Our First Home Renovation | The Other Side of the River

Our First Home

The Exterior

Milwaukee Bungalow with a fresh coat of brown, green, and pink paint and front porch and yard area adorned with hand crafted wood Adirondack chair, mailbox, rocking bench, and address sign

The Gingerbread House

No more boring white. With the help of a friend, we painted the whole house ourselves. Look at that one of a kind, custom made house address sign hanging on the front porch.

Front Porch

We enjoyed watching the RW24 from this cozy front porch. Graham made this rocking bench for Claire's crib but it was too big to get upstairs. It sat perfectly on the front porch.

Side Yard

I added a zen garden and mud kitchen to maximize every inch of this small back yard.

Backyard Greenhouse

We salvaged materials from prior projects to build this greenhouse on to our garage.

Three kids playing outside in winter in front of the greenhouse. One kid crawls on the concrete, one sits in an old baby bathtub, and the other stands in back. Piles of snow pepper the concrete

Backyard Greenhouse

We loved using the greenhouse in all seasons. It was easy to get the kids outside when we had the extra building to retreat to if we get too cold.

Backyard Greenhouse

We even used the greenhouse to take naps!

Pear Tree

Look at all those beautiful blossoms on our pear tree. This was such an amazing thing to have in our backyard when we moved in.

Pears

We harvested hundreds of pears every year (except one) that we lived here.

Homemade Swing Set using repurposed materials and built around the evergreen tree growing in the yard. A child hangs on a homemade swing made with a rope, pool noodle, and duck tape. A small slide is in front of the child and a garden shed is behind her.

Play Area

Don't forget the outdoor play area for our kids! This was made from materials we had or found on the curb.

Living Room

We refinished the floors, tore down some wall paper, and added some bright paint to make this living room brighter.

A living area with post and beams to support the load bearing wall which opens up the living space. The front door and window brighten the room. The TV sits on a custom made corner shelf above wooden shelves.

Front Entrance into Living Room

We knocked out the bedroom and put in posts and beams to open up the living room.

The living area opens up into the dining and kitchen where the post and beams highlight the wooden table, chairs, and countertops. The walls are painted varying shades of green

Dining Room leading into Kitchen

With the bedroom gone, the living room flowed right into the dining room and kitchen.

The open concept dining and kitchen allow you to see right through the house and enjoy all the woodwork

Dining Room leading into kitchen

Get a better view of the dining room and kitchen.

Post and Beams replace the doorway to the old living room and creates a flow from the kitchen to living room. More wooden countertops allow for maximum space in this small kitchen

Kitchen Shelving

Custom made kitchen shelving to give us plenty of counter space

Kitchen

We removed the formica countertops and replaced with black walnut. We kept them clean with the occasional sanding and food safe oil.

The addition made when closing in the back porch complete with wood burner, hickory floors, and the stairs to nowhere that were built over the basement in order to provide more space to hang coats and place shoes

Addition with wood burning stove and the stairs to nowhere

The stairs to nowhere were built over the stairs to the basement to give us more storage for coats and shoes.

Hickory flooring, a bay window, a giant window and new door highlight this sitting room with varying blue walls and Bay window Area painted purple. two chairs, a wooden chest and plants decorate this room

Addition with Hickory floors, bay window, and giant window to the backyard

This was such a great room for relaxing and it was great to be able to see the kids playing in the backyard through that window.

A wooden wall with open window to the kitchen stands behind a brown chair and wooden chest

Addition with window to the kitchen

This was an exterior wall, so when we ripped off the siding we found this beautiful wood underneath!

Bathroom

We didn't do much to this bathroom. The tile made it easy to keep clean.

Jacuzzi Tub

Big selling point for me right here!

Bathroom

We installed a custom made toilet paper dispenser.

Bathroom

We added some hooks and used curtain rod holders in place of hooks to practice resourcefulness.

Basement

This was a great playroom for the kids. We knocked out some closets, painted, and added a wood wall.

The hallway between the two bedrooms is painted a deep purple and shelves are hung from the ceiling to give more storage space

Upstairs Hallway

We hung these shelves to provide extra storage in our tiny hallway.

a child's bedroom with a custom made wooden screen in a diagonal pattern that is beautiful and childproofs the second story window. Skylights with light gray paint and white closet doors brighten up the room and make it look big

Kids' Bedroom

We added skylights, removed the pink carpet, sanded the floors and put poly on top, painted, and added a fancy screen to the window to make it safe for our kids.

Kids' Bedroom

All three of the kids had to share this room. It was cute, but we outgrew it.

Master Bedroom

We added skylights, removed the pink carpet, sanded the floors and put poly on top, painted, and tore out some closets to open up the room. The bed frame and nightstand was custom made by Graham.

Sliding barn door replaces old doorway and hangs next to a mirror and shelf. The clothing closet has been replaced with a dresser and TV so we can watch TV from the bed

Master Bedroom

We moved this wall a bit and added a sliding barn door to make this room a little bigger. This room lacked closet space but we got creative with storage.

Our First Home

The Exterior

The Interior