Tuesday, April 18, 2017

House update

Well, we've been in our house for two months now. We love it! It's so nice having more space for the kids to run around and to have people over.

One of the first things we did after we bought the house was take those trees out. I was sad to see them go because they were such big, pretty trees, but honestly they were just too big for in front of the house. They needed to go. You can actually see the house now! I'm not sure if that's good or bad because it needs quite a bit of work, hahaha! But it does brighten up the inside of the house a lot. We also got the front doors replaced right away, the new ones are the picture. That makes a big difference in the entryway, it was just SO dark before. Now we just have to update the rest of the house so the doors don't look out of place!




My first decorating project was the kids' rooms. I painted all of the dark trim white, and I added trim to the doors and painted them dark gray (you actually can't see that in any of the pictures, sorry!). Poor Ben has been in a pink room for the last couple of years so I decided to work on his first! He wanted a Shark/Ocean room. I think it turned out really cute!






Elizabeth's room was next, because all I had to do for hers was paint and then put up her old decorations from the last house. Well, I had to make curtains too, but that wasn't a big deal.





Kaylee, of course, was bugging me by this time to do hers too. I wasn't planning on doing them so quickly but I figured, why not? My amazing sister Mary helped me out when she came to visit a few weeks ago! We got everything ready - the decorations, curtains, etc. - on Wednesday and Thursday, and then on Friday when Kaylee went to school we painted and hung everything up, so it was all done when she got home. She was very surprised and excited. The funny thing is both the girls' rooms ended up being butterflies. That was what I chose for Elizabeth's originally, and then Kaylee fell in love with a butterfly comforter, so that is her theme too.







Somewhere between all of that, we bought a play set at Costco and put it up. It took FOREVER to build that thing. At least, it felt like it. But the kids love it so it was definitely worth it.



After all of the kids' rooms were done, I decided to work on the dining room. I was going to do the master bedroom next, but the dining room was driving us crazy because I took down the curtains and the afternoon sun shines in there extremely bright. Not great for eating dinner. I wanted board and batten, so a couple of Saturdays ago Will and I put it up, and also put casing around the doorways to bring it all together. It was pretty easy and went together very quickly. Then I spent all week priming, caulking, and painting - that was the hard part! We bought a new table and chairs, and a chandelier (better than the old green crystal chandelier that was in there before!) and had it ready for our big dinner on Easter Sunday. There are still some things that I need to do - we need some more furniture (hopefully I'll find a china hutch somewhere that I like) and I need to hang things on the walls, but I love how it looks already.





I started my herb garden in the kitchen window. I usually don't have a lot of luck starting seeds, but they did awesome in this window. They didn't need a grow light or anything special, they get so much sun here. The plants are still pretty small of course but they are growing fast. I'm excited to cook with them. Yes, there are two basil pots, no, that's not a mistake. We just really love fresh basil. :)



That is all for now! We're probably going to take a little break before starting another project around here. We need some energy and money recovery time. ;)

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

New House Tour!!

Here are some pictures of our new house. We have been here a week already! I'm awesome and forgot to take a picture of the front. Oops! It's really hard to see because it's all trees but I'll try to get one tomorrow and add it. I was mainly concerned about getting some pictures before we moved all our stuff in and it got too chaotic. :) Which it definitely is now. I wish I'd been able to get more done and unpacked this last week, but it's been a really rough week with Elizabeth. She caught a nasty cold right after we moved in so she's been extremely clingy and crabby, and not sleeping well. Hopefully we're nearing the end of that. Poor girl has been miserable! And Mommy a little useless with house things, haha. Lots of toddler snuggles happening here.

Anyway, here we go!


Update: here is the front of the house! As you can see...you can't really see. Lol!


This is the hallway you see when walking straight into the house - stairs on the right, the living room is on the left of this. There is a wall on the left before the living room, I didn't get a good angle here. I'll have to get a better one.
                                                           
Entryway looking from the living room. We already changed that light fixture. It hung down WAY too low.


                                                                    Living room


                                   Other direction in the living room, looking into the dining room


                                    Dining room. I love this huge window facing the backyard.


The kitchen. We have a Wolf oven, a Sub Zero fridge, and some sort of fancy dishwasher. Fisher and Paykel or something like that, I can't remember. We're getting rid of all of it but the oven! The fridge makes weird noises a lot and is very small (it's only about 18 cubic feet), and the dishwasher is broken.


Loving this beautiful kitchen window! I hope to put an herb garden there. We'll see if I can keep anything alive in there. ;)

      Just another angle, you can see the breakfast nook on the right and the two pantries on the left.


And turn around. There's the very dark family room! I can't wait to get in here and paint.


 
If you go down the hall when you first walk in this bathroom is on the left. It doesn't look like it from the picture but it actually has a really nice shower in it, that apparently used to be a coat closet. I'd rather the coat closet, but...it's a really nice shower. So I think we'll keep it. Our coats can live somewhere else.


                        To the right, is the office. Will is really excited to have an actual office!


                                                                          Up the stairs!

Master bedroom. It has this cute little balcony area up on the roof that overlooks the backyard. I'm kind of in love with it.

Master bath. We're hoping that we can find enough room in here to make a 5-piece bath, but we'll see. It's still an upgrade from our last one. :)


                                                                     Kaylee's room

                                                                    Elizabeth's room

                                                                        Ben's room
I probably didn't need to post all three of those pictures because they look basically the same. They won't soon!


     Kids' bathroom


                                      
These are of the main room in the basement. Lots of wood to take out! It's going to be the playroom, soon hopefully...


                                                         Spare room in the basement.

3/4 bath in the basement. It's HUGE. The open door leads to the furnace/laundry/storage room. I didn't get a picture of it either, I realize. It's not too exciting, you're not missing much.


Here is a picture of our back yard. It probably looks cooler in this picture than it really is, I just happened to get it at a good time. But it really is a great yard! We have a third of an acre and the kids especially love it so far.


Well, there ya go! It's not awful but it definitely needs a little love. We're very excited to get going!

Saturday, February 4, 2017

Before and Afters

This last month has been a total whirlwind for us! The last few months Will and I have discussed the idea of getting a bigger house, but the conversation never went anywhere because the housing market here has gone completely nuts the last couple of years. While that meant of course, the houses we were looking at were very expensive, it also meant the amount we could get for our current house was quite a bit, so it was doable.

Long story short, we found a house we loved, and we're moving on Valentine's Day! I wanted to share some before and after pictures of our current house. They leave a little bit to be desired because the day that I took most of these pictures, it was a blizzard and SUPER dark outside (I got the outdoor pictures when it had just started snowing). After our house was on the market for only 3 days, we started packing up, so you don't get the full effect. But here's what I have if you want to see! :)






I got those mums for $1 each at Lowes. They were itty-bitty little plants and I wasn't sure what would come of them. Seems like they did okay!


  
This room was difficult for me because of how small it is. It took me a very long time to figure out how I liked the furniture arranged. I like how it ended up, but it always felt a little squished to me. I did get lots of compliments on it from showings, though!


  
Please take note of all the lack of popcorn ceilings in the after pictures. ;)


  
This wall had our crocheted "Castrey" picture on it, but unfortunately I packed it away before taking this picture. The problems with taking after pictures while moving...


    

  

  
I have to say that the fireplace was possibly my favorite project in this whole house. It was pretty easy and made SUCH a big difference.


  

  

  

  
Notice the hideous fluorescent light above the vanity. That was a last-minute project we did and it was SO worth it!


  
I had dreams of making this room a super cute girls room for Kaylee and Elizabeth, but Elizabeth hasn't been the best sleeper so I had to keep them separate, and never got to it. Poor Ben had to have a pink room for a long time.



   


  

  

  


As you can see, this house was more paint and decorating than anything else (other than of course, the popcorn ceilings and the deck - those were a lot more work). It's been fun!

We have absolutely loved living here. It has really been home to us. Here's to hoping that our new house feels as much like home as this one did!