The Before [welcome to 1981]

We sold our first house in August and just closed on our new, much larger house yesterday! We're most excited to have a huge yard and such a nice neighborhood with lots of other families and kids. We are not so happy that the house has not been updated since it was built in 1981 though. It was very well built and well maintained so it has that going for it. I will say that the style house is far from the classic farmhouse that I love [our first house was an 1890 farmhouse], but I'm looking forward to an open floor plan with tv and toys being downstairs.

We're doing all of the work ourselves [and by ourselves I mean Tom mostly] and although we're doing it as cheap as possible we also don't want it to look cheap. We did upgrade the cabinets and the countertops [but kitchens sell and this is not our forever home] but Tom will be installing the cabinets and we're doing butcher block countertop on the island to almost even out the cost if we had done solid from Home Depot on the entire kitchen. We also went with a cheaper hardwood floor even though hickory is actually harder than maple and we used Lumber Liquidators to keep the cost even lower.

We'll be installing floors, painting every wall and remodeling the kitchen within the first 1.5-2 months of moving in. The rest [like the blue bathroom and puky master bath] will be done as we have time/money over the next few years.

And what you've all been waiting for, the before...

We'll be Joanna Gaines-ing the crap out of this by painting all exterior brick a light grey.

So I love the entry way Vermont slate but we'll be re-treading the stairs and putting in spindle railings.

Joanna Gaines is my spirit animal and we're going to shiplap the right wall there. Just not sure if we'll keep it natural or paint it white.

All of the upstairs carpets and linoleum will be ripped out and replaced with hardwood Hickory floors. 

That wall is coming down to create a completely open floor plan and I can't wait!!!

We're taking out the kitchen (the picture actually makes the ugly/cheap cabinets look good) and putting in white, shaker cabinets from a local company and beautiful soapstone counters from a local company. The island is grey cabinets with a butcher block counter that Tom will make.

We're painting all of the molding white in the whole house and getting new white doors.

It's not an 80's house without a blue bathroom.

A nice pink master that hasn't been painted since 1981. New floors and paint is pretty much all this needs though.

Thankfully the master bath is small so this reno shouldn't be too pricy. The floors and shower will one day be tile and I can't wait to put a 1920's style bath into a 1980's house :P

the boys room is getting the new floors and some paint, plus bunk beds of course!

This is the mudroom right off of the garage. We're gonna put tile in and mega, floor to ceiling storage for coats and shoes and bookbags.

Super excited we have a laundry room and all it needs is some cheap click n lock vinyl waterproof floors, paint and of course new appliances that are HE so we can be our crunchy selves and keep using cloth diapers :)

The basement is huge so we're just going to sand the rough wood beadboard and paint it white. One day we may replace the carpet but it's the last thing we would do in the house.

This tiny bathroom in the basement is getting new wallpaper - yes wallpaper! It will have some super funky design that only I will probably like but whatever. We have an antique mirror we'll put in here but the sink is staying and we'll just paint the vanity.

And that's it haha It's a lot of work but we're excited to turn our 1980's house into a modern farmhouse that we love!

Another Burlington Weekend [beer and cider included]

Why yes we were up in Burlington again for what seems like the millionth time this summer but we do love it and this time it was to meet up with family. My younger brother is starting a course at Yestermorrow Design/Build School so my parents swung over to Burlington after dropping him off to see us [aka the grandkids] before heading back to NY.

 

We, admittedly, have never been to Citizen Cider on Pine St. even though we pass it every time we come to Burlington and this time we decided to stop. We may have also only stopped because Declan was asleep so managing one kid at a restaurant/brewery is muuuch simpler than two so it was also out of convenience. Don't get me wrong, we love cider but we are first beer lovers so we are picky cider drinkers. Our problem with ciders is that we feel like they all taste the same even when they say they are all vastly different. Let me just say that Citizen Cider is a beer drinkers cider [they may or may not hate that I just said that] and each one tasted vastly different from the rest and I honestly liked each one and even loved a few. We always chose Citizen when we get cider at the store but usually just their flagship [which is amazing and we do get it very often] but we will for sure be venturing out and trying each and every one of theirs. They will also be on our "must stop while in Burlington" list from now on too!

Slept the entire time...

 

An open, family style tasting/restaurant room with some tables outside too.

 

We stayed the night at the Marriot [my dad travels for work and has points or else we'd be AirBnbing it] which by the way is an awesome location right next to Hotel Vermont on the water. On our way back to Rutland we stopped at the ReUse materials store on Pine St. [they have an actual store and a materials store] and found my dream sink for our new house. We also got all the hardware for our kitchen cabinets [$1 a piece I may add] and a few other things that would have cost us a couple hundred dollars brand new and instead cost us $20 and are exactly what I wanted. Below is our 1962 Kohler cast iron white enameled sink with drain tray that I love.

That's enough typing..below are some pictures from the weekend where we stopped at [in no particular order, just as I can remember them] Burlington Beer Co., Citizen Cider, Once Upon a Child Consignment shop, ate at American Flatbread, had a family run on the bike trail, and of course walked Church Street while eating pizza larger than our heads. Enjoy!


Burlington Beer Co. is a family favorite with tons of old school games that the boys love.

Finn pretending to be a beer maker - I have to brag that he knows the beer goes through a masher, aka the mash tun :)

Why We Transplants Love Rutland

I love lists so here's another one. It's an I love Rutland list similar to the one Steve Costello wrote that went viral a few months ago. Mine may not be as eloquent but here goes nothing.

 

 I love Rutland from the view of a transplant.

1. It's in Vermont. We love Vermont. Win win.

And now, in no specific order the rest of the list!

2. Downtown. To a native NYer it's quintessential VT with beautiful buildings. The businesses downtown have grown exponentially since we moved here 5 years ago and we try to frequent them as much as possible. It has everything you could want in a downtown and more.

3. Palms square cheese pizza extra crispy. Us NYers are picky pizza eaters and this is one of the best.

4. RRMC. It has provided my husband with a job that he loves. When we first moved here the HR dept was beyond helpful with helping us find housing and even helping me find a job. The hospital is a cornerstone of the community and just keeps getting better.

5. Roots the Restaurant Grilled Caesar Salad. I honestly dream about this salad daily it's so amazing. I am a vegetarian though and wacky salads are my thing, but then again so is ice cream and pizza. But this salad, yep, it's the best.

6. Hop n Moose. They may have beat us to the punch of being the first brewery in Rutland (owning a brewery is our pipe dream) but they have some stand out beers - my favorite is Head Doctor!

7. Dancing with the Rutland Stars. I may be biased since I'm on the committee but it is a fantastic event that raises funds for a fantastic organization (Kids on the Move). It is a sold out show that is guaranteed to entertain all!

8. Halloween parade. We've been going since before we had kids and it's easily the best parade we've ever been to.

9. Paramount Theatre. They have world class acts and each year is better than the last. I can't even begin to list all of the acts they've had that you wouldn't think would make it to little ole Rutland.

10. Friday night summer series. 3 Friday's in July Center Street is closed off and restaurants and bars open into the street and fantastic music acts perform. It's transformed over the years into more of an adult event but we take the kids down and have a quick bite and drink outside.

11. Art in the park. It's twice a year in Main Street park and all of the exhibitors are great. I've purchased some of my favorite jewelry there and have gone every year.

12. Killington summer concert series. Not the city but still Rutland County, this is a ton of fun and the kids love it since they can run around and dance and not bother anyone.

13. The Bakery. This addition to downtown has everything and the employees are amazing. Everything they make is sooo good and when I walk in every Monday the baristas always knows I need a red eye!

14. The parks. There are so many parks in Rutland and, at least for us, they are all in walking distance and our kids love them all.

15. Whites Pool. It's in the process of being rebuilt to open in 2017 and it's going to be like nothing else in Rutland. We took Finn there when he was a baby and it was always filled with kids and families and is just an all around great place.

16. Fruition Fineries and Raw Honey. My favorite dress and sweater come from Fruition and my favorite jeans from Raw Honey. Rebecca is beyond helpful whenever I'm in and always pulls exactly what I didn't know I wanted!

17. Rutland Rec Halloween 5k. So I kind of love Halloween especially now that we have kids and I can force my family to dress in ridiculous themed costumes. So this 5k is perfect and a ton of fun and a great course through the city.

18. Hops on Top. Again, I'm biased but I do have the backing of at least 500 people. A beer fest with a view and some of the best beers there are. It's seriously one of the best events in the area and is a step up for Rutland for sure. You will not want to miss it!

19. Veggie burgers at Table 24. Even if you aren't a vegetarian, these burgers are amazing. We travel a lot and have eaten our fair share of veggie burgers and nothing compares.

20. Hope. Super cheesy but the Young Professionals (I'm admittedly not a member of the official Rutland Young Professionals but this is directed at ALL YPs in the area) in Rutland have more hope and passion for our small city than anyone I know. They/we know how amazing Rutland is and want everyone else to feel it too. We know Rutland is kick ass, now everyone else needs to figure it out too!