Here are the long promised pictures of our new house in all it's cluttered, recently moved-in, still unpacking glory. Let me take you on a tour.
Here's the living room. There is no carpet on the first floor; it's all laminate and tile. The wall with the fire place was painted with a very dark brown faux finish. I think the previous owners must have paid a professional to paint it, there was at least four different colors used and one of them was metallic. I felt a little guilty covering it up, but the fact is that I hated it. To me it looked like someone smeared poop all over the walls (sorry for the graphic description!) and it made the whole house feel very dark. I opted for a soft creamy color instead. It's much lighter, brighter and more soothing.
If you ever want a very clear picture of just how messy a room is, try shooting it from above. Eeek!
This is the breakfast room. It also was painted the faux poop brown. I painted it a pale sage green. Except, I think it turned out too pale, you can hardly tell there is any color at all. I think we may repaint it a slightly darker shade.
Here's the kitchen, also formerly poop brown. With the dark cabinets, counter tops and flooring, it felt like a cave.
It's now the same color as the breakfast room. The cabinets are very nice custom cabinets, 42" high in a cherry finish. They are beautiful! But, honestly, if I could have my way I would paint them white. I know, I know, to paint such cabinets would almost be a sacriledge and Eric has already vetoed the idea. But, I just love light, bright kitchens! It will take me awhile to get used to all the dark.
Here's the dining room that will serve as our office. It was a dark green with some kind of purple glaze sponged over it (yuck!). They even had the trim painted black! This room isn't finished being painted yet, but it's now the same creamy yellow as the living room.
Here's the master bedroom. It's in need of some decorating TLC, but I love this room. It's hard to tell, but there is actually a window seat. Sweet!
This is Elizabeth's room, her very first room of her own. For her birthday (which was the day we moved) she got new bedding and we painted her room first (it was a little boy's room with red and blue verical stripes). When I finally buy a rod, there will be curtains at the window and hopefully soon we'll find something to put on the walls.
Here's the boys' room. It's hard to tell from the picture, but it is actually very large. I plan to paint the walls a pale blue.
This room will remain a guest room even after Button's arrival. As you can tell, it used to be a little girl's room. I can't imagine how much time it took to paint all those dots! It's very cute, but way too much for me. I haven't decided on a color for this room yet but it will be a light, soothing tone.
This is the game room (I must say, it is
awesome to have a game room!) There is a faux finish in puke brown (not much better than the poop brown that was downstairs) on the walls and I think I'm leaning toward a pale blue in this room, too.
On to the outside. Here's the awesome porch I mentioned. Even in the extreme heat of this summer, we've enjoyed sitting out there first thing in the morning and when the sun is setting. It's so peaceful!
Here's the entire front of the house including the scraggliest, most pathetic tree ever. Eric has spent hours researching trees and which type would be best for shade trees in our area. This house is completely lacking is shade and we hope to plant some new trees in both the front and back yards in the fall.
Here's the kids' favorite feature of the house. The previous owners left this awesome playset in the backyard for us. They play on it every day!
Here's the one little vegetable bed that we've made so far. I picture 4 to 6 of these lined up on this side of the yard eventually. With all the sun our west-facing backyard gets, I can't wait to see what kind of vegetables we can grow!
I have to say again how very blessed we are to have this house. Our old house sold so quickly because it's in a niche market of houses that are moving right now (small, one story starter homes). And, because the rest of the housing market is depressed, we got an incredible deal on this new house. I never thought we would be able to afford a home this big and nice. I am still in awe at everything that has happened in the last three months!
I hope you enjoyed the tour. Could you answer one question for me though? Would it really be that horrible to paint the kitchen cabinets? Just curious.
