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Calderwood Cottage Completed

All Posts, Calderwood Cottage

Y’all, Calderwood Cottage is finished and on the market!

Calderwood Cottage house tour

Light, white, living room

Calderwood Cottage Before

Remember what it looked like when we bought it? Calderwood Cottage - flip house

We bought it on auction and didn’t know what we were getting into.  It was way more work than we planned or imagined.

We worked a lot of long, looooong days (and late nights) and put our bodies through more than they were meant to endure. I’m wearing wrist braces on both wrists as I type this post, (which makes it really hard to tyrype). The work was WAY too hard and neither of us ever want to work that hard again!

But we are proud of what we accomplished. We’re two crazy girls…and we basically demolished and rebuilt an entire house!

Demo Days at Calderwood Cottage

Read more about the renovation here:

Introduction of Calderwood Cottage, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, and part 5.

Round 2: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5

Round 3: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4

Calderwood Cottage Complete

Now let’s see the completed 3 bedrooms, 2 bath with a loft and a beautiful cathedral ceilinged great room!

Kitchen/Great Room

We took out the wall between the kitchen and living room creating one open, light, bright, cheery space. organic minimal great room, kitchen, living room

We love the beautiful Armstrong floors.They’re the perfect first layer for CC’s “organic minimalist” style.

white kitchen, wood island, white beams, living room

The island countertop has enough room to seat 4 people. We built the countertop out of some of the lumber that we tore out during demo.Kitchen island with seating on two sides

We left a lot of the original saw marks, though I did spend a good part of a day, planing all the boards to the same thickness. The original house was built out of hand cut lumber. (I have a bunch of it in my workshop. Saving it for something cool!)Reclaimed lumber kitchen countertop. Reclaimed wood

white kitchen with wood accents

I shared a tutorial on how I built the lighted beams. Those and the chandelier fill the room with light at night. During the day, natural light from all the windows, fills the room.vaulted ceiling kitchen and living room

great room with cathedral ceiling

Speaking of windows, this is the view from those windows and deck! The neighboring field is home to five horses, a cow and two goats. (The goats and cow are all best friends. They are never without each other. It’s super cute!)

horses

Back in the kitchen… We built the floating shelves out of reclaimed lumber too. I love all the texture on that old lumber!

white subway backsplash, wood floating shelves

reclaimed lumber floating shelves

brick wall in laundry room

Laundry Room

Off the kitchen is the Laundry Room and Side Entry into the house. The industrial basket hook is from Liberty Hardware, as are the Francisco cabinet pulls, which we used here and in the kitchen. We also used the same faucet for the farmhouse sinks in the laundry room and kitchen. The Gooseneck barn lights we found for $26 each!

cute laundry room , mud room, concrete countertop

Previously the side entry looked like this. That door opened into a long dark laundry room.Calderwood Cottage beginning rebuild

We moved the door over so we could add storage. The cabinets are from IKEA except the one closest to the laundry hookup wall. I built a wide cabinet with an opening on just on the left side which would accept the IKEA doors. That cabinet is a great broom cabinet

built-in IKEA cabinets

The tile is DELLA TORRE Cementina tile available at Lowe’s. I would use it on a wall next time as it is pretty slippery. Even when it’s not wet. Just FYI.

laundry room, black and white tile floor, white cabinets

Julie built concrete countertops here, as well as in the kitchen and master bathroom. They turned out beautiful!concrete countertops, farmhouse sink, white and black

Master Bedroom

The door behind the kitchen island, leads to the master suite.black kitchen island with wood countertop

We wanted to utilize every bit of space so I built a shelf cabinet in a small space that was left in the refrigerator recess.

small master bedroom

master bedroom at Calderwood Cottage

This is the second barn door we built for this space. The first one ended up being too industrial looking so I threw this one together the day before the listing photographer was due to show up. It turned out awesome. Especially as a last minute, unplanned DIY project. This barn door hardware is amazing and was super cheap at a mere $45! It’s amazing how varied pricing is for hardware and fixtures. Don’t you think? You just have to spend some time searching and you can find great deals!

master bedroom with barn door

white barn door

The doorway leads to the master bathroom. The original brick wall is exposed on the bathroom side of that wall.

Calderwood Cottaged Completed

Master Bathroom

Calderwood Cottaged Completed

Out of the original laundry room, we created a new master bathroom with walk-in shower and a nice size closet.Calderwood Cottage beginning rebuild

Calderwood Cottaged Completed

Calderwood Cottaged Completed

The concrete countertops in the master bathroom are my favorite. They look like stone. Calderwood Cottaged Completed

To the right of the double vanity is the walk-in closet.

Calderwood Cottaged Completed

It went against everything inside me to help install this wire shelving in the closet. I SO wanted to whip up an awesome custom closet but we had to keep telling each other that this was not OUR house. At some point, we had to cap off our spending (both time and money). So wire shelving it is. We did make sure we hit studs in almost every brace. I hate wire shelving that falls off the walls!

Calderwood Cottaged Completed

To the left of the vanity is the walk in shower.

Calderwood Cottaged Completed

Complete with a bench and niche.

Calderwood Cottaged Completed

Calderwood Cottaged Completed

I’ll show you the rest of the house in another post because this one is already super long! It’s tough to show you just a couple pictures of each room so I’ll break it up into two posts. It has taken us nearly a year to complete this house, after all!  🙂

Calderwood Cottage House Tour Continued

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Comments

  2. I literally ACHE for you two. You were crazy but you finished, and that is a wonderful feeling. It’s a sweet little house. Let us know how the cost and selling price work out.

    • Trust us, we were aching too! I can’t believe we’re finally done–it feels like it was never-ending. I’m glad you like it! We’re so happy with how it came together. With any luck, it’ll be sold soon so someone can enjoy it all!

  3. You two did an amazing reno and rebuild! I’d love to live in a home like CC! Slippery or not, the tile is my favorite.

    • Thanks so much, Guerrina! If you wanna make an offer, you know where to find us… 🙂 We felt the same about the tile. It was too pretty to pass up!

  4. I am so proud of you gals!!! You stuck to it and it looks amazing. I hope it sells quickly for you and at top dollar.

  6. What an amazing job you have done. Such an inspiration. Well done and thanks for sharing all that you do.

    • I’m happy that you are enjoying the updates, Joanne! Having people read and support us helps on those days when we want to burn it to the ground… 🙂

  7. Awesome job!! Love the transition between tiles (which both tiles arebeautiful) and hardwood floors, meaning its on the same level without having a transitional piece.

    • Thanks, Tammara! Julie and I really love how it turned out. It took a little time to get it there, but in the end, it was totally worth it!

  8. It looks good. It was a HUGE job so I’m glad you both survived. Here’s hoping you have a quick sale.

  10. This is an outstanding rebirth for the house. I am deeply impressed by all the hard work, the light, airy look, and the visible quality of your results. Congratulations!

    • Wow, thanks Marvin! I love reading comments like these… it makes the months of pain worth it all! It was crazy and hard, but I’m so happy it turned out how we envisioned. Thanks for reading along!

  11. Double WOW! I have been following and discouraged at some points with what you two were taking on but the results are beautiful. You can be really proud.

    • Thank you Karen! There were several times we thought about burning it all down, but I’m glad we stuck it through. Whoever moves in is going to love it!

  13. WOW & OUTSTANDING. A really great job and something both of you should be very proud of. It’s now time to breath and relax.

    • No kidding! Thanks for the support, Steven. 🙂 Hopefully Julie will finally relax enough to fix her finger, haha.

  16. Even though I’m subscribed here I had no patience to wait so I checked your IM daily for pics and updates. Vicarious thrills! Congratulations young ladies; you’ve created a beautiful home and amazingly you’re still standing! Looking forward to seeing it all. Thanks for sharing this with all of us.

    • Thanks, Maureen! It’s good to know people like our updates! We thought about quitting A TON, but we made it through. Thanks for reading! 🙂

  17. Great Job!
    I have enjoyed watching your progress.
    My wife and I did a similar project on a 100 year old lake cottage but it took us 4 years.

  18. Looks great! I hope you had better luck with Ikea than I did. We joke that their motto is “Whatever you came here for is temporarily out of stock.”

    • Haha, that’s an accurate motto… I think we had to go back 3 or 4 times to return things or get more. Unfortunately, our IKEA is 3 hours away from us…one way. 🙂

  19. It’s gorgeous. I love all your finishes. I showed it to my husband and he liked it too. The job was huge.and you did it. Be kind to your body and let it heal. You both deserve a rest. That deck adds so much, especially in that climate. Maryville is a nice little town too and the mountains are so close!

    • Thanks, Kim! I’m glad to hear you and your husband like it! We are definitely taking a break after we sell CC.

  20. This is utterly amazing Sandra!!! You and Julie knocked this out of the freaking park!!! I love everything about it!! I bet it feels so great to have it done!!?

    • Thanks, Carlos! It feels weird to think about it when we bought–it feels like a whole new house to us! 🙂

  23. Oh man so glad you finished it up! Looks wonderful. Love the flooring in the master bath…did you post what it is? Maybe I missed it.
    I’ve been renoing my house and countertops are the big question mark on the kitchen work. I have NEVER seen such gorgeous cement counters. What did you use to get that beautiful light tone? It is amazing!!

    Glad you get a break from beating your bodies up…I’m at the start of the bruising.

    Good for you and girl power!! You do great work!

    • Thank you, Linda! I’m going to put out more information on our cement counters soon. It was a lot of trying and retrying. 🙂 I’m SO happy we’re done. Good luck on your house!

  26. Beautiful! Just beautiful. Thank you for sharing your adventure as I looked.forward to every update. May you receive full price!

  27. WOW! Spectacular! Talk about making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear….this is truly magical! Great job, ladies!

  28. I haven’t kept up so I have 2 questions. 1. What did your brother think and say about your project. And 2. Any outside pictures? Pushy woman that I am, I’d like to see the completed outside also. Please and Thank you!

  29. Awesome job from the both of you. Is the house still on the market or did you get several offers already?

  30. Beautiful, impressive and inspiring! So glad you made it to the finish line! You two did an amazing job. So much work and such an achievement!

    • We are too. There were many times we didn’t think we would make it though! So glad with how it turned out and sooo glad it’s done!

  31. Thrilled for you and your sister that the house is,pending already! Fingers crossed that it goes through okay!

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