Making a house a HOME

Well, we've finally unpacked (for the most part). Here is what we started with 2.5 months ago, and here is where we are now:

Living Room:




We didn't do anything except move in furniture and decorations we already had. There are still a few things that need to be hung up (like the big blue window leaning against the wall). I bought the cabinet and TV from a friend, and the small round table on Craigslist. Eventually we'll paint this room, and change out the curtains. Someday we plan on replacing the carpet.

Kitchen:

Our only change in here so far is the built in microwave. Looks so much better than the whole that was there before right? When we bought the house, a microwave was the only thing we "needed." It turns out that the kind that look built in are really freakin expensive! Eventually we'll upgrade the appliances, so I didn't want to buy a stainless microwave yet because it might not match the other upgrades. I sure didn't want to pay a few hundred dollars for a white one that we'd have to replace later either. So I soured and scoured Craigslist and finally found this one and the trim kit for $100.
Short term kitchen plans are to refinish the cabinets. Long term plans are to upgrade the appliances, lighting, counters/backsplash, and flooring.

Family room:



We didn't do or buy anything new for this room. We plan on painting soon, and building a different surround for the fireplace.


Downstairs Bathroom:


We painted the walls with paint that the previous owners had leftover from the living room. I don't love the color, but at least this bathroom fits in with the rest of the house now. And it was free! Jerad also spray painted the light fixture black with paint that we already had. We'll be refinishing the cabinets, retexturing the walls, adding beadboard and painting soon.

Laundry room:

Oh the laundry room. I can't believe in such a big house they made the laundry room so freakin small! The ceiling is only 7ft, and the washer and dryer barely leave enough room for the doors to open. The hookups were backwards so the washer and dryer doors open into eachother making it hard to switch the laundry over. I do a LOT of laundry, and this drives me insane. Jerad is going to buy some kind of something (I dont pay attention) that will make it so we can switch the washer and dryer and slide them closer to the wall. Then we'll paint, refinish the cabinets, and hopefully wash laundry happily ever after.

Guest Room:

This is our next big project. I'm pretty excited! Painting, paneling the wall, flooring, new furniture. For now we threw an air mattress on the floor, bought a headboard and nightstands that some of Jerad's parent's friends were getting rid of and called it good.

Upstairs Hallway:

Again, just re-purposed things we already had.

Office:

Jerad's dad painted over the crazy red that was in here before. We haven't done much yet because we are still deciding if this is going to stay an office or become Miller's room. Jerad said if he hauls all of our books up the stairs he refuses to ever remove them so... haven't done much in here:)

Upstairs Bathroom:

Since this is "Marshall's bathroom" I wanted it to be kid-ish but not crazy. We bought a few things at Target, and plan on refinishing the cabinets, painting and replacing the yucky linoleum with tile soon.

Marshall's room:



Jerad's dad painted this room. The electric blue wasn't the most peaceful bedroom color... We moved Marshall to a toddler bed right after we moved (13 months I think?) We decided to keep the floor bed too because its nice for us to be able to lay on it if we're playing with him in there:) He plays then gets into the toddler bed for most naps/bedtime, but occasionally he'll decide to sleep in the floor bed.

Master Bedroom:


Dresser was from Craigslist, pictures above the bed from Ikea, floor length mirror from Ross. Everything else we had. We're hoping to get a king size bed soon (the queen will move to the guest room), and I need to get something for the wall at the end of the bed. I'm trying to decide between an armoir, and an electric fireplace. Leaning towards the fireplace...

Master Bathroom:

This is the room we're working on now. Jerad refinished the cabinets in a nice espresso color. He also built a frame to go around the mirror but it still needs to be painted. New hardware, faucets and light fixtures are next, then hopefully new flooring. I'm just not a fan of carpet in bathrooms.

So, that's where we are! I've been feeling like we haven't gotten anything done in the last 2 and a half months but looking at all these pictures we have accomplished a lot.

Our New House

Hmm, now that we've been in the new house for 2 months maybe its time to share some pictures? Consider these "before" photos. They were taken during our home inspection so the previous owners were about 1/2 way moved out and things are kind of a mess.

Front of the house:


Living Room:

(looking at the front door)

Through the Living Room is the Dining Room:


Directly behind the Dining Room is the Kitchen:




To the left of the Dining Room are the stairs:

And on the other side of the Dining Room is the Family Room:


You can enter the backyard from sliding glass doors in the Family Room or Dining Room:

Back Yard:



Across from the slider in the Family Room is a hallway that leads to the Laundry Room, downstairs Bath, and downstairs Guest Room. You can sort of see it in the left of this picture:

Inside the hallway to the right is the downstairs Bath (the shower is on the left):


Straight through the hallway is the little Laundry Room:


Through the Laundry Room is the three car Garage. To the right of the Laundry Room is a closet, and past that the downstairs Guest Room:




When you go up the stairs this is what you see:

The Master Bedroom is to the left, the door kind of straight ahead is the Office, to the right of that is the upstairs Bathroom, and to the right of that is Marshall's room.

Office:

Upstairs Bathroom:


Marshall's room:



Master Bedroom:


Master Bath:



Closet:


So, that's the house! There are a lot of things we want to change, first being some of the cray-zay paint colors. Jerad's dad painted Marshall's room and the office a nice neutral taupe color, but that's as far as we've gotten. And technically Marshall's room still isn't finished. There's just so MUCH to paint that its overwhelming.

One of our favorite things about the house was the location. Our property has green belt on one side and across from it so we only have neighbors behind us and to one side. It feels really secluded. Here is the view standing in the front yard looking down the right side of the house:


To the right are stairs that lead down the hill:


We own pretty far down the hill and plan to do some landscaping there too. Down the hill are walking trails and a pond that the dogs LOVE.



View from our front yard:


Another thing we liked about this house was even though there was so many things that we wanted to change, there was nothing that HAD to happen. We can take our time. Right now we're working on upgrading the bathrooms. Its been a slow process. I think we are on week 2 of refinishing the cabinets in our bathroom?

The back yard is a big project that we're excited about. We're planning on adding french doors that open from our room onto a second story deck, a covered patio under the deck, a bunch of tractor work to change where the retaining walls are, new rock retaining walls and landscaping, grass, paver fire-pit area, outdoor kitchen, playground/sandbox area for the kids, a garden, a dog area.... its going to be a lot of work. We want to pay cash for all of the improvements so paying for H2's birth probably pushed the yard to next year.

In the meantime one of these days we are going to finish un packing, I'm pretty sure of it...