Welcome to our Home!

Here it is, the new place.  While it's still a big work in progress we've gotten a lot of stuff done and I'm really proud of all our hard work as I look back at these pictures.  Even since I snapped these pictures last week we've gotten a few more pictures on the wall and some additional work done.  Hopefully this weekend we'll finish up some big projects in the back yard and soon enough can start some of our major projects inside.  But for now, here's what we've got :) 

Brass was apparently very in when they built this house and it was EVERYWHERE!!!  That was one of the first things we changed and it made a huge difference.  So far in the front all we've done (well actually my dad) is change the lighting fixtures from gold to some black ones my parents had lying around.  We'll be painting the outside sometime in the next couple months and Dane has some plans to build up some planter beds and add some pavers along the driveway.  

Not too different today

 We got some red adirondack chairs from Lowes and are looking pretty patriotic though

 The front entry with a lovely gold light

and now so much better

A hideous blue bathroom that also made me dry heave when I was cleaning it.  It seriously makes me a little queasy just even looking at pictures and thinking of how it was

Ahhh, nice and clean and brighter.  Though Dane is not a fan of the color I picked out so that could be changing someday, but I like it. 

The kitchen wasn't in bad shape so we haven't painted the walls yet but will soon.

 Again, we did get rid of that gold light

and got a big rug to cover up flaws in the floor.  Dane's want to try to refinish it himself and then stain it a dark color so we'll see how that goes.  We also got a couple more cabinets we want to add in, plan to paint the cabinets white, add new hardware and get new dark counters.  One day it'll be beautiful :)  

I love that the gold lights are gone!

The view from out of the kitchen

Look a new light!

 The blue shades are gone

and were replaced with white wood blinds and white curtains

 Yay for ikea and toy storage!  And I also now have bins for the top shelves too - they only had 13 in the store and I bought all 13 when I first went.

Baby blue, black and gold - not so much what we were going for...

Dane and my dad filled in the hole, moved a speaker down and mounted the TV.  I also spray painted the gold pieces on the fireplace.  Oil rubbed bronze spray paint is seriously our new best friend.  My dad is also working on some cabinet doors for the built ins down below so that'll look a little cleaner.  One day we hope to add some stone onto the wall and make a bigger mantel. 

At least there's a cute boy in all the old pictures - it distracts me from all the dirty/bad colored things

In process in the living room

 and as we are today

Dane painted the banister white and I just got some large square frames to hang up to the right of the banister over the couch.

 We also got rid of the big gold light in the stairway and my dad spotted this one at Lowes for a steal of $42!!! 

Laundry room/closet with lint all over and in desperate need of cleaning

 Much cleaner now and now with doors hung.  I'm loving having the laundry upstairs though and not having to haul baskets up and down.

 Our bedroom

  Dane's got plans of one day doing a wood wall behind our bed - and please ignore Carter's race track on our bed :)  We'll add some curtains in here and are needing some some of color.  It's very monochromatic which Dane's loves. 

and our bathroom

 Hopefully one day this will totally be redone.  We're talking about getting rid of the tub (which is to the left of this picture) making a large shower and just extending the vanity along the wall.  But before that happens we've got work in the kitchen and then probably the basement.  So this will be a long ways out.  But I'm thinking about painting the cabinets and some other stuff in the meantime.  For a quick upgrade we did paint the light and at least got rid of a little more gold.

Dane called me one day and told me he had a present for me.  He cleaned this bathroom for me.  See the wall to the right of the toilet and how it's kinda yellowish gray - yeah, that's a urine covered wall.  I don't think my stomach could have handled it and I've never loved him more for cleaning something - an awesome present!

 Dane made it so beautiful by giving it a good scrub and painting it a bright clean white.

 The bright purple room that Carter picked but was so upset by it's color.  He was nearly in tears about it being purple.

So he got to work and we painted it blue at his request

 Eventually we'll add some curtains in here and also want to add some wood to the bottom to give it a faux board and batten look.

Landon's room was in need of some love with stuff all over the walls and floor and a dilapidated fan

 and is looking much better now.  Also needing some curtains to be added eventually.

The thing that made such a difference was spray painting all the hardware (thank you pinterest for this idea!) and changing all the lights.  

 We've got some pretty major renovations in mind and some minor things like hanging curtains and art.  It's been fun to see it all come together though and already I feel like this house is so much more of our home than our last one.  Since we have had to work on every surface of the house it's very much ours.  It is seriously amazing what new paint and carpet can do though.  While you can somewhat see how dirty and worn down the house was in pictures - the pictures really don't do it justice for how rough it was.  Dane and I both like a pretty minimally decorated house with lots of open space, organization and trying to avoid clutter and I feel like we're starting to get there.  Just don't go in our basement right now ;)