Our New Home

Not only was 2009 a big year for us in terms of my pregnancy, but it was also when we bought our very first home!

After renting a home together for 2.5 years, my BIL approached Mike and I to see if we would be interested in purchasing his home as he could no longer afford the mortgage and upkeep on the property on one income. While owning a home had certainly been a financial goal of ours, we were not planning to actually buy one for a few more years. After BIL's offer to sell us the home at $27,000 less than what it appraised for (he would only charge us his payoff amount on the mortgage), Mike and I jumped at the chance. We closed on July 7, 2009 and are now (very) happy homeowners!

Our 2 bedroom, 1 bath home was built in 1973. The house itself is 1,160 sq. feet and our lot measures 29,085 sq. feet (just short of an acre).

The Front Entryway:

As you can see, our entryway is very bland. We've painted the door white from the atrocious mint green color that it was when we purchased the home. We eventually plan to replace it with a more modern, energy efficient door. Aside from that, we haven't really done much else with this space. We still need to replace the light fixture, install new flooring, and I'm playing around with the through of painting the built-in white to further brighten up this area.

The Family Room:

Even though we spend the most time in this room, it has become the bain of my decorating existence. I just don't know what to do with it. It's an odd shape for our furniture despite it's been quite large. In addition, we painted the room in Blue Sash by Valspar, however, it turned out to be a much darker blue than anticipated. While I can live with the color during the day, it's just way too dark at night once the natural light disappears.

Besides the paint, the only project in this room was installing the ceiling fan. When we moved in, there were no lighting fixtures in the main portion of the room - only the fixture in the entryway. Floor lamps didn't do much in the way of light. As mentioned previously, I'm also toying with the idea of painting the built-in bookshelf white to accent the blue walls and further brighten up the space. I also need to finish up my photo wall as it's still a work in progress. Eventually, we'd also like to turn the front window into a bay window.

The Kitchen:

This room also underwent a pretty drastic transformation. When we moved in, the counters were a very pale yellow with a yellow sink to match. All the walls, like those in each and every other room, were stark white. We decided to go with laminate counters for now since we were looking for a quick and inexpensive fix for the short-term, however, we eventually plan on updgrading to granite. The new sink was also a quick and inexpensive fix. We plan to replace it with a better quality sink whenever we upgrade the countertops next. As the kitchen did not have a dishwasher when we moved in, we purchased that ourselves and Mike installed it for us.

Lastly, we recylced the leftover paint from the bathroom to make the kitchen renovation complete. On three of the four walls, we used Mocha Syrup by Valspar. On the back wall that connects to the dining room, we used Cincinattian Hotel Carl Tan by Valspar to tie in the two rooms.

Projects remaining in this room include updating the flooring, replacing the light fixture, buying new matching applicances, and update the cabinet hardware.





The Master Bedroom:

The master bedroom was the first room in the house that we tackled after moving in, mostly because we had purchased a new bed and wanted to have the walls painted before there was any furniture in the way. The paint color is Montpelier Olive by Valspar. The projects remaining in this room include purchasing a dresser and nightstand to match the new bed and figuring out what to do with the wires from our tv so that they will no longer hang down the wall.

The Bathroom:

The bathroom was the only room that needed to be completely gutted before moving in. As it stands now, the only thing we didn't replace was the toilet. Originally, the room was covered in 1970's yellow tile with swans painted on them. It was truly hideous. We completely tore out the bathtub and installed a new tub and shower surround. We also ripped out the sink (which used to be a single) and installed a double sink with a new vanity and marble countertop. The lighting fixures only provided a very dim light so those were replaced as well. Lastly, we replaced the old mirror with two more modern versions and ripped out the flooring. The paint colors are Maple Syrup (dark brown) and Cincinattian Hotel Carl Tan (light brown) by Valspar.

The Nursery:

Our daughter's nursery is still somewhat a work-in-progress., but the majority of it is complete. When we moved into the home, this room was absolutey bare and empty. The walls were a stark white and the room was devoid of any furniture. In one respect, that was awesome in that it provided us with a blank slate in terms of decorating. This room has certainly come a long way! The paint color is Rosy Cheeks by Valspar. We're still working on decorating the walls somewhat with photos of baby Abigail and we also need to replace the lighting fixture (preferably with a ceiling fan).