Outside, new siding is being installed on my 1900s fixer upper as well as some other demo and improvements to the back patio of the home.
MACTAVISH HOUSE | Published June 30, 2019
I was overwhelmed by the number of comments on my last fixer upper update post, as well as how many of you mentioned you had been wondering about what progress had been made. It really means a lot to me to hear from you and receive so much encouragement! I always enjoy following other bloggers on this type of journey, but at the same time, can't wrap my mind around that fact that other people want to hear about my project as well. I'm going to try to be more regular with these posts as things change.
Even though inside things seem to be moving at a slow pace one layer of wallpaper at a time, outside is starting to improve a bit more quickly. (In case you haven't been following along, click here for the full before tour.)
The house has now been insulated from the outside, house wrapped and siding has started to go up. (Because I'm not tearing out the plaster walls inside to add insulation, adding it from the outside will help.)
I chose white for the siding and really love how clean and fresh it is already starting to look. I can't wait to see (and be able to share) my barn lights installed back here!
From here, you can also see the new sliding patio door that was installed back in March.
When demo started on the back patio, it was really interesting to see (once again) the layers that have been added. Being built in 1900, the house obviously did not originally include a bathroom. When it was added later off the kitchen, a section of the house was bumped out to accommodate it and a small concrete pad was poured as a porch to the door. This section has it's own roof line with a corrugated tin roof that was exposed when the ceiling was removed here in the porch.
Also, years after my grandparents bought this house, my dad built in the entire porch for my grandfather to enjoy being able to sit outside. The faux stone wall was added, a roof was built coming off the entire back of the house, the ceiling was added, and a wall with windows was built on one side to allow airflow through, but protect the patio from the elements.
Now that the ceiling has been taken down, the designer inside of me would really love to be able to remove the beams here and leave the ceiling open to the roof line. But because of the bump out that just isn't possible without a lot of reconstruction. So the ceiling will be going back in as it was, but this time it will be white as well.
The window wall will most likely be going back in, but it had to come down in order to properly install the siding.
And I ripped the worn green outdoor carpeting off of the concrete floor. The section that had been poured off the patio door is in perfect condition, but there are a lot of cracks and breaks in the other half so I'm not sure yet what I'll be doing back here to fix it.
The other major change back here is that I trimmed back the rhododendron bushes that had grown up and over the patio roof. I plan on eventually moving them to the back property line where they can grow as big as they want, but they are just too hard to control here. I love how it opens up the patio to look out over the backyard.
I've got big dreamy plans for the yard, but there is enough work to do inside the house for now, so that is going to have to wait! Next week I'll be sharing my design thoughts on creating an inviting entry to the home back here. I'm really excited about things starting to come together.
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