London Road Fixer Upper Update

Hey friends! If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you might have seen that two weeks ago I spent the week in Minnesota helping my dad work on the #LondonRoadFixerUpper. This is a house in Duluth, Minnesota that my parents are fixing up to resell. Just look at how far the exterior has come since they bought it! Here is the post where I first shared their project with you. 
While I was working with my dad, my mom came to Wisconsin to take care of the kids! I’d say it was a really good trade! I also really enjoyed the time with my dad. We started with the Dining Room. Here is a pretty extreme “before” and “after”.
They had already refinished the floors and fixed all the drywall, so we installed the faux board and batten all the way around the room! I’ll be back soon with an entire tutorial on how we did it!

Then we moved onto the living room. How about this “before” and “after”??!!
My mom had attempted to restore the fireplace to the original brick, but wasn’t able to strip the white paint. Here is a photo of her progress after hours of work:So we installed a brick tile over the painted brick that will look original. My mom is still going to grout the fireplace and then add a darkener that will help the tile match the hearth more closely. Then she’ll add a new mantel. Since I know you’ll all be asking, here’s the sources for the sofa, chairs, and rug!We didn’t do any work in the foyer, but I just have to share this “before” and “after”. By removing the carpet, refinishing the floors, and painting everything my parents completely transformed this space.A neat story about the stained glass is that the image is of the famous poet Longfellow and the other windows have lines from his poem “Song of Hiawatha”. The house was built in 1910 and the original owner must have been a pretty big Longfellow fan! Also… do you notice the rug that used to live in my kitchen?! I love the way it looks in here!

We did board and batten in the upstairs bathroom as well, but because we didn’t get it done I didn’t take any photos. Instead I’ll share a single before of the main bathroom! Next time I share an update it should be done though and I’ll have an amazing “after” for you all!

Finally we spent the rest of our time installing the backsplash in the kitchen. We used this gorgeous handmade tile that looks authentic to the kitchen. My mom will be grouting it with a dark grout which is going to look amazing.

Because the kitchen turned out SO amazing, here’s a few more pics for you to ooh and ahh at! My mom salvaged the light from an old schoolhouse that is authentic to the era of the house!

So after our week of work we were able to tile the fireplace, tile the kitchen backsplash, install board and batten in the dining room, and get started on board and batten in the upstairs bathroom.

I just know you’re all loving following along with this amazing project house of theirs. My parents definitely have a real knack for it! We’re actually going to stay here at Christmastime, even though they still have quite a ways to go before finishing the house. Thanks a ton for reading and have a Merry Christmas!