finally: a house tour!

(Alright, so Deric and I are going to see how long we can go without Internet at the house. We'll cave eventually, but considering our phones have their own data and the only other thing we really use the Internet for at home is Netflix, we're doing just fine. But until then, blogging will be hit or miss because I can't blog from our home computer without wi-fi, which we have occasionally when we rent a hotspot from the library.)

I thought I'd share the photos from the listing of our house. Nothing major has changed except for arranging furniture so you're basically up to date on our progress over here. ;) We do, however, have almost every box unpacked! The only boxes left have decorations in them and those really aren't a priority. On a side note, I can remember starting to paint trim in our house in Tennessee two days after moving in, and having almost every room in the house painted within a few months. But that was before we had kids. Its currently requiring a lot of my patience to be ok with how slowly change will happen this time around. And of course its not just the kids: owning our home this time around means spending plenty of cash at Lowe's on boring things like downspout extender things, window well covers...even toilet paper holders (not sure why there weren't any...?).

On to the photos, as well as our initial plans for each area...

The exterior: great porch with a view of our cul-de-sac and the single tree on our property.
To-do list involves filling in the landscaping, repainting the door which is pretty scratched up, painting the sidelights white, either replacing the lights or simply spray paint them oil-rubbed bronze, and adding planters on either side of the door. We'd also love to beef up the columns and add a railing. The boys and I hung up a bird feeder we got at the Port Hope Mercantile and while the birds haven't noticed it yet, we're hopeful they'll find it soon! We noticed hummingbirds flitting around the tree the other morning so we may get a feeder for them as well. We did snag two plastic Adirondack chairs from a neighbor who was getting rid of them, so now I'm getting into a habit of waking up before the boys and bringing my Bible and coffee out to the porch in the morning! Its fantastic.

When you walk in the front door, the stairway is immediately to your left and this room^^ is to your right. (Next to the stairway is a hallway leading straight into the breakfast area.) If you remember, the layout of the house is what I loved most and I still love it. This front room is the boys' playroom and it has worked out perfectly. We've set up our Expedit (cubby) shelves for their toys and they have plenty of space to play without toys being in my way while cooking, etc....most of the time. We're working on "no toys in the kitchen!" after a few stray balls have almost knocked pans off the stove.

The to-do list in here is very simple: paint the walls and hang some artwork. Done! On that note, we plan to paint the entire downstairs a light gray. Since its so open from one room to the next, we'll keep it simple and every room will be the same color.

The room connected to the playroom (with the red curtains) is a formal dining room and will be utilized once Deric builds a table for us. Right now its the train table room. ;)

The heart of the home! This photo was taken from the hallway leading in from the front door. Through that doorway is the dining room/train table room.

We've got plans for a chalkboard wall on the room to the left of the peninsula in the photo below. We've even got the paint but have yet to get started. It'll be a fun spot to write Bible verses that we're memorizing and write captions for photos of the boys, etc. as well as give them a place to draw just for fun.

To the left is the dining room and playroom; to the right is the hallway to the front door and stairs. A closet and half bath are off the hallway.

To do list:
-paint the kitchen cabinets white (DIY, so that'll be an adventure!)
-eventually replace countertops; they're warped in the corners
-paint the walls gray
-replace flooring with slightly better laminate (let's be honest, no hardwoods are happening over here!) The flooring in the U of the kitchen has had water damage and some of the boards are pulling apart from each other. And between the cabinets and floors, there's a *lot* of cherry going on!

The kitchen leads right into the breakfast area, which easily fits our table fully extended to seat ten people. We love how easy it is to have friends and their families over! Again, major selling point on this house for us was the layout-- we wanted to be able to accommodate plenty of people for meals, and the space has worked great so far. I also love that I can prep meals and clean up without being removed from either the kids or friends over for dinner.

There really isn't much to be done in this area since flooring is lumped in with the kitchen. We'd love to swap out light fixtures eventually but that's really all we'll change. Deric did install a transition strip between the carpet and laminate since it was missing. Oh, and he added a screen door to that back door which has been very helpful! That door leads down two steps and out onto our back patio.

To get your bearings: kitchen is to your left and that hallway leads to the front door. The closed door leads to our unfinished basement and the open door is our laundry room and entrance from the garage.

The living room fits our big ole sectional! Deric mounted the tv over the mantel and besides that, this room doesn't require much work either. We do need to figure out a way to hide cords and hook up the DVD player, etc. but besides that, painting the room gray and adding art work will finish things up. We'll also find seating for the far corner where the seller's tv was.

Off the living room is what's become our office. Its maybe 7 by 7 ft, perfect for our computer desk and other home office supplies, as well as my sewing desk and craft supplies. I'm so excited to have a designated space for both office and crafting because we never had space for either of those in our last house! As a result, paperwork wasn't organized at all, and my sewing projects took over our dining room table. Now that we've got the room, I'm working on getting our paperwork organized into filing cabinets and setting up my craft supplies so they're easily accessible to me.

To do list:

-paint the walls gray (surprise surprise!)

-hang artwork

-organize household paperwork

-organize craft supplies: shelving, pegboards...who knows.

The hallway bathroom is pretty basic. For all three of our bathrooms, we need to.. 

-hang a towel holder by the sink (not over the toilet!)

-replace those towel bars with a shelf instead

-paint the vanity a fun color--maybe a deep blue

-paint the walls gray

-frame out the mirror

-replace light fixture over mirror

The entrance from the garage to the house is also our laundry room, with just enough space in the corner to be a drop zone for shoes and bags. We desperately need to figure out a game plan for hooks and storage before winter adds tons of jackets to the mess. (That trash can was left to us--how sweet!--and is now in the garage.)

-build shelving and hooks along the "mudroom" side of the wall
-create shoe storage
-replace wire shelving with cabinets to hide laundry supplies
-paint the other side of that door a bright color because its really scratched up!



Heading upstairs!
At the top of the stairs you'll turn left to our master bedroom. Its bright and spacious and we *love* finally having a master bathroom as well as a walk-in closet. Remember these are listing photos so the fish bedding isn't ours! ;)


To do  list:
-paint the walls, maybe a light blue-green
-rehang curtain rod higher and wider; hang curtains
-add artwork
-get matching nightstands (I painted one of our nightstands a few years ago and don't love it enough to paint the other one!)
-replace the fan down the line: up close its got a strange painted finish on both the center part and the blades

Bathroom to do list:
-paint the vanity either white or a light color
-paint the walls either gray to mimic the rest of the house or the same shade as our bedroom
-replace shower fixtures--the seller actually left a new set in the closet! the current faucet and turn-y thing (?) are rusted and cloudy
-replace the light fixture
-frame out the mirror
-replace the towel bar over the toilet with a shelf
-pipe dream: replace the linoleum with tile

Down the hall are three bedrooms. The two smallest bedrooms belong to the boys and what we want to do in their rooms is strictly decorating: repaint the rooms (once I decide on something!) and hang artwork and decorations that reflects each boy's interests and personality. Its fun and sad at the same time to be planning a 'big kid' room for Jake now, rather than his nursery! I've got so many frames with baby pictures and handprints, etc. that I'm not sure will go back into his room. So far he's told me he wants some of the photos of himself as a baby, but I know he'll want other art as well.





Jake's room (above) is the only bedroom that has a fan. Deric's already installed one  in Reid's room and we'll install one in the guest room shortly. We also need to hang curtain rods in all of the bedrooms since the old ones are those white metal bars that curve to the wall and almost clip on to the bracket. Not ideal!





Y'all, this guest room is awesome. I want it to be my own room. ;) Look past the orange walls! Its spacious enough that friends of ours visited from Tennessee and their family of four was perfectly comfortable. The closet in this room is huge as well; I think its meant to be the linen closet for the whole house since there is no linen closet in the hallway.

To do list:
-repaint (I know, what a shock!)
-install a ceiling fan
-install curtain rods & curtains
-hang artwork & make it comfortable for guests





And our very last stop on this wordy and photo-heavy tour...the hall bathroom. I know I said I want to paint the vanities in every bathroom a fun color, but if I chicken out I'll at least paint the vanity in here a deep blue. Its fitting since its a kids bathroom...it should be fun. My plan is gray walls, a white and blue shower curtain and gray bath mats (got those from Target), and a deep blue/gray color on the vanity. I wanted to replace those towel hooks with oversized letter hooks for the boy's names, but then realized there's really no where else to hang towels unfortunately. I may try for behind the door to the hallway but that may lead to puncturing the door if they swing it open forcefully. We'll see.



There you have it! If you survived the length of this post I'm impressed! Now I'm all motivated to start a project or three. ;) Deric and I love to do projects together and we're grateful that we have an outlet for our hobby. We're just so thankful for our home and we look forward to putting our stamp on this house over the coming years!