Kelly and I bought our first home in September 2010. When I walked into the house in the beginning loving every little detail, I recall saying, "everything is just perfect, I don't think I will change a thing." Well, I still love my house, but now that I have lived in it for a bit there are many things I want to do to make this my home.
So without further ado, welcome to my home!
Front of the house: The stone is just beautiful. Two of our best friends live on the other side that is attached to us in case you were curious about the neighbors (we loved them instantly). I have to say, having a front porch is much different than the balcony we had in the apartment, and there is a lot more action to watch as you drink a morning cup of coffee or an evening glass of wine with friends. The chairs are from Target, the little brown table is from Home Goods, the hanging baskets were courtesy of our neighbors and the sellers, they took turns every year planting for the whole porch, and lastly, the hanging lantern in the background is from Pottery Barn (I had two but smashed one the first weekend we were here). I have some serious plans for the porch, our neighbors' porch is surrounded by beautiful wood railings and columns, I have no idea how much this would cost but I would love to do the same on our side and rip out the iron (if that is even what it is made of). The front door...well that red door had to go pronto.
Front Sitting Room: I am not the type of person that will have a proper sitting area but since we have an addition on the back of our house where we spend most of our time I do have plans to make this a "sitting room" for lack of a better term but it will have a lived in feel. So far we have an Anthropologie rug, half of a china hutch that we used in our apartment and plan to give to my mother since she has the other half and it does not quite go with the style we have in mind. What's that you ask? The little green guy in the window? That is a plant I inherited from my grandmother and has been about the only living plant that I have ever been able to keep alive!
The room is in progress! We have added a white slipcovered sofa, some art and a chair. I plan to buy a jute rug, larger than the current rug in the space to give more of a beachy look. I've also brought in some throw pillows, a side table and a great lamp. Not to mention, some great looking crown molding shelves that I got for a great price on an outlet run with Shanna. We repainted the room in Sherwin Williams Rice Grain. I'm planning to swap out the roman shades with bamboo blinds and white panels ... and I'd love to do a pine paneling wall on the long wall.
Dining Room: I am in love with the wood floors that extend from the front room to the dining room, I am doing my best to find area rugs that will warm the space but still show off the wood and walnut strip around the edges. I will include more about where I aquired each item through the house in my source list that I will have coming up in future posts. Before: the paint colors were a bit insane so Shanna and I repainted them the same Sherwin Williams Rice Grain as in the sitting room for a more soothing, beachy look.
And now for the afters with the table we got from Craigslist and totally rehabbed by painting Dover White by Sherwin Williams, and a brown rug from the Pottery Barn Outlet, plus gorgeous Anthropologie curtains at the windows. I am on the hunt for the perfect buffet to put against the wall with the stairs. Oh and I'm hoping to do a picture wall up the long staircase.
Kitchen: One of the things we love most about our home is the open floor plan. It was not always like this, the former owners changed a lot. They moved doorways around along with adding cut outs to give it this airy feel, it really makes the space more functional and feel larger. I dream of a kitchen I saw in Ikea, however, our kitchen right now is in pretty good shape so this is not at the top of the list just yet-stay tuned for this down the line.
I'm slowly making big changes with paint and fabric! I painted the walls Comfort Grey by Sherwin Williams, which is a great greenish grey. I found three Pottery Barn knockoff bar stools for the island, and I added a window seat where the fruit bowl formerly sat. I also took down the unused bulletin board and added a customized message center. Next up: painting all the cabinets white.
Den: LOVE. This room just says home to me. The fireplace was the sealer of this deal. Kelly and I love sitting in our den, watching TV or having friends over and enjoying a blazing fire. The holidays just feel right with a fire going and it makes the bitter winter months much more bearable. There will be a new couch on the way...one day. I dream of one that allows me to lay down without being on an angle or hanging off the side, this is my fault for not measuring correctly the first time. The hold up now is that I need to train my younger cat Macy to stop clawing the couch and to turn her attention elsewhere, wish me luck on that one. I'm also trying to figure out how to paint that brick on the fireplace. Before, we moved in our furniture and set it up.
And now, we haven't done much, but we have replaced the old coffee table with a spacious ottoman and the tv stand with something new. I need to do something about the brick: paint it? Lime it? Distress it? And of course the walls will get color at some point.
Bathroom: This room is a bit small but is bright and very white so it works for now and has a clean feeling to it. It seems as though the previous owners painted all the tile white because there are some scrapes that reveal pink underneath and the entire shower is still pink. I would love to re-tile, get new flooring, and replace the sink, the current base of the sink has some water damage. I like keeping the bathroom door open because the big window sheds so much light on the stairway and hallway. Every time my mom comes over she shuts the door because she says I should not display my toilet to the entire world, she is right but I opt for the light and will deal with the idea of my toilet taking center stage (I mean I keep it clean so I have no shame!). Before, the corner cabinet had no door (hello toiletries!) and the shower curtain had some interesting decorations that we weren't' really digging.
And now after some hard work, I painted and installed a door for the corner cabinet and swapped out the shower curtain with something I found at the Pottery Barn Outlet. I also repainted the room Sea Salt by Sherwin Williams.
First Bedroom (Man's Room): For now this is Kelly's man lair. This is where he can play video games all day if his heart so desires and, I guess just do man things whatever that may be. At this point he will be perfectly happy changing the color of the walls and getting a couple IKEA chairs. Eventually this will be a bedroom but that is down the line so for the time being I fear I will not have too much say in this room, however, the medicine cabinet that was there when we moved in is making an exit soon and I would like to hang more practical, eye pleasing shelves for his books and such. Crazy that I care this much about the guy's room!
Middle Bedroom: This is our guest room. Before, it was a kind of blah brown with some bizarre wire shelves right out in the open.
And now, it is soothing and serene! I painted the walls Ancient Marble by Sherwin Williams and knocked out the old wire shelves and installed built-ins in their place. This room is coming along.
Master Bedroom: If I only had my camera to show you what this mess looked like before Shanna and I got our hands on it. The ceiling and wall with the bed against it were dark green and then everything else, and I mean EVERYTHING else including woodwork and walls was a mustard yellow. It had to go, there was no other option. So here you see the bedroom design that I literally stole off the IKEA floor with exception to the TV stand, TV and the headboard which is still our old headboard. The only thing missing is our gold mirror that will go above the dresser, I will be sure to show that to you once we have it up. This room is so much brighter and really feels larger with the beautiful white woodwork and new white plantation blinds, I could not be happier with how this turned out.
[See that neon butternut squash color in the hallway? OH YES, it was outta here so fast].
Here is the last stop in our house, the basement. I have mentioned before that basements give me the creepy crawleys but this basement is surprisingly cozy. If I do not find myself tearing up the stairs like a bat out of hell then I know it's a winner.
Stairs: I actually like the carpeting, I think it helps to make a basement feel "homey" and more inviting. The racks are nice to have for extra food storage and cleaning supplies.
Most of the basement is for storage with the exception to the beauty salon (the former owner was a hair stylist). Behind the sliding doors is the water heater and furnace...and a scary room that was added under the porch. We were told the seller used that as a playroom for their kids but they had to have been messing with us, I am not joking when I tell you it is a plain concrete room where the creature from the movie Goonies could have been chained up.
Laundry room: I was thrilled when the sellers decided to leave all the storage units, this thing is perfect for detergent, plastic bags etc.
Hair Salon: This is really the cats' wash room. The sink is fully functional but I have yet to find anyone who will let me use it on them. Besides having this space to conceal the cat's litter it does not really have a purpose for us yet.
Half Bath: It is really great to have an extra half bath. For the past five years Kelly and I shared one bathroom which seemed fine at the time but now that we have had two, there is no going back (yes I know mom, another toilet, it's clean, I swear).
Backyard:
I love my oasis! Here it is - complete with a cute little shed and a Koi pond, which we are doing our best to maintain. I had to include a picture of the yard in full bloom.
Everything needs a bit of work, a few tweeks here and there and it will be fun to have you along for the ride! Kelly and I plan on staying here for quite a while so if you have any ideas that you think will help us out please send them on over!!
Want to check out my floor plan? Click here!
I love my oasis! Here it is - complete with a cute little shed and a Koi pond, which we are doing our best to maintain. I had to include a picture of the yard in full bloom.
Everything needs a bit of work, a few tweeks here and there and it will be fun to have you along for the ride! Kelly and I plan on staying here for quite a while so if you have any ideas that you think will help us out please send them on over!!
Want to check out my floor plan? Click here!
