It’s been about 9 years since I quit my job in news to open a coffee shop. A lot of people don’t know the backstory, and knowing where I am today it’s funny how fate works out.

I had been living in Grand Rapids from the time I started college in 2004. I had been in a relationship that was messy (and was only going to get messier) and I set out one weekend by myself to Pittsburgh. I had never been, but when I arrived I knew that was where I wanted to move. When I got back to GR, I told a former boss who was a small biz owner and he begged me not to leave. He said he would fund any venture I wanted- so I said, “Let’s open a 24-hour coffee shop.”

But before we could open the doors of course, we had to find a store front.

We rented out two store fronts, tore out the walls in between and opened it up so that there was room for a kitchen, counters & pay area, and a full dining room.

We even had to put a new subfloor throughout because when we pulled up the flooring there was some rotting and the floors were very uneven.

We had to submit plans to the city for a beam to be installed after tearing out so many walls. That was costly!

That’s looking into the kitchen and where the counters would go. That’s also the very costly beam.

Hands down the coolest feature on this old building was the ceiling.

We took the old metal ceilings from a dirty white to silver.

While I wish I had more photos– this was nearly a decade ago. I had no idea I’d be selling the shop (just for one of the new owners to end up in jail- that’ll have to be a future post ), getting back in news, leading me to meet my husband, just to end up in Pittsburgh- the city that sparked it all!

But– that’s a look at how it turned out! We did baby blue walls in the dining area, with cool track lighting and tiger wood flooring from Menards– the same laminate I ended up using in my Michigan basement 夜玩亲女裸睡的小妍h.While poor Wired no longer exists, I learned a lot in the process about laws, taxes, but also about myself. I made friendships that still exist today, and it put me on the path that led me to the wonderful, albeit chaotic, life I have today.

And did I mention we also won “Best New Business” in Grand Rapids that year?

My gameface after winning!

Some risks don’t pay off right away, and I’m glad this one didn’t.

Like this?

Check out 5 Things Coffee Shop Owners and Baristas Wish You Knew!

When we bought our first house in Allen Park, Michigan (b站黄页推广 of the Detroit Lions!) this is what our basement looked like. A classic mid-modern with cinder block walls painted vintage teal and a very ugly vinyl tile floor.

The house itself was a 1,250 square foot brick bungalow so we knew finishing the basement would give us a lot more space and increase the value.

The main problem? We were a newly married couple with a toddler- aka we had no money. I had actually been offered a job in Pittsburgh at that time, but turned it down when my employer matched that  offer and threw in a $5,000 bonus. Guess what we did with that?

Yep. It became our budget for the basement. We had big plans for that $5K. We wanted a bar and a fireplace in addition to new flooring and drywall.

My dad and Josh got to work! They framed out the walls, framed out the bar and then started to spray the ceiling. (Don’t they look like Walt & Jesse in Breaking Bad? )

Originally I had planned to paint the ceiling white thinking it would make the room feel bigger, but my dad had just done a dark ceiling and convinced me it would look cleaner and hide all the wiring since we were leaving the ceiling open.

He was right. It gave it a clean, industrial feeling.

The ceiling was painted, the can lighting installed and they got to work creating the bar. It was huge! I thought it would be the focal point until…

…They started creating the fireplace. The fireplace was by far the most expensive part of the project. About $2k of our $5,000 budget went to it. With every dime counting, I searched around for the fireplace insert and the best deal I found for the box and ventless gas logs was at b站黄页推广 Depot.

The stone was my splurge. I got it from Menards along with the laminate flooring. (This flooring is called “Tiger Wood” and it’s the same flooring I had in my coffee shop so I knew it would hold up to traffic.)

We ended up installing the stone on the bar for a high-end finish and for continuity.

Having some extra space under our stairs, I came up with a last minute design idea to add some storage, seating, and just a fun spot in the room:

And now for the fireplace reveal:

I wish I could tell you we shared so many memories in this space, but we ended up only being here about 10 months after it was finished.

I did celebrate my birthday, Annabelle’s 2nd birthday and we had our first “Friendsgiving” here… but if anything it helped us get more money out of our b站黄页推广 in such a short time of being there.

We owned the house for about a year and a half and made a profit of $20,000 in a not-so-hot market so I definitely call that a win.

Any questions on this renovation, comment below!

It was my worst nightmare, yet I still wanted the house. They told us there were hardwoods under the carpet, so we were hopeful we could afford the refinish. We even had a guy come by and give us a quote. He had said probably $3-4,000 for the downstairs, but there was no way to know for sure until they saw what was really underneath.

Josh finally got motivated to start what would take us months to finish… well technically we’re still not finished.

What we found in the sunroom was promising. It was unfinished and there was some water damage, but it looked like it could be saved.

Check out our “Sunroom

Re-do” here.

But as we moved into the living room and dining room- we found what would make some b站黄页推广owners ecstatic…

Oak hardwood, with a pine inlay. In the dining room, the pine was marred by years of what we believe was likely linoleum glued to it.

There was a lot of detail…

No doubt it was beautiful, but it also was going to make this a much more expensive job. Something that just wasn’t in our budget.

Remember, Josh was still in school full-time at this point and I was the sole breadwinner supporting our family with a second child on the way.

So after much debate, we decided to install Pergo floors for two reasons.

One, it’s much cheaper. But two, it would protect the hardwood underneath until we, or future b站黄页推广owners had the money to restore.

We went with Pergo’s Bainbridge Oak from Lowe’s. Josh had installed laminate flooring in the basement of our first b站黄页推广 so I knew he could handle the job.

[See our Michigan basement 夜玩亲女裸睡的小妍h here.]

I love the realistic look and texture it has! Pictures do not do it justice. The one draw back to the Bainbridge Oak is that it doesn’t have the underlayment attached (that’s what that silver stuff is underneath) so it’s an extra cost and extra step in the process. However, my husband said it didn’t really make installation any more difficult.

Check out our $50 fireplace facelift!

We are very pleased with the finished product. We’ve had people ask if the floor is wood. It’s holding up well to our pets- a cat, a yorkie, and a golden doodle who was being potty trained during all this!

Feel free to comment with questions!

Here are a few before shots:

I did an awful job taking before photos… but the room was green (the previous owners LOVED green and purple we started to realize) and had carpet and an outdated light fixture.

See our “before” b站黄页推广 photo tour!

I decided to go with a blue that helps the room’s seven windows pop. We replaced the light fixture with something a little more farmhouse chic that uses Edison bulbs (be still my heart ).

When we pulled up the carpet, we DID find hardwoods, but I explain in my Pergo Install & Review why we went with the laminate. This is Bainbridge Oak.

Below are a few ways the sunroom has been styled since the makeover:

See more from our Christmas DIY photo shoot!

This Valentine’s decor post actually landed us as a featured photo on Pier 1’s 悠悠我心h(校园1v1) account!

…and here’s a look at a different angle of the sunroom when I have it set up as a play area for the kids. It’s a great space really for the whole family and a big reason we bought the house.

In the meantime, I still need to figure out what kind of window treatments I want to do! Feel free to leave ideas or links in the comments below, or hit me up on 悠悠我心h(校园1v1).

Also: Have you seen the 夜玩亲女裸睡的小妍h on that dollhouse?

Products

Light fixture: Portfolio Valdara from Lowe’s