We closed on our house, hooray! It was not easy, we found a foreclosure and the process of closing on a foreclosure…well let’s just say I had many sleepless nights. Lots of waiting, and wondering if we were going to get the house. Once they accepted our offer we closed two days later then scheduled. Fortunately now we own it, and I am so excited!!!
The last 2 weeks the house was painted and it looks sooooo beautiful…what a difference new updated colors and a fresh coat of paint makes. We also made a few updates prior to moving in. Our move in date is next Monday, and I am busy packing, AGAIN! My husband and I both agree this is our last move for 20 yrs or so…with our combined 16 moves in the last 15 years both of us are done, and ready to feel settled.
Here are the before photos of the house. I’ll take photos of the newly painted rooms and will let you know the paint colors I used. Of course, I will also post photos as each room is designed.
The Entrance Way:
While the faux painted stripes were nicely done, and some friends asked if I was keeping it, it looked too traditional for my taste. I do love the inlay design in the wood floors (which you can see a piece of). The whole house has hardwood floors, and they are in good condition. We refinished the wood floors in 2 rooms, the living room and kitchen but was able to leave the rest.
The Living Room:
My mother-in-law and I were trying to decide our favorite room, but found it difficult because we love so many. One is definitely the living room. It has a beautiful fireplace, awesome built in cabinets and shelves (lots of room for storage!) and bench seating (great for entertaining). It is a L shape so a little challenging to decorate, but I have ideas and think it’s going to look fab. The next 5 pictures show this room.
The Dining Room:
One of my other favorite rooms. In our old house we would carry the dining table into the living room for holiday dinners (and it’s heavy) because we couldn’t fit more than 6 people in the dining room. No more! In this dining room I can fit my table with both leaves…and it has a fireplace, score!
The Kitchen:
Ok, I said it was hard to decide my favorite room. This is also one of my favorites. While I would love to design a new kitchen, I am also so happy I don’t have to pay for one! This kitchen is great. It is more than 10 years old but doesn’t look dated. I would have chosen these cabinets because they are not trendy, and I think will still look good in another 10 years. Also, it was so well done. It has a subzero fridge (a lot bigger than my old fridge) with a wood paneled door. The pantry has pull out shelves, we have deep drawers for pots and pans, and I love the contrasting island. We only had to replace the dishwasher which was no longer working.
The Den:
We have been going back and forth what this room should be and if it should be a den. We thought about putting the ping pong table table in this room (which also converts to a pool table and air hockey) because the basement is unfinished (a future project). I have designed floor plans with a few options, but ultimately we decided to make it a casual den where Ben can play his video games and have a place to hang with his friends. Since he is 10 years older than the twins will be, I doubt he will want to watch the same TV shows that will be playing for them, so it will be great to have his own hangout.
My Office:
Not a great shot, but this room is off of my bedroom which is convenient. I am much more of a night person than a morning person, so it will be nice to work in the office at night on the same floor where hopefully all are sleeping (let’s hope!)
Howie’s Office:
This is the perfect office space for him. He is a morning person and starts his work before anyone is up. The office is downstairs off of the mudroom, so it will be a nice quiet place for him to work. The built in shelves are also perfect. Howie has a gazillion books…I tried to get him to get rid of some but wasn’t all that successful.
The mudroom:
I was calling these the lockers because they looked like school lockers. At first I didn’t like them, but we added paneled doors and drawers and they look great.
The Powder Room:
It is off of the kitchen by the mudroom, and has pretty wainscotting.
The master bedroom:
A little hard to decorate because I wanted my bed on the opposing wall to the door, but you can’t fit a bed and night tables in between the 2 closet doors. We decided to put the bed on the same wall as the doorway and our dresser will go on the wall with the closet doors. It does have a nice long closet. One of our projects this week is to put up closet rods and shelves.
The Master Bath:
It has a jacuzzi tub, aaah! I hope with the new babies I will be able to use it.
The 2nd Bathroom:
A bit dated, but new paint colors will help it. Possibly one day we will refinish this room.
Ben’s Room:
You can’t really tell in this picture but the bright pink was blinding. It is a big room, and he is excited that we should be able to fit his fusbol table which used to be in our basement.
The Nursery:
Didn’t take the best before pics of the bedrooms…will take better after shots.
One week until we move in!!! Running off to Lowe’s now to buy new door knobs.
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