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A Tour of The Old Blue House, Before.

September 1, 2013 By Melissa Beene Ford 3 Comments

Back in 2006 I started this blog with the purpose of showing before and after pictures of this little renovation project we were working on… an old blue house built in 1928 (or 9? I can’t remember now). It was a total mess.

Mess being the understatement of the century.

A few days ago, the new owner of the house found me on Facebook via this blog, and it’s been fun messaging back and forth about the house, and seeing her pictures of all they’ve done to it since I saw it last. I moved out in 2010, and the last time I saw the house it was full of dead roaches, dust, and cobwebs, the yard we had landscaped was dead and weedy again, and it broke my heart because it was sad and forlorn and in need of someone to love it. I prayed that someone would come along who would make it their home, and finish all the projects I never got to finish, and fill it with love and laughter and by gosh, decorate it up right at Christmas.

And that happened. The Big Blue House is someone else’s dream house now. Looking at these old pictures, it’s hard to imagine how I EVER saw potential in this house. I think maybe I just needed to rescue it. But the house now? It’s beyond amazing, better than I EVER could have imagined.

But here’s what we started with…

This front door. THIS was why I wanted this house, so I could have this cool front door unlike any other. The stained glass came from an old church that was being torn down.

The living room. We took that window out, the floor vent out, added ducts for the new a/c unit, and built-ins on either side of the fire place.

The fireplace with antique gas logs. 

The dining room. I still have that light fixture… not sure what I’ll do with it, but I had something different in mind for this room. There used to be a swinging door going from this room to the former kitchen /new laundry room/butler’s pantry. We took that door out and added a doorway to the ‘new’ kitchen instead. 

The original kitchen in the house. HOW anyone cooked on three feet of counter space is beyond me, but those 1920s housewives were made of sterner stuff than me, I guess. We turned this room into a laundry room, but I had visions of a ‘butler’s pantry.’ 

The ‘new’ kitchen. This was added by the previous owners in the 1960s. We gutted it to the studs, and I think you can see why. Notice the dishwasher sinking into the floor… 

This was the north wall of the kitchen. There was a fake fireplace and a window unit air conditioner. We tore that out and put French doors out onto a deck. 

Even in this condition, I could envision these stairs decorated for Christmas. 

The downstairs half bath. We took that window out. Actually, we gutted the whole room… 

This was the cabinet under the stairs. They had used it as a pantry and had ancient mason jars full of rotten food stacked in here floor to ceiling. There is not a big enough word to describe how GROSS this was.

And oh yeah, rodent droppings. I can’t believe we breathed this and didn’t die.

The landing at the top of the stairs.

Upstairs hallway.

More upstairs hallway. Oh, that lush shag carpet… (blech)

The master bedroom. 

The master bathroom. We gutted it. 

We had to replace the floor because it was spongy under that tile. That nobody fell through this floor is a miracle.

The window in the master bedroom closet. I distinctly remember cleaning this. For days. Literally, days.

The upstairs hall bath. 

We had this tub re-enameled. And FYI, a cast-iron tub is dang cold in the winter.

First bedroom at the top of the stairs (Annie’s room). 

Second upstairs bedroom. If you’ll look closely at that middle window, you can see ivy growing through the wall. 

After tearing down some wallpaper. Rodent droppings rained down in my hair when I pulled the wallpaper down from the ceiling. This was KB’s room. 

The sunroom. And yes, that’s astroturf on the floor. 

That old tin ceiling was probably really cool once upon a time, but sadly, a tree had fallen on it, and it concealed lots of wet wood and carpenter ants and the tin was completely rusted and un-salvageable. We put sheetrock in its place.

This was the back of the house. You can’t see it in this pic but there was a gothic arch window over the stained glass; we had to take that out to put a big beam in the ceiling. And the stained glass was sagging and cracking. But I kept it anyway… 

This was the garage. We tore down that greenhouse thing on the right, and that tree burned to the ground when our hardwood floor guy threw chemical rags in the trashcan. We were thankful the entire garage and/or house didn’t go with it. 

Yeah, you might think I’m crazy for wanting this house once upon a time. But looking at how beautiful and happy the house looks now, I have to say it was all worth it. 

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Comments

  1. LKS says

    September 1, 2013 at 5:40 am

    Wow. That is pretty hard core. (I totally would have bought it too)

    Reply
  2. CBouma1 says

    September 1, 2013 at 2:39 pm

    I was looking at the pictures of your house (Wow! quite a project) ans saw the kitchen tiles. I was compelled to write to you and find out about them. Do you know whether they are original Dutch tiles or replicas? In Holland people collect them and they are $20 to $100 each (euro). My Husband is from Holland and we have a few of those original very old tiles. I was so curious after see the

    Reply
  3. Melissa Taylor says

    November 20, 2013 at 3:14 pm

    CBouma1, actually that was just contact paper that LOOKED like Dutch tiles!! 🙂 It would have been cool if those were real. I tried to save all the 'real' stuff I could!

    Reply

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Hi, I'm Melissa! Texas Girl. Single Mom. Old house fanatic. Welcome to my corner of the internet! I hope to bring you all my deep thoughts about life, Jesus, health and happiness, and decorating my little home without breaking the bank. I will try my best to make you laugh. Or cry... but only for a minute or two. We'll see how it goes. Anyhoo, thanks for being here!! Follow me on Instagram (link below) to keep up with my daily stories. And be sure to subscribe so you don't miss a post.

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I love Saturday. 💕 Saturday’s my favorite. 😁 Projects going down today, starting with three gallons of white paint from @sherwinwilliams. What in the world should I paint first? 🤔 What’s happening at YOUR house today?
Snow in East Texas. It’s a big deal. ❄️ Snow in East Texas. It’s a big deal. ❄️
It’s a beautiful day if you’re solar powered ☀️ like me. It’s also a beautiful day for napping in the sun ☀️ if you’re like @sophiejunethedoodle. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I feel SO fortunate to get to work from home where I can sit by a window and even open it when the weather is right 👌🏻 even tho I can hear #goldendoodle snores from my home office... 🤔 Working from home has been on my #visionboard for years and it finally happened. 👏🏻What’s on YOUR vision board for 2021? 👉🏻Answer my poll in my stories! 👈🏻 #theresnoplacelikehome #workfromhomelife #iloveworkingfromhome
The whole Christmas 🎄 story, in these lyrics ri The whole Christmas 🎄 story, in these lyrics right here. I believe every word is true. After church this morning I decided these words needed to be added to my chalk wall. 👉🏻 In the darkness we were waiting
Without hope without light
Till from heaven You came running
There was mercy in Your eyes
To fulfil the law and prophets

To a virgin came the Word
From a throne of endless glory
To a cradle in the dirt

Praise the Father
Praise the Son
Praise the Spirit three in one
God of glory
Majesty
Praise forever to the King of Kings

To reveal the kingdom coming
And to reconcile the lost
To redeem the whole creation
You did not despise the cross

For even in Your suffering
You saw to the other side
Knowing this was our salvation
Jesus for our sake You died

And the morning that You rose
All of heaven held its breath
Till that stone was moved for good
For the Lamb had conquered death

And the dead rose from their tombs
And the angels stood in awe
For the souls of all who’d come
To the Father are restored

And the Church of Christ was born
Then the Spirit lit the flame
Now this gospel truth of old
Shall not kneel shall not faint

By His blood and in His Name
In His freedom I am free
For the love of Jesus Christ
Who has resurrected me
HaPPy NeW YeaR! 🎉 Is today the day we throw out HaPPy NeW YeaR! 🎉 Is today the day we throw out the cat houses made of all the Christmas boxes and blue tape, or do we have to wait for epiphany? 🤔 Wishing you ALL the blessings of a brand new year! 👏🏻 May the Lord crown the year with bounty so that even the wagon tracks overflow with abundance. Psalm 65:11 🌱
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My top nine pics of 2020. 🤷🏼‍♀️ These My top nine pics of 2020. 🤷🏼‍♀️ These all make me happy to look at ~ I do love this little home we have ~ but none of these represent my top moments of 2020, which would be memories I made with the people I love the most. 💕 It’s been a year of the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, but still, the person I am at the end of 2020 is better than who I was back in January in so many ways. Lots of lessons learned. Lots of figuring out what I want and what I don’t and who I wanna be and who I need around me. Can’t wait to see what 2021 holds but I know for sure there will be love and grace and mercy and peace. #topnine #topnine2020 #theyearinreview
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I love Saturday. 💕 Saturday’s my favorite. 😁 Projects going down today, starting with three gallons of white paint from @sherwinwilliams. What in the world should I paint first? 🤔 What’s happening at YOUR house today?
Snow in East Texas. It’s a big deal. ❄️ Snow in East Texas. It’s a big deal. ❄️
It’s a beautiful day if you’re solar powered ☀️ like me. It’s also a beautiful day for napping in the sun ☀️ if you’re like @sophiejunethedoodle. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I feel SO fortunate to get to work from home where I can sit by a window and even open it when the weather is right 👌🏻 even tho I can hear #goldendoodle snores from my home office... 🤔 Working from home has been on my #visionboard for years and it finally happened. 👏🏻What’s on YOUR vision board for 2021? 👉🏻Answer my poll in my stories! 👈🏻 #theresnoplacelikehome #workfromhomelife #iloveworkingfromhome
The whole Christmas 🎄 story, in these lyrics ri The whole Christmas 🎄 story, in these lyrics right here. I believe every word is true. After church this morning I decided these words needed to be added to my chalk wall. 👉🏻 In the darkness we were waiting
Without hope without light
Till from heaven You came running
There was mercy in Your eyes
To fulfil the law and prophets

To a virgin came the Word
From a throne of endless glory
To a cradle in the dirt

Praise the Father
Praise the Son
Praise the Spirit three in one
God of glory
Majesty
Praise forever to the King of Kings

To reveal the kingdom coming
And to reconcile the lost
To redeem the whole creation
You did not despise the cross

For even in Your suffering
You saw to the other side
Knowing this was our salvation
Jesus for our sake You died

And the morning that You rose
All of heaven held its breath
Till that stone was moved for good
For the Lamb had conquered death

And the dead rose from their tombs
And the angels stood in awe
For the souls of all who’d come
To the Father are restored

And the Church of Christ was born
Then the Spirit lit the flame
Now this gospel truth of old
Shall not kneel shall not faint

By His blood and in His Name
In His freedom I am free
For the love of Jesus Christ
Who has resurrected me
HaPPy NeW YeaR! 🎉 Is today the day we throw out HaPPy NeW YeaR! 🎉 Is today the day we throw out the cat houses made of all the Christmas boxes and blue tape, or do we have to wait for epiphany? 🤔 Wishing you ALL the blessings of a brand new year! 👏🏻 May the Lord crown the year with bounty so that even the wagon tracks overflow with abundance. Psalm 65:11 🌱
Instagram post 17875671470084040 Instagram post 17875671470084040
My top nine pics of 2020. 🤷🏼‍♀️ These My top nine pics of 2020. 🤷🏼‍♀️ These all make me happy to look at ~ I do love this little home we have ~ but none of these represent my top moments of 2020, which would be memories I made with the people I love the most. 💕 It’s been a year of the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, but still, the person I am at the end of 2020 is better than who I was back in January in so many ways. Lots of lessons learned. Lots of figuring out what I want and what I don’t and who I wanna be and who I need around me. Can’t wait to see what 2021 holds but I know for sure there will be love and grace and mercy and peace. #topnine #topnine2020 #theyearinreview
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