This blog post about our home reno is a long time coming. I honestly wish I had written more down to document the past few months! Let’s start from the beginning:
In November of 2019, we fell in love with a foreclosure. We put in an offer, and ended up losing. Fast forward a week, and the bidding opened up a second time and we won! There’s a lot more to that story, but basically the way we got this house was BANANAS and we truly feel like God wants us in this particular neighborhood in Alexandria for reasons we have yet to understand.
![Demo 7 768x1024](https://klairedixius.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Demo-7-768x1024.jpg)
We signed for the house on Christmas Eve Eve (December 23rd) and got to work on January 1! We were SO excited just to get into the house and rip apart the maroon carpet. Here’s what we were dealing with:
I MEAN LOOK AT THOSE ORIGINAL HARDWOOD FLOORS HIDDEN FOR DECADES
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I’ll explain the rest room to room.
Main Bathroom
Demo was a bit… chaotic. Wallpaper, completely removing the walls of the shower and tile on the floor.
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*Tile Inspiration*
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We use the blue hexagon tile on the floor and cut out in the shower!
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Finished result after finishing tile and adding fixtures!!
Bedroom
Some fun tasks: removing carpet, wallpaper, and popcorn ceiling. Repairing the bay window addition and swapping out the side windows because one fell through rotten wood and was exposed for about a month without us knowing 😳
Paint: Benjamin Moore Pale Oak
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Using masks for popcorn ceiling removal before masks were a normal part of life
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Sooooo much better!
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Guest Bedroom
After removing wallpaper and carpet…
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So thankful for friends that helped us during our paint party!!!
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After the green felt super dark, we swapped it with a blue/green 🙂
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Still more progress to be made with this one but we love the new color!!
Guest Bathroom
I’m not going to lie to you… the before for this one was scary. This was after we already removed wallpaper and popcorn ceilings!
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We wanted the finished product to remind us of Ted’s Bulletin… classic with touches of bronze and an oriental rug to make it a bit cozier!
Lighting & mirror: Wayfair
Shower curtain: Target
![Klaire Dixius Photography Virginia Wedding Photographer Washington DC Wedding Photographer Baltimore Wedding 0099 768x1024](https://klairedixius.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Klaire-Dixius-Photography-Virginia-Wedding-Photographer-Washington-DC-Wedding-Photographer-Baltimore-Wedding_0099-768x1024.jpg)
Living Room
The living room(s) required a LOT of painting and rearranging. We moved the kitchen out of the second room since it will be going into an addition! My mom put up the wallpaper in the built ins and it’s one of our favorite details in the whole house!
![Klaire Dixius Photography Virginia Wedding Photographer Washington DC Wedding Photographer Baltimore Wedding 0101 1024x680](https://klairedixius.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Klaire-Dixius-Photography-Virginia-Wedding-Photographer-Washington-DC-Wedding-Photographer-Baltimore-Wedding_0101-1024x680.jpg)
![Klaire Dixius Photography Virginia Wedding Photographer Washington DC Wedding Photographer Baltimore Wedding 0102 1024x768](https://klairedixius.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Klaire-Dixius-Photography-Virginia-Wedding-Photographer-Washington-DC-Wedding-Photographer-Baltimore-Wedding_0102-1024x768.jpg)
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![Living Room Done 2 768x1024](https://klairedixius.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/living-room-done-2-768x1024.jpg)
Exterior Brick & Landscaping
This was right before we signed for the house! Definitely needed some imagination to think about what we wanted it to look like on the exterior.
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First, landscaping…
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Then we used a limestone wash paint called Romabio to do the brick!
![Klaire Dixius Photography Virginia Wedding Photographer Washington DC Wedding Photographer Baltimore Wedding 0107 1024x680](https://klairedixius.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Klaire-Dixius-Photography-Virginia-Wedding-Photographer-Washington-DC-Wedding-Photographer-Baltimore-Wedding_0107-1024x680.jpg)
![Klaire Dixius Photography Virginia Wedding Photographer Washington DC Wedding Photographer Baltimore Wedding 0108 768x1024](https://klairedixius.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Klaire-Dixius-Photography-Virginia-Wedding-Photographer-Washington-DC-Wedding-Photographer-Baltimore-Wedding_0108-768x1024.jpg)
Next up… adding some square footage!
![Extension Beginning 768x1024](https://klairedixius.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Extension-beginning-768x1024.jpg)
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