Our House: Before and After

Hey y'all! How have ya been? I've decided to come out of hibernation! The weather, trying to find a house in a different state, having a house on the market, packing, moving, and unpacking took up most of my time. Hopefully you'll be seeing a lot more of me.

Today I'm sharing some before and after pictures from our Ohio house. Maybe I'm biased but it looks like a totally different house.

Keep in mind that we weren't there for long and it's far from "finished"...
 the pics are from the listings.

The front door opens into the living room...

 The dining room...

We gave the kitchen a facelift...just in time to move. Seriously. We "finished" the day we put the house on the market. I wish I had gotten better pictures. The day we put it on the market was the same day we left to go home for Christmas. When we got back, it was sold!

 We added cabinets to the left wall and where the refrigerator was on the right wall. The cabinets are Project Source Unfinished Cabinets from Lowe's painted in BM Dove White.

The cabinet hardware is from Home Depot.

matchbox latch,  drawer pull, cabinet pulls

  After much debate, we chose the Ikea numerar birch countertop.  We Eric stained it with 2 coats of minwax dark walnut stain and then sealed it with 3 coats of Waterlox. The backsplash is actually thermoplastic made to look like old tin. It was pretty easy to put up- as in you can cut it with scissors and put up with adhesive.

 We widened the door to the dining room and exposed the brick!  I love exposed brick...I hate exposing it. It is a PAIN! The trim is also painted BM White Dove and the walls are SW Frostwork Silvermist.

Last, but not least, we added a deck! I love the southern cross detail! We were only able to use it for a few months before we froze!

Well, that's our Ohio house tour! Many of the projects were never completed...

 Let's see what we accomplish with our new house!

Since We Moved...

• We've spent a day with no heat and frozen water pipes
•  had 2 winter storms
• gone to the Thai restaurant twice
• and Vintage more than that
• unpacked almost everything
• primed our den (everything is closed due to the storm so I can't go get paint:( )
• made a trip to IKEA and to pick up a washer and dryer with Jana (All the way to Charlotte, with a giant trailer, no man and a 6 week old baby!)
  

         

• painted our bedroom

• picked up a wonderful dog portrait (more on that later)
  
  
  
  
• Our house is feeling more like home and I'm loving it!

 

As I'm typing this, I'm sitting by the fire. Eric is in his office working-they sent everyone home at 9:30 because of the storm.

 Pray our power doesn't go out!

Once the storm passes and people are done eating their milk sandwiches, I'll be able to go buy the rest of our paint. Hopefully that will be soon so I can give y'all some updates on our new home!

Our New House: The Den Plan

Well, we move in two weeks! Crazy, right?

I recently wrote a post on making our new house a home. You can read it here. I still have every intention to do so! To do that, quickly, I have to use what I've got. Let's be real, I can't go out next week and buy everything I want to decorate our house.  I want to live in this house, and then see what I want to do with different rooms. But no matter what, I'm going to make it feel like home. 

The first room I'm going to tackle is the den. I feel like we'll spend most of our time in there so I want us to be able to enjoy it right away. I've done my best to incoroporate Eric's "style" birds and hide into this space. After all, it's his house too!

Instead of coming up with a master plan, I've come up with a few phases. Sure, these may change along the way, but I think I have a pretty good starting point. We already have a lot of these pieces which will make it easier to accomplish soon. . 

I know that I want the walls painted white...

actually, all of the rooms will be white. 

 Phase 1:

 (Eric's favorite board)

 Both of these boards are considered phase one. The only difference is the cow hide rug (which we already have). 

Eric likes the 2nd one better, I like the 1st.

Phase Two: 

 

(My favorite board)

 In Phase Two, I want to get a Persian rug and a new coffee table. 

I planned the room around this coffee table. Even though it's not in Phase One, I wanted to plan. That's why you see green throughout the rooms on P1! Remember, I want to make it feel like a home starting with what we already have. If you plan, you can reach your long term goal, step by step.

To give you (and Eric) an idea of the furniture layout, I've placed a few items in a picture. Thank you, Photoshop:)

Which board you you like the best?

Making Our (new) House A Home

Happy 2014!

I've missed my blog friends! 

I'm ready to get back to blogging and reading!

 Man, it's been a while! Holidays are so busy...especially when you live 10 hours away. Thank goodness we don't have anymore holidays away. In fact, we only have 3 weeks left in Ohio. I can't wrap my head around it.

I'm a little late, but I'm sharing my goal for the year. Yes, goal. 

I just have one:

to make our house a home

I didn't do a very good job of that in this house. 

I never felt like we were home. 

I never felt like it was relaxing.

I never felt like it was inviting.

I never felt like it was cozy.

That's about to change people!  

I want to come home and feel relaxed. 

I want to go to bed in a peaceful bedroom.

I want to cook in a kitchen I love.

I want to feel at home.

And that's going to happen!

Here are a few pictures of our current home house from the MLS...

 Don't you love the curtain rods with no curtains? And the mancave sofa?

 A dining room table is so functional without any chairs:)

 We started renovating our kitchen 2 days before we found out that we were moving. Perfect timing huh? The glass cabinets are original. I'll have to find a before picture and do a post with sources.

You can see a before picture of this wall here. I'm loving the exposed brick!

The sort of finished deck...it's too cold to finish it now!

Well, that's the first floor of our house.

Here's to making our new house a home!

Weekend Work

Happy Monday!

How was your weekend? Did you enjoy DLS? I LOST 4 hours of sleep...FOUR HOURS people! Eric went duck hunting way too early and I couldn't fall back asleep after he left. boo.

We had a crazy productive weekend. Wanna see?

Sorry if you're an

Fabric samples for a client came in...

 

We started demo on our kitchen...the contractor is coming 

tomorrow to start drywall and to knock out the left part of the wall!

It was a lot easier than I thought it would be... it was plaster and it was SO messy. I'm so glad they don't use it anymore. 

And that brick? I can't wait to finish cleaning it up. We're going to leave it exposed. See that circle on the brick (we think there used to be an old wood burnig store there) Eric said, "We should put a starburst mirror to cover it up. It would look sort of rustic." I guess I taught him well:)

I'll be back tomorrow with a design plan! 

xoxo

Do or Don't: Script House Numbers

I feel like I never finish one project at a time. 

I have SO many half done projects going on...

•  the deck is ALMOST done
• painters are painting the foundation next week
• we're re-doing the front porch sometime this month
• I have a few goodwill finds that need to be finished
• Eric is adding on to his building
• the guestroom is sort of getting there
• I'm almost done with our dining room table
• and it goes on and on and on and on....

Speaking of more projects...

 I'm thinking about adding script house numbers to the side of the house.

You see, we have numbers on the font of the house but our  door doesn't face the street. It faces the side street. Confusing I know... 

What is your take on script house numbers?

MIA: What I've Been Up To

It's been a long week.

Or should I say loooooooooooooong.

What have I been doing?

You may know if you've been following along on instagram (sorry for the repeats if you are)

 Watching Eric work...

 While I drink wine:)

Just kidding. I've been working too!

It's not complete, but I couldn't wait to put up the lights!

 Here, you can see the southern cross pattern. 

The openings will have vertical 2x2's. The area to the right will be a wall with a built in bench and planter boxes. When it's complete and painted and stained, I'll share the details and dimensions. I can't wait to finish it...and then use it for 2 months out of the year. Here is my shopping list!

After working for days, I think Eric and Riggs had had enough:)

Tonight we're off to Lowe's to pick up a few more things (and take back some stuff we didn't use)

I'm thinking about picking up some herbs and small terracotta pots to age.

Have you tried this?

Paper On The Wall...

And I'm not talking about pretty wallpaper...

Who's ready for the long weekend???

I know I am. Sort of.

I've been testing colors to  paint the kitchen...

 (top- Sherwin Williams, vertical-Sherwin Williams half and half, bottom-Sherwin Williams Silver Mist)

I'm leaning more towards the mix.

Turns out, I HAVE TO decide this weekend.

Why you ask?

 

Last night, we started pulling off some weird paneling in the kitchen.

And then we found this behind it:

(yes, that's two layers of paper- yes, paper not wallpaper...

and it's on top of plaster)

 

GREAT

 The rest of the kitchen has drywall so this was a big surprise

My first thought- dry wall it.

Second thought-we're going to knock out half of the wall and put cabinets on the other half eventually any way...BEADBOARD!

Yep, that's what we'll be doing this weekend.

Oh, and drinking lots of wine and beer...

Boxing...Windows

I've always loves window boxes. I mean, come on, who doesn't??

Our house is slowly but surely feeling more like home. One of the things I think of when I think of "home" are window boxes. 

There's something about the South and window boxes.

Here are a few of my favorites...

While window boxes are totally doable up here in the summer, what would I do in the winter?

I can't wait to put some on out house! Any tips for window gardens?

all images available here

Shopping List: The Back Deck

It's almost Friday loves!

Who's excited? I know I am!

I'm so excited that it's finally warm enough to spend time outside. 

And you know what that means...projects!

Eric's grandad is coming up to build us a deck and a new front porch!

Here is what I'm thinking this new deck needs...

 

 

lights/umbrella/planter/table/pillows/lantern/chairs

I''m thinking about painting the chairs a minty aqua-ish color...thoughts?

Do you have these chairs? Are the comfortable?

Entry Porch Update

Hello strangers! I've missed you.

I hope the feeling is mutual:)

The weather has be ah-may-zing the past few days. 

Even though it rained, it felt great out.

I am SO ready for warm weather all the time.

With spring weather comes many house projects.

Lets start with our porch.

Right now, our house is blah. I want to make our house ahh!

I can't wait to get started on this project! 

I think it will make our house pop, too!

Come link up with us!

What outdoor projects are you planning for spring?

Speaking of projects, look at Danika's project! 

I am totally doing this with boxwoods asap!