Our Home Archives - Daly Digs

Pantry Remodel Project Introduction

We are kicking off a new project soon – a pantry remodel. It includes the area off of our kitchen where our powder room is located. If you’ve been here a while, you may recall that back when we did our kitchen remodel we shifted some things around to make room for a small mudroom and a wet bar. Well, things are changing…again!

Since we added a mudroom in the breezeway as part of the garage addition – and we’re eventually adding a wine room “speakeasy” – we no longer need our old mudroom and wet bar as they are. So here we are, moving some walls again, this time to create a larger pantry and a hallway to access the power room for added privacy.

Pantry Remodel Plan

Here is a before and after floor plan showing what we’re trying to achieve.

We are removing the wall that divides the old mudroom and pantry to make one large pantry. Then, we will eliminate the wet bar, create a hallway in between the pantry and powder room and move the powder room door from the outside to inside the hallway.… Read more

Our New Asphalt Driveway Process and Cost

Finally! After 6 years of parking on the grass, tracking in dirt and grit, waiting until the day we could add a garage and construct an actual driveway, it’s finally here! Once the garage addition was complete, the first order of business was getting the driveway in order. Because of the length, we chose asphalt. Asphalt is less expensive than concrete but it requires a little more maintenance and doesn’t last quite as long. That said, it was the right choice for us. I actually like the way the black asphalt ties in with our house. Our main concern was how hot it would get underfoot but the majority of the driveway is shaded. So far, the heat hasn’t been an issue. Things may be different in the middle of summer. Anyway, here are the details and cost breakdown of our new asphalt driveway.

New Asphalt Driveway Process

Culvert Replacement

The first thing we had to do was replace the culvert. The old culvert was a narrow PVC pipe and had incurred some damage over the years. We had it replaced with a metal culvert and had them do concrete end caps so it looks nice and clean.… Read more

2023 Project Outlook

2022 was obviously the year of the garage addition! We broke ground back in March and have officially wrapped up construction. It has been great to have a garage to park our cars in, a paved driveway, and a bit of additional square footage. Talk about a game-changer for our house and everyday life! 2023 will be focused on finishing out the garage and the rooms we added in the breezeway – the mudroom, office, and wine room. Additionally, we have a couple of other major projects on the horizon!

What’s to Come in 2023

Windows!!

I spoke a lot about this on Instagram over the last several months but we finally committed to and ordered new windows through Pella. We officially ordered them back in October and they are projected to arrive in mid-February. It is going to be a game changer for our house because our existing windows are original and in ill repair. We chose black fiberglass windows with a streamlined profile. We are combining picture windows and casement windows and eliminating all of our existing double-hung windows.… Read more

Mudroom Update and Cabinetry Design

It’s been a few months since I shared the overall direction of the mudroom with you, and since then we’ve solidified a few things so it’s a good time for an update. The mudroom is the first area we’re working on in the additional square footage we added with our garage and breezeway addition. It is a long room connecting the garage to the kitchen and will serve as a drop zone and storage for shoes, bags…all the things.

Mudroom Update

Flooring & Lighting are in!

If you’ve been following along on Instagram, then you know we’ve come a long way since it looked like this.

The paint is done and we have a gorgeous brick basketweave floor. I am so happy with how it turned out! The grout color decision was a tricky one but ultimately we went with a gray tone called Sahara Beige rather than ivory for maintenance and upkeep.

Also, yay for lighting! I chose these cute semi-flush mount lights and they look great installed. At first, I had them centered on the room but didn’t take into account the door placement so Mike moved them to the right a bit.… Read more

Our Farmhouse Playroom Reveal

It has been a while since I have shared progress on the playroom! To refresh your memory, I shared the plan for making our upstairs loft into a playroom for Shiloh in this blog post and then a progress update in this post. Since then, we’ve been living in the space and editing pieces here and there. It’s been amazing to have an area to house dedicated to a play space for our munchkin. Luckily, our playroom is mostly unseen from the main living space but since it’s all open it doesn’t feel disconnected. The decor and pieces in the room are fluid and will grow with Shiloh but we’re in a good place with the room right now so without further adieu, let’s take a look at how far we’ve come with our farmhouse playroom!

Playroom Before:

The upstairs loft didn’t serve much of a purpose prior to it becoming the playroom. It housed a daybed that we used for extra guests and at one point our Peloton lived here. We moved both of those things out to make way for some cute kid-friendly decor.… Read more

Our New Garage Floor

Here are all of the details about our new garage floor! What a difference it made in making the garage feel clean and complete. We went with a local company that our contractor recommended, Trademark Garage Floors. They used the spartacote chip system. It is a polyaspartic, which is a type of polyurea.

Our Spartacote Garage Floor

The Process

The first day was spent prepping and cleaning the slab. They use a diamond grinder to grind the entire floor to remove dirt or previous coatings and ensure proper adhesion of the product to the concrete. Next, they vacuumed the floor and patched any cracks or holes. Because our slab joints were nice and straight we chose to leave them as is and not fill them.

After the floor was clean and prepped, they used a moisture vapor barrier primer as the base coat. This isn’t always necessary but because our moisture reading was borderline, we opted to do it to be safe and warranty against any moisture bubbles. Then they broadcast the color chips directly onto the moisture vapor barrier. The next day they came back to apply the clear top coat.… Read more

My Hunt for the Perfect Farmhouse Entryway Bench

Last week, I shared the mood board for our new mudroom. I mentioned wanting to include a bench on the wall in between the two windows. For weeks I have been scouring the internet to find the perfect wooden farmhouse entryway bench to use in this space.

Here you can see the wall in question. The wall in between the two windows is where I plan to put a bench. It’s about 69″ wide.

I love the idea of a spindle-back bench that feels very farmhouse-y. I’ve been looking high and low and decided to round up some I found on my search. Here are my favorites.

Farmhouse Entryway Bench Roundup

farmhouse bench

Reclaimed oval bench (54, 66, 78 or 90″)
Weathered brown teak bench (57″w)
Windsor oak bench (53.25″)
Dexter Bench (60″w)
Low-back bench (59″w)
Curved spindle-back bench (62″w)
Vintage Swedish pine bench (73″w)
Pine spindle storage bench (70″w)
4-drawer storage bench (67″w)
Teak bench (77.5″w)
Vintage Austrian bench (76″w)
Handmade country pine bench (76.5″w)

Some of these are vintage and some are new. #1 is the only one without a back but I included it because it is beautiful and comes in many sizes.… Read more

Our New Mudroom Design Mood Board

As our garage + breezeway addition gets closer to wrapping up, I’ve been really narrowing in on design selections for the new rooms we’re adding – the mudroom, office, and wine room – and the plan for transforming our existing small mudroom/pantry/wet bar area into one large butler’s pantry. Although we won’t be able to tackle it all at once, I’ve been intimately considering all the possibilities design-wise. The first area we will likely tackle after the garage is completed and the driveway is installed will be the new mudroom. It’s located in the breezeway between the garage and our house. It will be a high-traffic area and workhouse so I need it to be functional and beautiful.

Our New Mudroom

I have been pinning mudroom inspiration foreverrrr. Here is a little glimpse into my mudroom pinboard:

Here’s is the mudroom after drywall.

The new mudroom measures about 21′ long and 8′ wide. We recessed one wall to allow for built-in cubbies but I didn’t have that much wiggle room because we squeezed in a small office on the other side of the wall.… Read more

A Big Farmhouse Garage + Breezeway Addition Update

I introduced our big farmhouse garage addition project last December (!) and SO much has happened since then. They officially broke ground in March, so we’re about 5 months in and nearing the finish line!

Farmhouse Garage +Breezeway Addition

First, let me remind you about our goal. Since our house has never ever included a garage, that was our obvious first priority. We wanted a three-car oversized garage with plenty of space for Mike’s tools, our cars, tractor, golf cart etc. We decided to connect the garage to the house via a 22′ breezeway addition, which would tie into our side door off of the kitchen and become additional heated square footage. This area is going to become a mudroom, office and wine/bar room.

The break-up of the breezeway into 3 rooms was a modification we made after we had the plans sealed so you won’t see it here but I will include it later on. The process has been fun and interesting to watch. The breezeway is built on a stem wall and the garage is on a traditional slab.… Read more

Living Room Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes

If you’re following along on Instagram then you know that I recently swapped our living room rug for this pretty patterned one. Well, that’s just the beginning! We are in the middle of making some changes to the room including a new layout. First, let’s look back at where we started.

Here’s a look after swapping the rug for this gorgeous patterned number.

After swapping the rug I was feeling inspired to address our living room seating. We purchased our sectional a few years ago, just after finishing our kitchen reno. It’s always been too small for the space but at the time, I was happy just to have new seating and figured we’d get to it eventually. I measured the space and taped out the dimensions of the pieces I planned to add. This view is perfect for demonstrating how inadequate the sectional was for the space.

Our living room is rectangular in shape so I planned to add a love seat size piece on the side closest to the front door and on the other side, a chair.… Read more

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