June Goals

Month six of 2014... what?! We are about to start the latter half of this year and I am having trouble comprehending this fact. While we are no where near where we thought we would be by this point, I think we are optimistic for the next six months. May was fairly productive, even though we experienced some hiccups along the way.

Myrtle House

• Remove all wood paneling (so close to having this done) - $0 - DONE
• Remove carpet and vinyl flooring - $0 - DONE
• Deliver wanted items to Brian's mom's house - $0 - Kind of done. Still one item to delivery that was too heavy for me and B alone.
• Get all of the debris to the dump - $40 (gas) - DONE
• Remove hazardous waste - $350 - DONE (Actual cost was $500)
• Repair windows - $300 - Not quite yet
• Have Jake (our contractor) do walk through for estimate - $0 - DONE
• Start to fix foundation (!!!) - $500 - Not quite yet

We spent three of the five weekends in May at the Myrtle House. The other two were spent in Raleigh since we had family in town one weekend and the other weekend we attended a friend's wedding. Considering what a crazy month it was, I am happy with the progress, even though we didn't cross everything off of the list.

One of the most exciting/daunting tasks from this month was meeting with our contractor, Jake. We are so fortunate to have him close by. He is an AMAZING contractor and good friend of Brian's, so we trust him 200% to give us an honest opinion and accurate quote on some of the work needed. Luckily, his estimate of work to be done fell pretty much in-line with our guess, so there were not too many surprises there. That being said, we are getting close to the point of handing off a lot of the work to Jake and his crew to get it ready for us to take on the more cosmetic tasks. This whole process has taught me a lot (so much so that I really need a whole post dedicated to it) and I am relieved and excited to bring in an expert for a lot of the more important structural work that Brian and I just aren't able to tackle at this stage. June will be a slower month, as we are getting to the stage of planning and communicating with our contractor on how to get the ball rolling. Here is what is on the agenda:

• Finalize financing options*
• Create an electrical plan
• Create a to-scale floor plan
• Donate old clothes and household items
• One more trip to the dump
• Measure broken glass
• Look into home owner's insurance
• Drop off item at Brian's mom's house

*While we had hoped to be able to save all of the renovation costs ourselves, it is just not a feasible option at this point. It would take us three times longer than we had planned for us to save enough and unfortunately, that is just not an option right now. We do still plan on contributing about half of the renovation budget ourselves, but will need a loan to cover the other half and make sure we don't over-extend ourselves in case of an emergency.

The posts this month might be a little sparse and boring (apologies in advance) but the nitty-gritty legwork needs to be done. Hopefully soon we will have photos of the place looking different instead of just us cleaning it out. :) Here are some of my favorite Instagram photos from May!

Magnolia in my parent's yard

Leaving the Myrtle House

Blue mason jars from Brian's grandmother

Uncovering the hardwood floors!

Master Bathroom Design | Myrtle House

I love picking out bathroom fixtures. I don't know why; maybe it is due to my affinity for marble. I have always dreamed of having a luxe master suite complete with double sinks, wall to wall subway tile, and a gorgeous marble floor. Well, then I woke up and realized that is not going to happen on this girl's shoe-string budget. Luckily, there are many bathroom fixture options that look like my dream bathroom at a fraction of the cost. Here are some of my favorite budget-friendly bathroom fixtures. I even managed to squeak some marble in there! :)

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9

Another thing I love about these options is that they are up-to-date yet still appropriate for a historical home. It always looks so bizarre to me when there is a 1910 Victorian house with glass bowl sinks and super contemporary fixtures. It is like eating hot chili for lunch in the summer - doesn't work well together.

When designing on a budget, I think it helps to splurge on an accent tile. I plan on using the combination of black tile liners and marble accent tiles in a strip along the top of the vanities and into the tub surround. This will instantly make your bathroom look more expensive and not set you back too much since you are using so little material.

Where do you shop for inexpensive bathroom fixtures?

Demolition | Myrtle House

With the long weekend, we were able to get a few things knocked out (literally!) at the Myrtle House. We were able to rip down the rest of the wood paneling, dropped ceiling, and ceiling grid. We also started demoing the wall in between the kitchen and the dining room. This wasn't in the original plans, as I like to leave older homes in tact as much as possible, but after spending more time in the house, I realized the kitchen is pretty small, closed-off, and is super duper dark. One thing I hated about the Brooklyn House was that the kitchen was away from the living room, so anytime we had company, I was always stuck in the back in the kitchen. Not so fun. So, the wall comes down!

Here is the view from the living room when you first walk in. The blue wall is the one we are demoing (obviously :) so there will be a clear shot from the living room to the kitchen.

The ceilings are back to their original 9' height and it makes such a difference. The dropped ceiling was a pain to get down, but I am so glad we did.

Let there be light! The kitchen is smaller than the dining room, so the wall will not be completely gone (part of it is the exterior wall).

Really old wood. The siding on the left is the exterior wall. Looks like we will be adding insulation!

The beadboard ceilings that we are keeping are in great shape! Can't wait to paint these up a creamy white.

Hm, I don't think this is the proper way to plug in a light fixture.

Witherspoon Rose Culture | Durham, NC

I had been wanting to make a trip to the Witherspoon Rose Culture in Durham for quite some time. An acquaintance posted photos of her rose garden with roses from this nursery and they were gorgeous! There is quite a difference in my opinion between the roses you get from the box stores and the ones you get from a specialized nursery like this. And to boot, the prices really aren't that much different. A no-brainer in my book. If you are in the area, a highly recommend making the trip (they are closed Sundays, FYI). While we are not quite ready to start landscaping yet, I wanted to take a ride over to see the pretty roses in bloom and get an idea of what we will eventually like to have in the front of the Myrtle House. Here are some of my favorites that we found that day.

My latest obsession are climbing roses. They are SO romantic and I can just imagine a giant climbing rose bush hanging over the porch with giant blooms dangling down. My favorite kind so far are the Climbing Eden variety. I would like to center the staircase on the front of the Myrtle House and then have a climbing rose bush on each side of the stairs to create an arch (eventually). See these below gorgeous photos for some more inspiration. Does anyone have experience with or tips about climbing roses?

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P.S. If you are ever on the hunt for garden/landscaping inspiration, feel free to check out my Pinterest boards on Garden, Curb Appeal, and Outdoor Living. I pin a lot. I mean a LOT. :)

Under the Shag Carpet | Myrtle House

We went to the Myrtle House this weekend and made quite a dent in the debris! It is so nice to see some visible changes finally happening. We were able to dump the giant stack of wood paneling Brian took down as well as get rid of the very gross green shag carpet. Most people recommend waiting as long as possible to re-do the floors, but this carpet was holding in so much dust and dirt, it was bad for the air quality in the house. We will wait until the house is almost move-in ready to refinish the floors, but for now, we are pretty excited to see the pretty wood!

I am not 100% sure, but my guess is that these are oak boards (please let me know if you know otherwise!). There are some scratches, but overall, they are in pretty amazing condition. We were super lucky too in the fact that the carpet and vinyl were just laid on top of the wood and not stapled in so we literally were able to just roll it up. There is one spot where there is some water damage and the adhesive is still stuck, but it definitely could have been worse! I think the thickness of the shag and water-resistant elements of the vinyl kept the floors looking as good as they do.

In the bedrooms, there is a wider plank subfloor that is also pretty amazing. I am hoping we can save this (there are a few pieces with termite damage and water damage).

To me, having that gross carpet gone makes SUCH a difference! It is starting to look like a house with hope instead of one that should be condemned. The ceiling tiles are being tackled next weekend, as well as the remaining panels. I can't wait to get the full effect of the tall ceilings with the original beadboard.

Love having these French doors separating the living room and dining room. The original wavy glass and glass knobs are still in tact!

If you follow me on Instagram (@elizabethburnsdesign) you may have seen the green carpet on it's way out. Almost everyone who saw that photo said it looked like sod. If only it was! :)

Now, let's go down memory lane and take a look at how the floor used to look. :)

I love that Brian's Grandmother had floral flooring and drapes in this room. :)

Of course, my camera died after taking two photos, so I apologize for the poor quality phone pics. I will post some more photos of the kitchen this week after we got rid of the vinyl in there.

A Little Bit of Truth | Life

Fair warning: this post has nothing to do with design. Apologies in advance.

I think it is easy to get carried away in this little world we know and love as the blogosphere and worldwide web in general. We can hide behind our computers and pretend like our world is nothing but freshly cut peonies, marble countertops in our pristine newly-renovated kitchen, and flawless photographs (that is what my perfect world is like, anyways). :) The truth of the matter is, no matter where you are in your journey, nobody's life is perfect. Sure, you may live in your dream house, or work for yourself doing your dream job, or take the most perfect Instagram photos (I am talking about you, Lauren Conrad), but life is not always as peachy-keen as we make it out to be. I think in this world where it is so easy to mask our flaws, we need to take a moment to embrace them. Love the imperfections. Love the journey. Love the fact that you could still use in improvement in the (fill in the blank) aspect of your life.

Daily Letterings

On the flip side, remember to not be so critical of yourself. I am always amazed that the people/artists/professionals I follow who, in my mind, have made it, still have insecurities about their work and/or life. Duh. They are human. I think it would do us all well to have a little more confidence, grace, humbleness, and truth to our lives.

firstsnowfall

The truth for me is that our life right now is not really a bed of roses.... and that is okay! Brian and I are working like dogs between the Myrtle House, our little side business, working full-time for other companies, and now Brian is taking classes to get a certification after work. We are living at home with my parents (so thankful for them) in order to get where we want to be.

Kelli Trontel

I know a lot of people post inspirational messages on Mondays at the beginning of the week, but seeing the bulk of our hard work happens on the weekend, this post seemed fitting today. On paper, our weekend sounds pretty fun: going to the mountains to fix up an inherited historic house. In reality, our truth is that we are going to a very run-down house that is totally out of our league when it comes to renovations and we are probably going to spend the bulk of our time cleaning up rat poo. :) So no matter where you are in your journey or how totally disheartened you are with your truth, know that you are not alone and that "this too shall pass". With perseverance, lots of hard work, and a little bit of patience, we will all get to where we want to be. Until then, enjoy the journey and be proud of your truth. Annnddd, I couldn't leave this post without throwing in a little peony prettiness. :)

Suburban Faux Pas