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A Tour of The Old Blue House, Before.

Melissa Beene Ford/ before and after+ Big Blue House+ Remodeling

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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About Me


Hey there... I'm Melissa! Texas girl. Mom to three + one goldendoodle. Believer. Old house fanatic. Creating a happy + healthy home with purpose is my passion. I'm so glad you're here!

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I don’t know who’s big idea it was to strip 80 I don’t know who’s big idea it was to strip 80 years of paint off of this door down to the wood and start over… but that person has no business starting new projects. 😅 My neighbors must have thought this project would never end. *I* thought this project would never end. 😰 If you’re thinking of doing this yourself? Just don’t, ok? Throw the whole door away and buy a new one. 😂🤣 Just kidding.  Old house weirdos like me… we can’t just do things the easy way. Anyhoo… after some trial and error, @sherwinwilliams Celestial is what I landed on, and I have to say… I like it. Periwinkle-ish blue looks great with the yellow house and will look even better when the azaleas are in bloom. Was it all worth it? That’s not important right now. 🤭 Will I do this all again in two years? The magic eight ball says… without a doubt. 👏🏻 I’ve already picked the next color. #gluttonforpunishment #somefoolsneverlearn #oldhouselove #oldhomelove #makinghome #southernliving #gardenandgun #azaleadistrict #tylertx
Spring in the Azalea District makes the winters in Spring in the Azalea District makes the winters in an 80-year-old house completely worth it … what broken pipes, icy hardwood floors and drafty windows? 🤔 I forgot already. #comeonspring #azaleadistrict #tylertx
Happy Saturday ☀️ Happy Saturday ☀️
Salt Lake City is always magical ✨ Salt Lake City is always magical ✨
2022 had its highs and lows for sure, but scrollin 2022 had its highs and lows for sure, but scrolling through my pics from the last twelve months made me realize how blessed and content I am. Prosperity, love, and peace have been ours in abundance, in spite of the pain of losing my dad. The second picture is the last picture of him… the last time I saw him. 💔 But God has been good to my family this year and 2022 is ending far better than it began. 😄 #2022inreview #thanksforthememories
Who wants a Christmas tour of my home? 🙋🏼‍ Who wants a Christmas tour of my home? 🙋🏼‍♀️
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That’s it. That’s the tour. (Slide two). 
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It’s a new trend I’m starting: bare Christmas tree. Lowe’s tag still attached (so quirky and unexpected)! Christmas ornaments still in boxes. Coming soon to an Anthropologie window display near you. 
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Every year I think, “next year I’ll do better. Next year I’ll have it together.” And then, here we are on the SIXTH Christmas that we’ve been in this house, the sixth Christmas I’ve dragged our chaotic bunch of Christmas mess out of a chaotic garage I still haven’t unpacked from our move six years ago. 
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Maybe this year is the year I’ll organize it all and put it back neatly so that by Christmas number 7, it will be smooth sailing. People will flock to my social media to see how I’ve pulled everything off SO PERFECTLY. Next year will be my year. 
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Seems every year there’s less and less bandwidth for all these things. There’s more grief and stress, less money. More demands, less grace. 
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I put this sign on the wall in my office so I could keep it in front of my eyes: Love. Joy. Peace. And all that. I am SO unlike Jesus most days. So lacking in all of these character qualities. And that’s WITH waking up most mornings and spending my first 30 minutes with God Himself. 
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How lost would I be without that? Geez. I can’t fathom. I REQUIRE being transformed by renewing my mind every single morning, and even then, responding to people and life with love, joy, peace and patience doesn’t come naturally. 
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It’s the goal, though. 
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This weary world needs that from us Believers during this season, more than ever… even more than an Anthropologie-window-display worthy Christmas home tour. 
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I’m working on both.
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