The Home Tour: Upstairs

MASTER BEDROOM

Why oh why did I not take any before pictures of this room?  Just imagine a big, very white room--a perfect blank canvas for me to paint and decorate!

We bought a king bed frame/mattress last summer, and that's also when I decided to go yellow and gray.  I didn't do much with it at the other house, though, besides the new bedding and then refinishing the furniture and cabinetry there.  Remember?

We have never owned a bedroom set or even a headboard in our entire married life (almost nine years).   It is something I have always wanted, but has always been low on the priority list.  When we were buying new furniture for this house, I finally convinced Adam that it was time to get a headboard.  We went with black to match the furniture I re-did last summer.  I think it makes a HUGE difference!

I bought new bath towels and a shower curtain last summer, too, to go along with the yellow and gray theme I was going for.  At our new place, though, there is a walk-in shower in the master bath, eliminating the need for a shower curtain.  I loved the fabric from the shower curtain, and rather than just toss it, I decided I would use it to make window valances!  And, as a funny sidenote--Adam is convinced that he thought of this.  In all actuality, he was extremely dubious about the idea when I first suggested it.  It has become a total joke between us, but let me assure you that it was ALL my idea!  ;-)

There is a fireplace in the master, which is nice and cozy!  I absolutely have plans to paint the mantle in here like I did in the living room, but I just can't commit to the nine hours that I now know it will take me to complete right now.  Someday.

I found this chair at Target (best store ever!!) and knew it would be perfect in this little corner by the fireplace.  A scripture-study spot or something.  And when I finally bought it, it rang up at 50% off!  My day was officially made!

I bought lampshades with the same print and used them with some old lamps we already had.  They are perfect on our nightstands!  Target actually has a bench in the same print, too, that would be fabulous at the foot of the bed.  Unfortunatley, I have exhausted my budget, so that one will have to wait.   

We put a new ceiling fan/light combo in here, too.  Remember how there were basically no lights upstairs?  Yeah.

MASTER BATH

There are no before & after photos here, because I haven't done anything to it yet!  The space is nice, though--five piece bath, double vanities, jetted tub.  But whoever had the idea to put carpet in a bathroom was not the wisest man on earth.  It's obnoxious and nasty.  I am just itching to rip it out and lay tile in here!  At least there is tile in the toilet/shower area.

And the walk-in closet is pretty much a paradise to me.  WAY more space than we are used to having.  I guess that means I need to go clothes shopping now!  Kidding, Adam.  Kidding.  

BOYS' ROOM

Since the boys are sharing a bedroom, it seemed only fair to give them the biggest one.  And since their new room was quite a bit bigger than their old one, we decided to try out un-bunking the beds.  The verdict is that McKay loves it and Ty would rather have them bunked up.  Can you guess which boy had the top bunk?!

 

You might notice there is nothing on the boys' walls yet.  My mother-in-law got this adorable plaque for the boys a couple years ago, and while I have always loved it, I really didn't have a place to put it.  But it works as the perfect centerpiece to this little photo collage!  It will go up once I get the white frames painted dark blue.  And I am thinking I might add another picture on each side of the plaque.  Additionally, when we are in Utah next month, I am going to let each of the boys choose out some art at the Seag to go over their own beds.  

The kids have small walk-in closets in their rooms.  I love the built-in shelving and the wall space that has allowed me to hang up a tie and belt rack in there.  Goodbye messy tie basket!

We put up small ceiling fans in the kids rooms, too.  We initially bought cuter lights to put up, but our electrician friend ultimately convinced us to return them and put up the fans.  I don't think we will regret that choice.  Style was trumped by functionality in this case.

ANNIE'S ROOM

I haven't done anything in here yet, either, including even taking down the old curtains that the previous owner left.  I just barely put pictures up on her walls a couple days ago!

But again with the closet space.  So great!

KIDS' BATHROOM

There is still lots of work to do in here, too (are you sensing a pattern?).  The main floor and master bedroom have pretty much gobbled up all my time thus far.  But my plan is to decorate in bright green, pink, royal, and aqua blue (the color of the kids' new towels).  I am planning on putting up towel hooks, because I kind of hate having a bar in the kids' bathroom.  They are too small to fold and hang their own towels, so they either get dropped on the floor, or it becomes my job to hang them all.  I will also put in new hardware and eventually paint the cabinetry.

GUEST ROOM

Some of our lovely young women set up and made this bed for me on the first day we moved in.  And that is ALL that has been done so far!

The greatest thing about the guest room is that it has its own en-suite bathroom.  Since all of our family on both sides lives out of state and we have guests fairly often, it will be wonderful for them to have their own bedroom AND bathroom space.  This is the project I just started today, actually, in anticipation of the weekend guests we will be having!  I clean, re-caulked, and painted the baseboards today.  I am hoping to get the walls painted and new hardware hung in the next couple of days so it will be all ready for Russ and MaryAnn's family!

LOFT

PLAYROOM

This room was one of the main things that sold me on this house.  There is almost always at least one of my kids in this room (as evidenced by the first picture!).  It's an incredible play space.  I love the built-in shelving that we are using to hold our board game collection, and those french doors are a great feature, too.  When they are closed, the room is almost sound-proof.  It's perfect for when Annie is napping and the boys are playing together.  Plus, I can pull them closed on a messy room without having to see it or think about it too much.  It's a dream.  This room is wired for surround sound, so eventually it may become a theatre room.  Right now, though, our kids just need a place to play.  But I totally envsion this room evolving with our family as our kids grow up.  It will make an awesome hang-out space for them when they are teenagers, as well. 

Here's a shot from the top of the double staircase, with one side going down to the entry, and the other into the kitchen. 

And that pretty much wraps it up!  I will probably post more before and after pictures as I complete more projects, but this house has already changed a lot in a month's time!

The Home Tour: First Floor

Well, yesterday marked the one-month anniversary of moving into our new home!  I have wanted to post pictures, but I haven't because everything has been such a disaster!  Our ward boundaries were re-aligned three weeks ago, so Adam has been crazy busy meeting all our new ward members, extending callings, etc., which has left me to settle in pretty much single-handedly!  Don't get me wrong, Adam has been a huge help when he has been here, he just hasn't been here all that much.  ;-)  And we had TONS of help initially from ward members--moving, unpacking, changing locks, fixing a broken toilet.  That was HUGE.  But since then, it has been pretty slow going, but I am getting there!  In one month's time I have:  painted the master bedroom, the living room, and the office (including sanding and re-painting all the baseboards); re-finished the living room mantle; sewn ten curtain panels, installed new curtain rods (that was one Adam helped with, too!) sewn a dozen throw pillows for living/family room couches,  unpacked the entire house (with the exception of one box of curtains that have yet to be hung), deep cleaned almost everything, bought new furniture and decor items, hung pictures on walls, and somehow still managed to get dinner cooked most nights ;-).  It has been possibly the busiest month of my life, but I am just starting to feel like things are getting settled.  And that feels great!  

Here's the exterior of the house from the front yard:

Our biggest project initially was to replace/install new lighting throughout the entire house.  NONE of the bedrooms had lights in them, and all of the lighting downstairs was dated and in my opinion, ugly as sin.  So we hired an electrician from our ward to install lighting upstairs and replace all the old fixtures downstairs.  That was a project I loved--I got to choose out all new fixtures and didn't have to do any of the work of putting them in!

ENTRY

Before:

 After:

DINING ROOM

Before:

 After:

The dining room light is nearly identical to the entry light, only it is a 5-bulb fixture instead of a 9-bulb. Other than the lighting and putting the table in, I haven't done much to this room yet.  My mom is coming in a couple weeks, and she is going to help me re-cover my chair cushions.  I also need to make a table runner or something to pull in the blue from the living room.  Just not there yet.

KITCHEN

Before:

 After:

The kitchen lights are my FAVORITE!!  When we bought the house, there was a wooden box with flourescent lighting inside over the kitchen island.  Blech!  I envisioned two pendant lights hanging over the island.  We looked at some island light bars and other options, but when I found these lights I just knew they were the winners.  And I absolutely love the difference they make!

In general, I really like the new kitchen.  It is open, bright, and spacious.  The granite is definitely my style, but the bummer is the oak cabinets.  Oak cabinets and I are just not friends.  But, I have refinished cabinets before and I will do them again.  I am planning on that as my summer project.

I made these kitchen curtains out of tablecloths I found at Target!  I just loved the pattern, and it was the exact color I wanted!  And some of the hemming was already done for me--bonus!

I have a walk-in pantry for the first time in my life, and I am a little obsessed!  And these wire racks that the previous owner had fastened to the wall are perfect for organizing the little things that have a way of getting lost in a pantry.  Love!

Another cool feature of our new house is that there is a double staircase--one set comes down to the entry, and the other side comes straight down into the kitchen.  It a nice, convenient feature!

BREAKFAST NOOK

Before:

After:

New lighting and new table and chairs in here.  

DECK

Not much to say here, except this is kind of a big deal.  We have never had a deck before, and I am SO looking forward to the barbecues and summer evenings that we will get to spend out here.

LAUNDRY/MUD ROOM

Also a big deal.  Although I do miss my upstairs laundry, it's so, so nice to have a dedicated laundry room, rather than just a closet.  And I totally love that there is a huge coat closet in the mud room, too.  That was just some good planning right there!

FAMILY ROOM

I still have a fair amount of work to do in here, but it's coming along.  I want to put large pictures of each of the kids over the long mantle shelf.  And I still have some painting and other decorating to do in here.  But the sectional is new and super comfy, and it's a fun, comfortable room.

OFFICE

POWDER ROOM

 LIVING ROOM

Before:

 After:

 

This is my favorite room in the house!  It's also where I have spent the most time and energy.  We put in a little semi-flush mount light because when we bought the house, there was NO LIGHT at all in here.  I painted the walls and the trim.  I found some inexpensive frames at Ikea for my little photo collage wall, and I spray-painted a few turquoise.  I still need to make curtains in here (I am thinking sheer panels in the darker turquoise color), and I need to replace the glass on one side of my coffee table.  But I feel like it's coming together in here exactly the way I planned.  And that usually doesn't happen, so I am thrilled!

I also re-finished the mantle in the living room.

Before (This is actually the master bedroom because I totally spaced taking a before photo of the living room firepace!  But the actual mantle was identical in both places.):  

 

After:

The mantle actually took me NINE HOURS alone to complete.  We are talking sanding, three coats of paint (I didn't prime--dumb, I know!), and a lacquer to finish.  It was so much work!  But I love the way it looks.  I found a few fun new trinkets and used that trusty turquoise spray paint again on some old items to pull it all together.   Oh, and a family photo will go in the big frame.  Also, I have been told that you can actually spray paint the gold on your fireplace black for an updated look.  So that project will likely be happening in both the living and family rooms in the next week or two.  

So there you go!  Main floor tour complete  Upstairs photo tour coming soon!