Today I’m also going share a peek at the incredible home improvements my Also co-workers Matt and Jenny did to their two flat in Logan Square Chicago. They bought this place two years ago and since the bottom flat was already gorgeously refinished, they have renters living there now, they decided to tackle their second floor themselves.

Over the ichat video phone I would see the dust flying as they ripped out whole walls to make them “smoother” (they are graphic design perfectionists), re-did all the floors, put in an entire new kitchen and nearly (they are still refurbishing an old 1940s oven) finished the place to perfection. I am so impressed that they were able to do this all on their own learning valuable skills and filling the tool shed along the way. Check out some of the chaos and the beautiful results below– Comments by Jenny.

“kitchen on the left, bedroom on the right. both captured in their most devastated conditions.”

“the kitchen after (kind of). there are still plenty of things missing, i will not be sharing the to-do list because just thinking of it is making me a bit stressed. the most important absent item, cleverly cropped out of this photo, is the stove. this will probably take another couple of months because matt has completely taken apart and is in the process of cleaning/restoring a 1942 chambers stove. the backsplash is a real chalkboard salvaged from a school. it was incredibly difficult to attach to the undulating plaster walls, and plenty of times we wondered why we just didn’t use chalkboard paint.”

“behind my favorite canisters are the rotating chalkboard drawings. they are usually very pertinent to our lives - right now it’s the vs. series - winter vs. spring, hot plate vs. chambers stove.”

“the living room was much easier than the kitchen since its basically four walls, but we still have a lot to do here. for example, all the moulding for the doors, windows and floors is in the attic. i wish this was a purely cosmetic problem, but in the winter the gaping holes in the doors, windows and floors are very drafty.”

“here’s our antiquated tv and a collection of wood chip paintings. our goal is to have that whole wall covered, but we’ve been slacking after being outbid on several wood chip paintings on ebay. (if you see any good ones email us)”

“i think this is my favorite photo. winter vs. spring. we have a magnolia tree and a plum tree outside which look incredible when they bloom in the spring. and we made the snowman to take advantage of the perfectly clean snow in our backyard this winter.”