House Tour

Three years ago, I first laid eyes on this cutie-patootie house.  It was my birthday and we were still t-minus 6 months until the wedding.  This gorgeous tree sold it for me.  Come on in and sneak a peak at our 1958 "baby." 

*Disclaimer* You are about to see a TON of mismatched, college-y, hand-me-down stuff that is slightly embarrassing to see all together in one room. However, I won't apologize because at the time we were so proud to call it our own, even if it was a hot mess. Everyone knows you gotta start somewhere :0) (Also thank you to everyone who contributed!)

Kitchen Before

Yellow counter tops.  Brown and cream tile back splash.  Linoleum.  Round sink (which I actually kinda liked.)  Welcome to the 70's special! 

This was definitely the most dated room in our house by far.  We could tell that some of the cabinets had been shifted previously based on how they lined up.  The door you see used to lead to the back patio until the man cave and screened in porch were added.  If I had taken a picture a little to the right of this one, you'd be able to see another door-sized opening leading to the living/dining room.  Head count: 3 doors to one tiny kitchen.

We thought about painting the cabinets, but the layout just wasn't working for us.  There was so much wasted space!  *I wish I had taken more pictures of the other doorways so you could see how closed in it was.*

Kitchen After

70's Special was totally gutted so we could open everything up.  We went with all new Shaker style cabinets, an island, new appliances, lighting, and flooring. 

The shiny hood was probably my favorite thing.  It's very futuristic, I think.

Hubs and I made this operable Roman shade using mini blinds!  An awesome tutorial can be found via Meredith over at Welcome to Heardmont 

Dining/Living Room Before

This is the view from the front door. Our living room makes an L-shape with the dining room around the kitchen.  You can see that the whole house was painted a glowing beige color (except for the paneled man cave) that just wasn't working for us. I wish I would have taken a picture of the drapes situation that was going on before I tossed 'em. The old yellowed drapes and sheers on top of the paint made us feel like we were in a nursing home.

Gosh that's a lot of wood!  I think there are two kinds of people out there: those that love wood and those who would love nothing better than to take a paintbrush to it.  My husband belongs to the first camp and I the second.  It's not that I don't like wood at all, just not this orange-y variety we have in our house.  We've had it out a few times about changing the doors or painting them.  I'll probably lose both battles.

Just above the table was a beautiful wood and brass ceiling fan (insert sarcasm.) 

From the get-go we loved the stone fire place but struggled (and lacked funds) to figure out how to dress up the stone shelves.  (Hi Wyatt!)

Dining/Living Room Now

No more nursing home beige!  We painted the entire room Brown Tee Pee by Behr and it's much cozier.  Also, new white trim has made an appearance.

A few new pieces of furniture, paint, wooden blinds, and drapes have really made our fireplace shine!  I painted the fireplace grate an oil-rubbed bronze color (buh-bye ugly gold!)  My mother-in-law who is a whiz at sewing helped me make these drapes.  All the drapes in our house are 'ho-made, but these are definitely the nicest in our house.

This long wall has been kind of difficult to work with as far as making both rooms feel integrated.  We're still not sure this is our favorite, but it's definitely a far cry from the bareness it was before.  I made two of the pillows, spray painted the little mirrors and also the lamp base. 

Entryway Before

The photographer I am not.  This is what you would see immediately upon entering the house. 

Entryway After

We purchased this bookcase at a discount furniture store on our first wedding anniversary.  The scale is much better on this wall (when the door's not open.)  I couldn't resist opening the door to show off its cheerful, yellow-y goodness.  Still need to figure out something for the lower "bin." 

Hallway Before

Not terribly exciting.  Hello orange-y wood doors!

Hallway After

Yay gallery wall (please excuse any crookedness!)  It was too hard to decide between black or white frames, so we decided to do both.  I really liked how the smaller frames helped disguise the smoke detector (which I would like to add, we DID NOT mount on the wall-who does that?!?)  Hopefully as we keep "growing" our gallery wall will too.

Spare Bedroom #1 Before

Spare bedroom #1 is the smaller of our two spares so we chose to put our college desks and computers in here for a multipurpose office/guestroom.  My college bedding didn't look quite as cute here as it did in my apartment. 

Spare bedroom #1 After

We spent the good part of a day taping off these stripes and Eric told me he's never painting in here again after all the work it took!  They turned out absolutely gorgeous though.  We swapped out the bed for a more "grown up" desk and DIY'ed a message board with mail/bill sorters made from cereal boxes.

Here's a better look.

I just love the subtlety of the stripes.  This will more than likely be our nursery, someday.

Guest Bathroom Before

Colored tiles aren't for everyone, but we actually like the blue in this bathroom.  We refer to it fondly as the "boys" bathroom. 

Guest Bathroom Progress

As you can see, not a whole lot has changed here.  Originally, we thought we'd work with the tiles and replace the almond-colored toilet and bright white vanity with pieces that actually go together.  However we found a good amount of damage to the tiles in the shower and we won't be able to replace them.  Rather than slap up different tile, we figure that eventually we'll take down all the tile and maybe do something with wainscoting.

Guest Bathroom After

Bye bye blue tile!  This bathroom was a total gut job with new dry wall, tile (floor and shower,) fixtures, toilet, and vanity.  A fan was also installed along with electrical outlets, neither of which we had in here before.  We wanted to do something fairly neutral, so the walls are a soft grayish white (which is kind of hard to see here-paint color is Simply White by Benjamin Moore) and all of the subway tile is bright white with soft gray grout.

We chose subway tile that goes all the way up the wall mainly just on a whim, but we're thrilled with how it turned out! Despite my previous dislike of the finish, we went with all chrome fixtures.  I think they look very clean and modern against the white finishes.  The tub was also re-glazed and man did that make a huge difference!

Accessory rundown: Target (soap dispenser,) Johnathan Adler for JC Pennies (candles and rug,) Etsy (airplane art)

Our light over the mirror was probably the decision I hem'ed and haw'ed over the most, mostly because it's actually an outdoor light.  I liked the industrial feel it added to the space, but wasn't sure if it really provided enough light.  I was also thinking of resale, but ultimately that's an easy fix and if I need to change out my $39 Home Depot light when we move in five years, that's okay by me!

The floor tile was one of the things we decided to spend a little more money on since this is such a small bathroom.  It reads gray/white/slightly griege and is made of porcline.  (It's hard to see, but I'm still IN LOVE with the pattern in the rug, swoon!)

Spare Bedroom #2 Before

We actually don't have any pictures of the "before" in this room because we had a friend rent from us for a couple months. Oops!

Spare Bedroom #2 Progress

Spare bedroom #2 is one of the boldest rooms in the house due to the wall color-Agave by Behr.  We use it strictly as a guestroom and didn't want to spend a lot of money in here. 

We DIY'ed the headboard and art over the bed and most of the furniture in here is second-hand.  (The lamps are one of my favorite things in our house!)

Spare Bedroom #2 After

You can see that I moved the curtains that I made for our master bedroom in here.  They felt a little more fun in here.  The wall color stayed the same, so basically we just made some changes with the furniture arrangement and accessories.

  

See those tiny little airplanes inside my lamp?! Isn't that fun?! Eric's mom had those for his graduation party and gifted them to us.  After long debating what to do with them, I found this fun lamp that you can put stuff in.

More accessory change-ups.  I found that globe in a vintage shop for $12!  Despite being a little dated (it still shows the Soviet Union rather than Russia) I think I still adds a lot of charm to the space.  I'm also very pumped that I haven't killed my jade plant yet!

These tables used to be in my grandma's house and I inherited them when she passed in March 2013.  I'm not sure what I'm doing with these yet (if anything.)  They are a little worse for the ware and could definitely use a good sanding and staining, but I've also thought about painting them or possibly dipping the legs in a funky color of paint.

You can see we also decided to forgo the DIY headboard from before.  

Finally, we relocated the larger Italian photo from the living room in here along with the picture painted by Eric's grandma (it's a picture of Eric and his brother Sam playing on the beach in Florida.)  Since the room is for guests it's kind of taken on a bit of a travel theme almost, so both pieces seemed very appropriate for in here.  You'll also notice that we've saved all of our travel soaps/shampoos/etc in the glass jar.  I think it's a nice touch for guests that don't want to bring toiletries.

Master Bedroom Before

We knew we wanted our room to be very restful with whites and grays, but it took awhile for us to get it "right."

Master Bedroom After

 A little paint and drapes can make a HUGE difference!  I know, I know, the gray and yellow thing is a little trendy.  To our credit, we had painted the walls circa January 2010 and have been looking for a "pop" color ever since.  Insert yellow.  I'd still like to bring in a little more yellow by swapping out either the DIY'ed headboard or the throw pillows.  Can you find the airplane?  Hint: it's yellow too!

I had been looking for some cheapo art ideas and ran across wall-mounted jewelry holders on pinterest.  They were super easy to make and I love that they cost so little.

Chevron.  'Nuff said.  Swoon.

UPDATE

         

White trim!  (Happy dance!)

Master Bath Before

It's PINK!  I remember actually laughing out loud the first time we viewed the house.  When my oldest niece came to visit, she told us it was "pinkalicious." As you might guess, we refer to this gal as the "girls" bathroom. 

Master Bathroom Progress(?)

You'll notice not a lot has changed in here.  Funny how the room we swore would be the first to change will more than likely end up being the last since nobody ever sees it but us.  We have painted it a darker gray in an attempt to make it "go" with the gray in the master bedroom.  The paint didn't turn out exactly how we'd imagined it would so it's still a work-in-progress.

Master Bathroom After

Pink, be gone!  After finding out mid-October that we were expecting, we decided immediately that we wanted to go ahead and redo this bathroom to avoid any dust or bathroom sharing with Mini M.  What ensued was the fastest bathroom project in the history of our time together (we've done 3 bathrooms total-2 here and 1 at our other house.)  I've never made decisions so fast!

To keep the "flow" of our house, I made it easy on myself and chose the same floor and wall tiles, grout, tub stain, toilet, and shower curtain.  All accessories (rug, soap dispenser, tooth brush holder, and baskets) are from Target.

The wall color is what I love the most in here.  It's Antique Glass by Benjamin Moore.  I never even got the sample-I just found a picture of it on Pinterest! 

Eric frosted the window because we thought it looked so nice with it's fresh white paint that we didn't want to cover it.  We also got a fan and electrical outlets since there weren't any before.  Now I can finally do my hair in the bathroom!   

Man Cave Before

This room has been the bane of my existence since we moved in.  Walls-upon-walls of orange-y wood panelling!  A window air conditioning unit built right into the wall!  Holy ugly batman!

It's funny, but it actually kind of reminds me of the Draper's family room on Mad Men.

Man Cave Progress

This room is our current "project."  I giggled like a school girl when I finally got around to priming and painting it.  I really have nothing against panelling in general.  In fact, I love the texture it adds to the room.  The newish (we bought it secondhand) couch is definitely an improvement from what we had before, but we're still thinking we'd eventually like to get some furniture that fits the shape of the room better.

I recently finished making the drapes.  Still to come in this room: new (white) trim, possibly painting the window trim, and a built-in bookshelf on the opposite wall.

I just love wing back chairs.

Porch Before

Though not horrible, the outdoor, turf-like carpet gave me the heebie jeebies. 

Porch progress

We pulled out the nasty carpet, painted the floors and furniture, and also upgraded to a new outdoor rug plus some other accessories.

Patio (Oops! Zero "before" pictures.)

Doesn't the brick floor just ooze charm?!?!  I can't say I've spent a lot of time decorating out here (obviously) but we do spend a lot of time on the patio. 

I hope you've enjoyed the house tour!  Check back regularly for updates!