House Tour

Welcome to our house. We’ve done a lot of work over the last six months, so to make it easier to follow along with all we’ve done, I’ve created a few before/after shots. I have also included links to cooresponding posts based on the work we’ve done, so you can get a better and larger look at the projects. You can also select a room from the main drop down menu and see all the posts that correspond with those projects. I’ll do my best to keep this updated as projects dictate. So, Let’s get started with the house tour!

First Floor:

Entry Way:
When you first walk into our house, what once was a cold and bland hallway has now taken on new life. We cut the wall to the living room/dining room in half and added a shelf, ripped up the laminate and put in new oak hardwood flooring (stained with Minwax’s Golden Pecan stain) and updated the half bath door. We still have more work to do here, like replace the boob looking light fixtures on the ceiling and the handrails for the staircase, but all in due time.

Living Room/Dining Room:
Here is another look from the other side of the half wall. This room still has a long way to go as well, but we ripped up the carpet in here and continued the hardwood through here. We also took down the “classy” red curtains, replaced the vents, and painted. Now we have a new light blue couch with matching chair, a new chandelier, a custom dining room table, a custom coffee table and new curtains.

Half Bath:
The half bathroom is the only project so far that we have actually fully completed. We gutted the bathroom due to a leaky toilet, ripped out the laminate in here as well, put down new tile, a new toilet, a new pedestal sink, a new light fixture, a new mirror  and a new door. Even though the bathroom is only 6′ x 3′, it was a long project that I am glad we’re done. Overall, very happy with how it turned out.

Kitchen:
This has been our most dramatic transformation yet, and there is still work to be done! So here is what we have done so far. We eliminated the wallpaper border, painted over the green sponged look, ripped up the laminate and put down hardwood floors, painted the cabinets, replaced the hardware, replaced the vented oven hood with a microwave, and took down the fluorescent light and install recessed lighting. We still want to take down that ceiling fan and replace it with something like a drum shade pendant, eventually change out the table and chairs, change the counter tops and sink and maybe a backsplash. So yeah, still a work in progress, but it’s going in the right direction.

Upstairs:

Master Bedroom:
This was the first room we tackled when we moved in, for two reasons. We figured this is where we would spend most of our time and we already knew the painted color we wanted since we had painted our bedroom in our old apartment the same color. So, here’s what we’ve done. We took down the old curtains and patched the 900 holes, painted the yellow walls a nice “tropical breeze,” repainted the closet and ceiling, added new curtains and shades, hung some picture frames, got a new headboard/bed from World Market. We’re still not 100% sold on the cheap vinyl roller shades, but they black out the room and really that’s all we wanted for now. We also still want to add some more art, which I’m sure we’ll do when we see something we like.

Master Bathroom:
The yellow had continued into the bathroom, so again, the first thing we decided to do here is paint over that with a nice green that compliments our bedspread. I fixed the shower door, replaced all the fixtures and towel bars and painted the ceiling. At first we weren’t sold on the dark blue tile in here, but it generally works, except for the whole “being slanted” thing. This is a room that we’ll tackle way down the line, and maybe give it a complete overhaul. For now, there are far bigger issues, and this is certainly an added change as to what it was.

Guest Room:
This was deemed the princess room when we first moved in, because the previous owners left us some awesome Disney princess curtains. They have since gone away. We really haven’t done much in here yet, except add a bed, hang some pictures and add a roller shade for privacy. Soon, we’ll probably paint, get a new bedspread, build a custom headboard, add some new window treatments  and probably some new pictures. Again, totally livable and comfortable for our guests.

Spare Bedroom:
Much like the other bedroom, this one was also given a name based on the curtains left behind. This is the Thomas room, since the decor was Thomas the Tank Engine. We haven’t done anything in this room, except clutter it up with all the things we haven’t put elsewhere. That blue trim is going to be hard to eliminate, and it goes around the door and window. Still, we do have ideas for this room, it’s just a matter of narrowing it down and trying some things out. We’re thinking maybe doing some wainscoting/beadboard all around the room, but who knows, that idea may change.

Guest Bathroom:
We haven’t even touched this room yet, so for me to have a “progress” portion of this is cheating. I guess that’s not 100% true, we did add a shower curtain that we had at our old place, and it just so happened to match. I can’t tell if that’s a good thing or not. So the plan for in here, even though I currently don’t have any desire to tackle another bathroom, well it’s simple (ha!). Clearly we’ll paint the walls, maybe a light grey, take down the full length mirror, replace the vanity and light fixture and rip up the laminate for some tile. This most likely won’t happen until next year, but who knows, maybe we’ll get snowed in again for a week and I’ll need something to do.

Basement:

Basement Family Room:
We spend the majority of our time in our basement. It’s cozy, it has a lot of light and it’s really comfortable. So far we painted the walls and bi-fold doors, add a mantel around the fireplace, added a pub table and new chair, added new curtains and hung some pictures.  Not drastic I know, but we still have a lot of plans down here. We want to add some more shelving, replace the only light in the ceiling, get a new end/coffee table and maybe an ottoman for storage. I also have already begun to work on a new door for the closet so it matched the bi-fold doors next to it. We’re not going to clutter this room up much, we want to keep it sort of open.

Workroom:
If you are looking at the photos above and realizing the aren’t from the same angle, you’d be correct. Let me help. In the first photo, I am standing just to the left of the work bench in the second photo (where the orange cone is). That’s because that is where the door to the room use to be, we moved the door just to the  right of the work bench, to help the flow of this room and of the basement in general. So yeah, not too much has been done in here, since it’s unfinished, but I did build the workbench, add some shelving and have someone move the door. What’s left to do? Eventually (again, way down the line) I’d like to finish off this room with actual walls and a ceiling. Also, about that orange cone. There is a rough in for a toilet (and half bathroom) there, and it sticks up out of the floor. I kept tripping over it, so I put an orange cone there so at least I would notice it better. Haven’t tripped on it since. The workbench has been great, and the best thing I’ve built yet.

So that’s it, the full house tour. I bet you’re wondering about the outside, aren’t you. Well, we haven’t touched it yet, not even a little, so until we start to work on some projects out there, I am going to exclude it from the house tour.