Showing posts with label new house. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new house. Show all posts

September 16, 2015

Kitchen: Before and After

I have about a billion blog posts I want to write, and never seem to be able to actually do them. It's not that I don't have time, I just don't have time and the ability to focus at the same time, I guess.
Plus, someone likes to wait until he sees me on my laptop then come over and touch everything that he knows he's not supposed to touch (and I have a touch screen laptop).

But, I thought I'd write this one right now before I have time to forget it or do something else (also my house is moderately clean right now, so I don't have to feel guilty about typing instead of cleaning...except for the four baskets full of clean laundry that need to be folded and put away :/ ).

I was looking at my Timehop app today, and came across some pictures of my kitchen four years ago on the day after we moved in...or rather moved up because we had already been living in the basement. I was shocked at how much the kitchen had changed. I mean, I know we did a ton of work on it, but it was all done a little at a time, so the change now seems so dramatic. The pictures clearly aren't professional grade, and my kitchen isn't perfectly clean, but you can still see the difference.





 








 We still want to change the counter tops, particularly the island (you can't see it in these pictures) which is still pink. I really want butcher block counter tops and maybe and under mount sink, but that's WAY down the road at this point. Almost all of the changes we've made so far have been relatively inexpensive. Obviously we painted. We also put the new backsplash up which is actually pvc laid over the old backsplash.
We bought the new cabinet hardware from Ikea and the new faucet from Home Depot. Most of the plates come from Target, Pier One, and my (and my mom's) cabinets. I covered the switchplates with scrapbook paper, and it's one of my favorite updates. I know that sounds silly, but it adds the pop of color I like. You can't tell in the picture, but the design is little kitchen appliances and utensils. I think the only other update is the dishwasher which we just recently bought. The one we had was ancient, and although it worked decently the springs had broken on the door and it very easily fell open if we didn't keep it locked. We thought we had fixed it, but then it fell open one day and missed Cai's head by about two inches. That's when Steve decided we needed a new one. And we were able to get one that had everything we needed and was deeply discounted! Also not pictured, we replaced the ceiling fan above the center island with a cheap light fixture from Walmart. We made the switch right before we listed the house on the market two years ago, and picked something that was modern but inexpensive (from Walmart). It's probably not exactly what I would have picked had I known we wouldn't be moving, but it's a major update from the fan (which we didn't really use).

I love that even though my kitchen isn't perfect, it's a bright and sunshiny place that I enjoy cooking in.


March 28, 2011

Before...Craft Room

We refer to this room currently as the "Little Room." We've been using it as a multi-purpose walk-in closet. This is the room I want to use as my craft room. See this post for all the details of what I want to do to it. 
View from the doorway to the left.

The cabinet under the window is already my craft cabinet. I thought I'd keep that there and pull in a chair in case I need to sit in front of the table.  I also plant to put the couch on the left hand wall, maybe with the tree mural behind it. 

View from the doorway to the right.

View from the window toward the door and the closet.
I think I'll put a TV in the closet so that I can sit on the couch and crochet and watch a movie. The thing on the back of the door is a shoe rack filled with yarn. When I reorganize everything, the yarn will be in color order.

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated! Especially suggestions as to how to survive with a pink carpet and cover the love seat pictured here. Oma is leaving it for me, and I love its size, but can't stand the color or pattern!

March 24, 2011

Before...Dining Room

So I thought I'd give you all a preview of what we'll be doing in the next couple months (for explanation, see here). These pictures are of the "Pretty Room" which is largely unused right now. The room wraps around the kitchen. You can see that the current decorating style is definitely not me
This is the view from the one opening from the kitchen.

The door on the left is the front door. The other is a closet.

The picture quality isn't great here because it was so sunny. I love that!

The wall that the secretary is against is a shared wall with the kitchen. You can see how the room wraps around to the left.


View from the other opening into the kitchen. The glass door leads into the "Big Room."



View from the Big Room. You can see how the room wraps around the kitchen.


Our plan is to make this room into a dining room. I want to rip out the pink carpet and put in hardwood floor as soon as we can afford it. I want to paint this room green; the same green that we have in the basement now and had in our living room in the last apartment. I want to do the wall that the closet is in, or the wall that the secretary is on in white with the green swirls, like in the old apartment. The dining room table would go where the coffee table is now. I want to get some shelves, maybe a hutch eventually. Maybe something like this...


In the little area between the kitchen and the big room, we'll probably put our computer desk.

I'm so excited about all of this, but it's so hard to have all these ideas and not be able to do anything yet. So, instead, I share them on here...

March 21, 2011

Big News!

Steve and I have big news. No, we are not having a baby yet, although prayers on that front would be greatly appreciated. We are buying a house, sort of! Most of you probably already know or have guessed (especially after this post) that we are buying my grandparents' house. For those of you who don't know, we already live there, mostly in the basement. We moved in a little under a year ago to help us out financially and to help them out with cleaning and such. However, my grandparents are quickly getting older, and it is becoming more difficult for them to take care of their house and two acres of land and more frustrating for them that they can't. So they've decided to move in with my parents, and sell their house to us. However, because their house isn't exactly a starter house, we will be renting it until we can afford the down payment (hopefully, this means only until a co-manager position opens up for Steve).

This is extremely exciting, but also extremely terrifying.  I can't wait to begin decorating and painting and arranging. Right now though, Steve and I can't do much. There's nothing to pack because most of our things are already packed up and we can't move things around or paint yet because my grandparents are still in the house (and we certainly don't want to make them feel like we're rushing them out). So until then, I sit and plan, and collect paint chips and ideas.

Soon I will post before pictures so you all can help me plan too! Mostly I need ideas on how to make the house look like we have enough furniture to fill it. The living room is HUGE!

The property is withing the red lines.

A: Driveway
B: Garden
C: Shed
D: Pool
E: House
F: Grapevines
G: My Parents' Property
H: My Cousin's Pr0perty

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