUST ONE. I love painting, drawing, crafting, cooking, baking, photography, fashion designing, sewing, writing blogs, writing poetry, designing graphics, designing interiors, designing any little thing I could get my hands on. You name it, and I’ve probably plunged head first into it at some point.
There are some outlets that I just haven’t given up on though, and one of them that has ALWAYS stuck around is interior designing. These are the pictures I save the most on Pinterest, the feeds that I tend to follow on Instagram. I can’t shake this bug and honestly, I’ve never had the desire. This one just…feels right.
So to begin this new journey, I’m starting with crossing off my dream of renovating my own home. Last year (2018) Ryne and I bought our first home together: a 1938 Tudor in Nashville, TN. It has great bones and many quirks to it. I spent MONTHS measuring every nook and cranny in our house, learned how to use a CAD software (SketchUp) to create a new layout for the whole space, and researched an endless amount of ideas for the colors, textures, styles, and design for each room. One of our good friends, Josh Niles, is a GC in Nashville and has decided to take on this project with us. But since I actually work for him with some of his builds, I’ll be helping out quite a bit with our reno.
So onto the good stuff. Here are some of the before pictures:
Our main plan is to tear down a couple walls to create an open floor concept, tear down the exterior laundry room and patio in the back, and add a 104 square-foot addition that will include expanding our kitchen and bringing the washer and dryer inside. And we’re also updating our living room, kitchen, dinning room, master bedroom, and master bath. New paint, tile, re-staining the hardwoods, you know…the works.
Here are some progress pictures:
As of now, we have all new plumbing and electric. Goodbye to the OG galvanized pipes and knob and tube wiring. Hello water pressure, clear water, and electric grounds! But we’ve been at a stand still for almost two weeks due to the fact that we still haven’t had our electrical inspection. It’s pretty common in our county for inspections to take a second but it’s still a bummer to be waiting around for so long and longing for progress. Hence, the part when I get my life together and write some blogs posts updating the masses. Immediately after our inspection, I plan on going HAM on our insulation so drywall can go up asap. And once drywall goes up, the real fun begins—all the details: paint, tile, floors, walls, cabinets, doors, trim, lights, and of course, decor.
You can follow along for updates of our reno on DEERYARD’s Instagram. And stick around on the blog for more in-depth details of our whole journey through this renovation. #NormanTudorHouse
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As much as we love our master bedroom, it’s had a hard time keeping up with the demands for our routines and livelihood. I’ve been looking at a new vision for our room by implementing just a few changes to round out the final design for this space.