We are officially moved out! Everything went as smooth as can be on settlement day so on Friday, June 27th, Emma's 5th Birthday, we officially became new home owners!

Because the house was as clean as can be for pictures for going on the market, I thought I would post them here as a house tour of our old home. So here we go!

I always thought out home was pretty cute. It definitely needed a new coat of paint on the shutters but we left that up to the new home owners. We didn't do anything big to the front outside of adding the stones around the garden, maybe making a wreath or two and spray painting the mailbox to give it a little freshening up.

Coming in the front door, there was the dining room on the right, playroom on the left and a long hallway back towards the kitchen. We ended up getting new flooring this winter, and added the board and batten in the hallway a few years ago. I still LOVED it and we used the hooks all the time for all the kids stuff. We usually had a bench right below the hooks that housed all the kids shoes and hats and gloves, etc, which worked great! We painted all of the trim and doors a bright white (Frost by Behr) and replaced all the super sweet gold door handles with some more modern ones through the entire house.

Here's the kids playroom, basically in the best shape that it ever could be in. It was NEVER like this pre-market believe me. Here we painted a few times, made some DIY artwork for the kids after we changed if from a playroom (originally had it as a living room) but didn't really make any major changes to this room.

We added the door casings a little while back. I never did get around to hanging anything above the bench on the left. Oh well!

The dining room was one of the first things we repainted when our style started to change. This was one color that I still loved the day we moved out. We added crown molding, painted the ceiling, added door casings, and a new chandelier.

Behind the playroom was our little family room, which worked out great. In here, we added the ceiling fan, painted a few times, had some curtains made (by my mom) and added molding and a mantle to the fireplace.

The family room then connected to the eat in kitchen, which was probably one of our favorite places. I had big plans to paint the cabinets white, and add molding to the top, but seemed like a lot of work to turn around and sell. My mom made us some valences, we added hardware to the cabinets, installed new flooring, painted and updated the kitchen faucet.

Upstairs was three bedrooms and two full baths. Our master bedroom was always the last to get updated and was probably the worst looking room in the house (update wise). My mother in law flew in and painted this baby in a day which made a world of difference. We added the ceiling fan and that was about it!

In the master bath, we painted, removed the builders standard light above the sink and added two new lights and mirrors, added tiles behind the mirrors (thanks to my MIL again on that one) and painted the cabinets and ceiling.

We also added a small line of the same tile around our tub.

After we redid Emma's room when she got her big girl room, I always loved the color combination but I think never really did "finish" her room. I would have loved to have added crown molding, paint her ceiling, add new curtains and some more fun decor, but overall, loved her room. We did all the painting and added the molding as one of the very first DIY projects.

Jack's room was one of my favorite places in the house. I have loved the stripes since the day he got them but truly loved the orange and blue decor we added for staging. The rug used to be in our playroom but matched perfectly (probably wrong size though). The life vest was from my Dad's garage along with one of his oars. The pictures were a DIY PowerPoint addition and my mom added the orange stripe to his bed-skirt. On the other side of the wall that you can't see, are Jack's great-grandfather and great-grandmother's fishing rods hanging over his dresser.

The kids bathroom was another one that we pretty much didn't touch until we went on the market. We really didn't do anything in here outside of paint the ceiling and the walls white just to clean things up.

So there you have it! More to come on what our new house looks like now that we are all moved in!

Moving On Up!

So, because going through chemotherapy just wasn't enough for us, we decided to put our house on the market right in the middle of it! I know. Great idea huh?

Our house was actually on the market for a few months during the fall of last year, and right when I was diagnosed, we decided to take it off the market because it was just too much, and our minds were pretty much swirling already. So this spring was pretty much our last chance to try to move before Emma started Kindergarten. The public schools where Emma would go if we stayed is rated a 3 out of 10, and between that and some other not so great things about our neighborhood we decided we would do what we could to get out (just in case though, we registered Emma for a private Catholic school just in case)! But, our luck finally changed, and the week we finished chemo, we went under contract on our home and just about two weeks later, we went under contract on our soon to be new home!

So if all things work out (and I'm holding my breath until the very last paper is signed), in less then a week, we will be moving from here....

...to here!!!

We actually had a hard time finding a home this go around, there just didn't seem to be as much on the market as there was during the fall. But just in time, we stumbled upon this guy. Four bedrooms, three and a half baths, finished basement, just under 1/2 acre, attached garage (woo hoo!) and a lot of needed updates! Wanna come on a tour?! These are all pictures that I took during our home inspection. So all the "stuff" in the house is the seller's stuff.

First up after walking in the front door, you come to one of my favorite places of the house. I don't know what it is about the entry, but I just can't wait to figure out a plan and make some updates!! Its a nice big entry, with a much bigger foyer closet then we have now, and a lot of room ready for a fancy Christmas tree (right honey?!!?). Neither Wes or I are crazy about the floor, but maybe we will change our minds once we are in and settled and  making some updates. I just love the bright entry!

The steps are immediately to your left (that's the door to the finished basement on the right of the picture). That little plant in the perfect Christmas tree spot!

Here's the view if you look up! I love the big entry but I more love the fact that it's not SO BIG that it takes a lot of space out of the bedrooms upstairs. Our upstairs hallway is actually pretty small but works for me because I'd rather have the space in the bedrooms.

 

Directly to the left of the foyer is the living room, or in our world, the new playroom. :) Typical standard living room, but it has two windows so it's nice and bright and already has crown molding. I can already see door casings in the works!

If you walk through the living room, you walk right into the dining room which is another room I can't wait to update! Probably because its a pretty blank canvas and will be pretty cheap to update! It has a big bay window in the back, which makes for another bright room. It's also a good deal bigger then our current dining room!

Both the dining room and the foyer connect to the kitchen. We are actually losing some cabinet space in this room but the eventual plan will be to update this space, add some more cabinet space and hopefully a much bigger island! The current island is tiny! I absolutely love the big windows above the sink though. The appliances are a bit old but all stainless steel so definitely livable for a while. There is a double-door pantry to the left and a breakfast area to the right.

Here's a view looking the other way in the kitchen. Thank goodness the side counter is a good size because that island is about the size of a bathroom sink! The current plan for the cut out on the right (where the sellers have a big hutch) is where we will store our desk and computer so Wes will have a place to work. Eventually I'd love to add some more cabinet and counter space and maybe a little bar area!

Right next to the kitchen is a eating area, with another bright bay window! I can't wait to sit down for our first breakfast and family dinner here!

Continuing on after the breakfast area, we head right into our new family room. I am already losing sleep over how in the world to decorate that giant wall on the right!! The double doors on the left lead out to our new (old) deck! Of course I forgot to take pictures of that though. Doh! I am really looking forward to having a wood burning fireplace. Not that flipping the switch of our current fireplace isn't easy haha, but I remember that warm, crackling sound as I grew up. That sound on Christmas morning, the smell of cooking hot dogs over the fire with my Dad and just laying right in front of that warm fire watching TV. Nothing like it in the world!

Across from the eat in area in the kitchen is an actual laundry room! You don't know how excited I am to have an ACTUAL laundry room! Right now, our washer and dryer are in our unfinished basement. So no laundry storage, our clothes that can't be put in the dryer hang in our stinky, dusty basement, and to do a load of laundry, we have to walk up and down two stories. This room will also take care of the mess that we make when walking inside. Right now, our back door leads right into our eat in kitchen, so snow shoes, mud, rain shoes, sandy feet, etc all lead right into our kitchen. Well, no longer! There is actually a pretty large area right past the washer and dryer here which I am thinking about making some "mud room" organization. So much promise for a cool room here!

If we back track a little bit to the foyer and head through the hallway towards the kitchen, off to the right is our new powder room. Nothing fancy here, pretty standard with a toilet and boiler plate pedestal sink. Its about twice the size of our current powder room so that's good, but hopefully another cheap one to update!

Here we go upstairs! All four bedrooms are upstairs, nothing too crazy here, standard bedrooms. This is the room that Emma originally wanted. We actually settle on her 5th Birthday so we told her that she gets to pick her room first. As long as it's not the master. :) So we will see if she picks the same one that she did before!

Down the hall is the soon to be kids bathroom. I wish we could do a complete overhaul of this one, given the gnarly tile on the floor and bath tub from 1974 but this will have to wait a few years probably. The sink, bathroom counter and faucet were upgraded already so at least it's a start!

Another bedroom. I think the is the smallest of the four. Jack gets to pick his room after his big sister so we will see which one he wants!

Onto the third bedroom, and the biggest out of bedrooms (outside of the master). This room is a little darker because it only has one window, but overall just a standard bedroom!

Down the hall we get to the master! It's not huge by any means, but plenty big for us and definitely an upgrade for what we have now. The ceiling slopes up so we have another huge wall to decorate! Ack!

To the right of the master bedroom is probably the worst room in the house. And by worse I mean outdated. The sink area is separate from the toilet, shower and tub area and that's not too bad since the counters and faucets have been upgraded already. Directly across from the sinks is our master closet. Kind of an odd spot for a closet, but I guess it makes our room a little bigger. We will see how that works out!

Here's are nice tub, all filled up and ready for a bath. ACK! During our home inspection, we found a faulty (i.e. old) hot water heater. Which remains as our biggest contention point with the sellers who originally claimed it was just because of a dirty tub. Um. Not so much. You take a bath in the water and then let me know what you think seller. kthanksbye.

Now lets head two floors down to the finished basement. Most folks these days have finished basements but this is one of the things we are most excited about! Much more space! Once and a while Wes likes to have a buddy over to play their beloved PS4. In our current house, there is no where for them to go where they won't wake up the rest of us! They constantly have to be quiet, and as much as they try, because of our home now, I can hear them all night long. I'm surprised the kids don't wake up more either! So I am sooo looking forward to the first time Wes's friend comes over in the new house and there are multiple doors and floors separating us! Not that I don't love you babe! :) 

Back to the tour....after you head down the steps in the basement, there is a small landing. To the left, through the french doors is Wes's new man room! He is so excited he can't even stand it!

When you turn right from coming down the steps, its an open area that wraps around to the other side of the basement. A complete blank slate to work with!

To the left of the picture here, is a sliding glass door which leads directly out to the backyard. At the end of the basement here, there is another bathroom, with sink, toilet and stand up shower. The door to the right of the bathroom in the back of the room leads to a decent sized storage area. 

Here's a shot of the basement bathroom. Another almost blank slate to work with!

Across from the sink there is a shower. It's hard to see from the picture but there is actually a good size space behind the door here. The seller's have a pretty big cabinet behind the door that prevented the door from opening all the way. So getting rid of that will really help to open up this little room.

And of course a shot of the new man room! It actually has french doors on either side which you can see in the next picture. 

I'm a little scared of what might happen to this room!

And now for the super exciting shot of the storage room! Built in shelves that I am sure we will junk up in no time! :)

So there you have it! Like I said, I'm holding my breath that everything works out for both settlements but so far so good. Fingers crossed we will be spending our first night here on Saturday night! The kids are so excited!!

Dining Room Updates!

One of the reasons why this took so long was that I was just about ready to publish a good catch up post about what we have been up to in the summer and BAM! Lost the post and everything I typed up. #$*#$&#@$!!

So in the meantime, we will go with the quick and dirty Dining Room Update - Part 1!

After we decided to paint the playroom, I got this big itch to lighten the entire house! What a better spot to start than our old school dramatic brown painted dining room! We painted this color not long after we moved in and were trying to be all "whoa, look at me, I own a house and now I can be all dramatic with my paint now that I don't live in a white apartment anymore". Yeah, live and learn. We had also added some crown molding which I still love, but even that was in need of some touching up.

Here is an early before picture of what the room looked like for a while, complete with old school, awful curtains, and standard crooked brass light fixture.

Here is what the room looked like about five years later on Emma's first Birthday. As you can tell, not much changed. The only change we pretty much made was that we removed the curtains. I know. We are big time DIYers.

And here is what we ended up with after painting the same color as the playroom! Big difference no?

Not only did it incredibly brighten up the joint, but it gave me a new refreshed love of our dining room set which I was not a big fan of anymore. It was completely blending into the walls and now looks much better and definitely stands out. That picture was taken pretty much right after we completed the painting, and we have since made a little more progress prior to putting the house on the market. 

I originally made a new centerpiece with some light pinks and blushes, but turns out for photography reasons, our stager wanted the table set for pictures, which required a smaller centerpiece so that pretty much went right out the window (although I loved the color combination). 

While repainting, I did some extra caulking and also gave our crown molding a fresh coat of paint, which made a big difference! Wes also painted the ceiling which went from cream to a bright white, which again helped to brighten things up. 

It's funny to how even some of the smallest updates can make a difference! I even spray painted our old rusty icky registers and even that little makeover helped!

With the addition of our new awesome Door Casings, an updated (and inexpensive) chandelier and some new prints for the walls (which you can't really see), we were in business!

 

Let's take one more look at the before and the after for full effect!

Before:

After: