Sarah is Irish afterall...

That's the reason we have a fully functional bar.

The Bar

History/Facts
-Before the porch was converted to a sun room, this room was always used as a living room.
-When we started renting the house in 2003 we weren’t using this room for much of anything.

Highlights
-Part of the Bar/Dining/Kitchen open floor-plan
-Has a large deck attached
-Parquet wood floor
-Wired for surround sound and even has a TV mounted (like a real bar!)
-Working bar tap (nothing has been on tap in a while…)
-Large mirror behind bar makes the room feel even bigger.

Lowlights
-Ceiling is dated. Old 12x12 foam tiles.
-No lighting
-Exposed pipes for heat (left over work from deck expansion)

What we've done
-Our former roommate (now "arts and crafts" brother in-law, Nick) built the bar
-Removed two windows and added French doors to lead to the newly constructed deck. This may be the best change we’ve made to the house to date. It makes the house feel so much bigger.
-Painted the walls
-Added some colorful (cheap) lights above the bar


What we'd like to do
-Replace ceiling and add canned lights (8)
-Open the wall up to make a large great room w/ the sun room (10)

Where to begin?

The first stop on the tour of our new home is the Sun Room. The format you see here will be the typical format we use to introduce you to each room. We'll try to go back and link to the specific projects that take place in these rooms as they happen. As you notice in the "What we'd like to do" section there is a (#) rating. That's what we feel is the difficulty of the project.

Sun Room

History/Facts:
-Converted in the early 90s from a storm window porch to living space with a tiled entry way, carpet and a large bay window.
-Part of ceiling was replaced as the roof above the room had a leak (roof was also replaced)
-Main entry to the house

Highlights:
-High ceilings
-Large south facing (i.e. Lots of sun) bay window

Lowlights:
-The ceiling that was replaced is painted white, while the rest of the ceiling has a textured finish
-Carpet is beat up from traffic and pets

What we’ve done:
-Painted walls (used to be a fleshy peach)
-Painted the front door red (inside and out) - Still needs a final touch up
-Bought a sweet coffee table on craigslist!
-Bought a 42” LCD TV (every home needs one!)

What we’d like to do:
-Texture the ceiling to match (3)
-Replace carpet with wood floor and area rug (5)
-Open the wall up to make a large great room w/ the bar (10)

Sarah and Tony's Peach Orchard Project

As anyone who is probably reading this knows, Sarah and I bought a house in July of 2008. Although we didn't buy just any house. We purchased the home we had been renting on and off for the better part of 5 years. The house has been in my family since my parent's purchased it in 1979.

Over the years while we rented we made many changes, some minor and others major, to improve the home. For a long time we had hopes of purchasing the home, so we were comfortable with making the changes, in hopes that we wouldn't be walking away from the sweat equity some day. We did leave many of the bigger projects for if and when we became homeowners.

Over the last 6 months we have been moving full steam ahead with projects of all sizes. We've built a list of what we've done to date, and what we'd like to do in the future. We figure this is the best way to attack our blog. I will add a bit of history wherever possible.

So that's it. Welcome to our Peach Orchard Project.