Tales of the Brick Beauty

I created this blog on a whim in college. Since then, I have grown and changed, as has the blog. I decided to change the title of it from Adventures of a Brown-Eyed Girl to Tales of the Brick Beauty for a few reasons:

#1 - The narrative is no longer only about me (the brown-eyed girl). I have a wonderful husband, house, pets, nephews, and hopefully children of our own soon.

#2 - We bought our home in June of 2017 and love sharing the history and renovations. I created a hashtag, #talesofthebrickbeauty and used it to track the updates and memories we've made. The 'brick beauty' has become it's nickname. Our lives are currently summed up with grad school and house projects, so what else would I blog about other than the house!?

#3 - I believe the tales of the brick beauty will be more than just renovation details someday. I hope this will be a place I can share advice, experiences, and memories of our home.

Our tales have only begun, and I look forward to adding to them in years to come! Thanks for following along.

xoxo, jenn

The Brick Beauty | Christmas 2017

Half-bath Reno

The half bath project started during the last days of October and we put the finishing touches on it in the last days of December. We love the way it turned out!

I didn't realize how bad I am at taking before photos until I went looking for them. I get so excited about the project, I don't even think to take a photo first! These first few photos are from before we even moved in. As you can see, the pink curtains gave the entire room a pink look! The toilet seat cover wasn't doing much either, that was the first change we made!

Before.

During.

As we did in the master, we used a handy steamer and scraper to remove the wallpaper. 

Messy, but so much faster than a spray bottle.

Another amazing coincidence. Although - is it still considered a coincidence the second time it happens!? This room has been our 'next project' for months. I wanted to get it done last summer, but grad school had other plans. One night in October, in an attempt to avoid grad school, I began removing the wallpaper. During the removal process, we came across the date the wallpaper was put up. The same month we began taking it down, 22 years later! This is why old homes and history are so much fun. Amazing! We are right where we're supposed to be.

Photo on the left: date wallpaper was put up written on the wall.

Photo on the right: photo stamp of the night I started to remove wallpaper.

Decorative scalloping, lights, mirror, backsplash, countertop/sink, vanity - bye-bye!

Avoiding grad school pt. 2, prime! 

We used a tinted primer (dark gray-ish color).

Decision time! Could not find the mirror size we needed, so we decided to make our own. 1st step, custom framing from Hobby Lobby. We chose the most simple frame with no detailing.  For a 21x21 frame it was $56 (and that is with the 50% off discount)- a little more than we wanted to spend, but we didn't really have a choice. We took the custom frame to our local glass company, Webster Glass and they fit a piece of mirror inside the frame for $30ish.

Lights are from Menards. We chose a base type which was sold separately from the glass. This allowed us to piece together the exact light we were looking for. The glass is completely clear with Edison light bulbs, also found at Menards. I couldn't find the exact base, but it is similar to this one, only chrome.

Countertop was ordered from Onyx Collection through my Aunt Becky, who works for Ogden and Adams in Cedar Rapids. The Onyx Collection will send free samples which is so nice! We ordered 2 and ended up choosing pepper. Of course our vanity/opening is a custom size (gotta love old houses!), but Becky was able to get a custom order for a reasonable price. Here is the sample up against the black paint - LOVE!

After tearing off the decorative scalloping, Jack added a smooth edge board for a finished look.

Paint is from Sherwin Williams, tricorn black.

Fourth room we've painted, and we finally figured out how to paint behind radiators. LOL! Use saran wrap to cover the radiator and use a small roller to squeeeeeze back there.

 75% done by Thanksgiving time. We were still waiting on the countertop to get in. We made it look as nice as we could for our house guests over the holiday!

Vanity top arrived first week of December - the project continued! We used a vanity from the bones pile at Ogden & Adams. My Aunt Becky was kind enough to gift it to us for free! Luke painted it and Jack cut the back off to fit the countertop once it arrived. Installation of the vanity was interesting because of the tight quarters, but superman Jack got it in! Mirror installation was the final touch - hung today by brother of the year.

After.

I spy... a piece of the old bathroom. Do you!?

Blinds are white faux wood from Menards. 

Photographs by me. 

Top - kayaking on Lake Francis in Minnesota this summer.

Middle - the Budweiser balloon my dad part-owns.

Bottom - our handsome pup, Thor, in our yard this summer.

This elegant little radiator is my favorite.

 Another project crossed off the list!

xoxo, jenn

Master Bedroom Renovation

Months later... here's the before, during, and after of our master bedroom renovation. I waited so long to take photos because of some small unfinished projects, but seeing as they are still sitting unfinished, I decided to share anyways!

Before move in.

When we first moved in, we slept in the guest bedroom (double bed) until we ordered a king mattress.  Not sure how we survived in a bed that small, but we did. #newlyweds 

Read about my inspiration and the temporary living space we created. We moved into the master and decorated with the mindset, 'look past the wallpaper'.

We lived in the busy wallpaper room for a long time, until one snow day I decided to start the wallpaper removal process. The wall I chose to start with was brutal. I worked for 2 hours and had less than 3 feet done. Depressing. It ended up being the most difficult wall, and only got better! We used a large steamer to remove the wallpaper in this room and I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND. As a team of 2, Luke and I were able to steam and peel easily. The paper almost fell off as whole sheets in some places. We worked on it slowly. A chunk here and there, random nights and weekends. It was still time consuming, but very worth it.

During this removal process, something very eery and cool was discovered. On February 26, Luke peeled back a piece of wallpaper to discover a date written on the wall. He thought to himself 'oh cool, this is probably the date it was put up' and continued removing. Minutes later, it hit him. 'Today is February 26'. THE SAME DATE. As I said before, we worked on this room very slowly, with no rhyme or reason with where we decided to go next. And yet despite our unorganized efforts to renovate, this happened. On February 26, 1993 the wallpaper was put up, and on February 26, 2017 this specific piece happened to be taken down. Amazing, right?? 

We felt it was a sign we are exactly where we are supposed to be. 

In addition to cool discoveries during DIY projects, there are usually some unexpected surprises too. While removing the wallpaper, we realized this nook had been patched with particle board, rather than plaster like the rest of the walls. During the removal process, parts of the wall were chipped away. Luckily my brother is extremely handy - and he took over his project for us.

He ripped out all the particle board, replaced some of the support boards, added insulation to the outside walls, and re-drywalled.

This was his 1st drywall project and he did AWESOME! It was also my first experience living through a drywall renovation. WOW, there's a lot of dust.

We covered everything in plastic. I felt a little like Dexter Morgan. ;)

We used plastic tarps that had tape edges and a tape/film dispenser. Highly recommend!

I had no idea how many times you had to mud and sand. We are so thankful for all of Jack's work!!

After the drywall was finished, he added texture to all the walls to help hide the blemishes of our 121 year old beaut. Tape all light switches and outlets before you begin.

Test out texture size (see below). I don't remember the type of sprayer Jack used, but he used the leftover mud from drywalling with added water as the mixture.

Spray away! EVENLY!

Jack even let me have a turn :)

After all walls were texturized, we applied 2 coats of tinted primer and 2 coats of paint. It took patience, but it was very worth the wait.

After.

Thor's (our German Shepherd Siberian Husky mix) ISU bed peeking out from underneath our bed :)

The 'unfinished' corner. Still searching for a proper TV stand, and there are some touch-ups yet to do on the ceiling in this nook due to the new drywall. We are having trouble matching the paint, and I am stubbornly refusing to repaint the entire ceiling. 

Window coverings were a big debate in our household. We agreed on wood blinds. I debated doing curtains, but majority of family and friends I asked said no. What do you think?

Another unfinished minor detail. We added our own date and a little more information to our amazing discovery. We left this special time capsule open for all eyes to see. I still need to frame it!

The history is my favorite part of our house, I hope you enjoy it too!

xoxo,

jenn