our home tour

We are so grateful that after four years of renting and five different houses, we are now homeowners again!  Not being able to take a paint brush to the walls those four years, left us open to buying a house that needed a little TLC and would allow us to really make it our home.  

We had a single-story ranch in mind as we started our search and we saw this house the morning it came on the market.  An entry can set the tone for the whole house and this one said it all!  Irridescent wallpaper, a gold/crystal chandelier, dated built-in with wavy trim, popcorn ceiling...it's pretty much what we would find throughout the rest of the house.  And we were thrilled!

It was just the kind of facelift project we were looking for....good bones, no big-ticket items to address/replace, just in need of a good fresh coat of paint :)  And it had a great yard for our three young bambinos.

So please, come on in! 

Remember that iridescent wallpaper in the entry I mentioned?  Here's a little close up for you.

Oh yeah!

Before:

So Far:

 

We peeled/scrapped off all the wallpaper and retextured the walls but still need to:

-paint
-replace built-in table
-replace floors
-consider painting the door
-frame out mirror


The entry leads straight into the living room.  This used to be a sunken room but the owners filled it and put down hard wood.  It's my favorite room in the house. I love all of the natural light from the huge window, the warmth of the hard wood floors and the open inviting space.  It's a place for music, reading, dance performances, and intimate moments curled up on the couch with a blanket.

As much light as this room gets, it was feeling a bit dark and dated.  So, one by one we've been swapping out key elements to give the room an even more open, light and balanced feeling.

Before:

Uneven nesting tables flanking the couch, dark rug, dwarfed mirror, big heavy couch, deep red drapes...all meshing together to form one big dark jumble.

So Far:

A new lighter rug with graphic pattern, family art piece above the couch, appropriate sized end tables, brighter pillows, stripe treatment to the lamps and some DIY curtains have helped update this space.  The end tables will get some love in the near future, we'll add some more photos/art and have our eyes peeled for the right coffee table or coffee table DIY project. 

This living room has my childhood piano, a box of the kids' instruments and James' guitars.  The piano area got some love too with a new bench cover and updates to the wall/piano top.

Before:

 

After:

 

We made this corner a spot for reading and my morning quiet time of coffee/study/prayer.

Before:

After:

Just off the living room is the formal dining room.  More wall paper lived in here, along with the only original carpet left in the house.  So far we've (and by we, I mean the Mr) has scrapped the wallpaper, added a chair rail, given the walls a coat of yummy chocolate brown paint and swapped out our old dining room table for this set we snagged for a deal on craigslist.

Before:

  

So Far:

 We recently added a kids art gallery to the large wall

 But we still have plenty left to do:

-new light fixture
-reupholster chairs
-paint built-in
-window treatments
-replace carpet with hard wood
-all the fun accessories and details that pull a room together!


Off the dining room is the kitchen and breakfast nook. This spot in our home is a little comical right now.  We are the middle of phase 2 of our kitchen reno which involves painting the cupboards, finishing the nook area, and installing recessed lights.  The lights and nook are complete but the cupboards have no doors, just an ugly coat of primer on them.  It's sort of a confused room at the moment but we are excited about the plans we have for the space!

 Before:

New recessed lights and wallpaper removed:

Nook Before:

Breakfast Nook After:

Hopefully we'll be able to add an "after" of the rest of the kitchen very soon!


The last living space is just beyond the kitchen and dining room.  When we moved in, it had dark paneling throughout and a bar with an orange formica top.  This man-cave is what really sold the house to James.  But with three kids, the man-cave quickly filled with toys and morphed into a fam-cave.  A lovely family room with a soft blue/white/brown color palette....not at all manly really.

James is a football coach and I wanted to give him a guys' room just for him.  So, when he flew out-of state for a few days to complete his masters, I got to work turning that fam-cave back into a man-cave as a little graduation surprise.  We didn't get everything knocked off the list but it's about halfway there.  I also failed to get a true before picture - bad, bad blogger.  I do have these pics I snapped as I was starting to take apart the old family room..

So far, here's where we're at...

 We gave the walls a coat of a darker grey paint, created a huge chalkboard using plywood and chalkboard paint (the white board is for the kids), brought in some old school football accessories with a nod to Notre Dame, and swapped out a lot of the feminine pieces for ones a little less "soft".

 I'm posting these during the Christmas break (hence the tree and tinsel) but will update when we have the "Done!" stamp on this room.   Just a few more things for the walls, creating a counter top whiskey bar on the sideboard, finishing off the bar sink, and replacing the dated wavy trim on the mantle and we'll be there!


If you turn around and head back toward the living room there's a long hallway that leads to the bedrooms.  It was also plastered with wallpaper, of the pastel rainbow variety...

Oh yeah, it's all coming down and I have visions of white board and batten dancing in my head.

The first room is our master bedroom (I'm actually standing in the doorway to take the hallway picture).  I'm sad to admit that we haven't touched this room.  But I'm thrilled to say that it's our post-football season project!  I'm dreaming of a cozy retreat by Christmas!

I take that back...we did replace our old dresser with this handsome buffet.  He came with the dining set we scored on craiglist and since we didn't need the extra storage in the dining room, he's now holds my underwear, pj's, and workout clothes.  

The narrow drawers on top keep my jewelry and accessories organized.

And here's the mood board keeping us dreaming until we can make it reality:

Moving down the hall is our office/guest room.  We removed the large queen bed that took up a huge amount of real estate and are in the process of making it function primarily as a his/hers office and craft space.  We're making sure it will still have the ability to host our out of town guests too.
 

Before:

In Between:

We painted (Valspar's Notre Dame), cleared out the queen bed, added two desks, and made these patterned striped curtains.

Which we then swapped out for these...a Nate Berkus duvet we made into curtains.

 So Far:

 I also painted my formerly off-white desk, white-white.  My fellow detail freaks will understand.


Next up is our boys shared room.  They are just 15 months apart and in that toddler/preschool stage where things change so quickly.  We've tried to set up a room that can grow with them and change along with their needs.

We moved our 3 yr old into a big-boy bed a few months ago, but not before giving James' childhood bed a fresh coat of deep blue paint.  We have another one in storage waiting for the baby to move on up.

Before:

So Far:

We also did some serious purging, rearranging and organizing in their closet.

Before:

After:

 

The walls are still pretty bare in here, so we have our eye out for some old school football/rugby inspired decor.  Book and gear storage is still needed and down the road we'll look to add a desk. 

The only room in the house we can call completely done belongs to our daughter.  It's a pink place fit for a princess and we've had a lot of fun putting this space together.  It also a room that can grow with her thanks to some timeless and versatile furniture.  

Here's what we started with (brace yourself)... 

After:

After:

 Before:

After:

I think kids rooms can give us permission to do a little more than we might in other areas of our home...play with color, let out that inner child, and have a little fun.  And we absolutely went all out girly in this room and love the result! 

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We'll be updating this page with our laundry and bath spaces by the end of fall and have so many more plans and ideas for each space in our home.  As with any household, our needs are constantly changing and our systems have to adjust accordingly.  It's all an opportunity to do something new and continue to make this house our home sweet home!