Monday, March 3, 2014

Home Sweet Home!

So I have been sitting on some news that I am finally ready to share..... 

We have a new house!!!!

Let that sink in for a minute, because I am not sure it has sunk in even for me yet. We have finally moved into our first house. OUR. FIRST. HOUSE.



My grandparents bought this house back in 1964. They spent years living in it together, making it their home, hosting many an Easter Egg hunt and Christmas Eve dinner. I loved this house. I LOVE this house. And now, it is ours. It was (and is) literally my dream house. Roomy, suburban, on a quiet street, and in a great school district. I love it.

We started moving in about two weeks ago. To say there was a lot of work would be....an understatement. Don't get me wrong, the house is gorgeous and in great shape. There were a lot of pieces leftover though, a lot to sort through and sort out. Thanks to my Mom for renting the giant red dumpster sitting in our driveway (which I would take a picture of to show you the sheer amount of junk we have discarded....but its snowing and I'm a wuss.)  

I think a real estate agent put it best when he said "The house has great bones."  And it does. There is so much potential here. There is so much that we can do and that we can play with. Plus, since there was so much leftover in the house for us to sort through, we have found some great pieces we are going to keep and work with. We were also infinitely fortunate to have Adam's parents come up for a visit just as we were moving in. We could not have done this move without them. They helped us unpack, clean, organize, add new locks, and even built some furniture to save Hubby and I the fight. They were even generous enough to gift us some new items for our new home. We are so blessed to have them. Plus my MIL has an amazing eye for decorating and has given me so many great ideas!

I am going to upload some BEFORE pictures first and then post pictures of the update as we go. It is slow going and we are taking our time to enjoy the process. 

 Here is our tiny little downstairs bathroom....it needs some work.

 Here is the basement or as we immeadietly dubbed it, "The Man Cave."

 We have a fireplace!!! And in the background on top of the shelf on the left, a really creepy old doll. I seriously debated keeping that to scare Adam with when he makes me mad. 
 A freakin' fireplace!
 Plus wood panel walls. I know these walls are hit or miss with people. You either love them or hate them but, especially in the man cave, we love them.

 Like I said, great bones and so much space. (P.S. that poster in the background is my rockin' Uncle mountain biking.)

 This is the "main" upstairs bathroom. Even that is a little starved for counter space as you can see.

 I love the colors on the tub and tile. I want to update it somehow, but for right now it is bright and cheery and works.

 Here is our master bedroom. The comforter set is ours. I wish I had taken a true before picture but it was late in the day of our move and I had no energy. 

 There was a desk set in the room when we moved in that I ended up repurposing (which I will show you later.)

 This bedroom set was my grandparents original and we really debated on what to do with them. I love the hardwood and I adore the tall strong features. I just couldn't part with them.


 This used to be another bedroom. When we first moved in there was a bed set (bed, dressers, bookshelf, etc.) and shaggy, dingy old brown and gold (?!) carpeting. My very first move, even before our first night, was to pull up that flooring. I didn't even take a picture of it I hated it so much. I just went to pulling it up and tossing it out. Thank goodness I did because look at those gorgeous hardwood floors!

 This is the only shot I have taken of the guest bedroom. The comforter set it ours (again late in the day and didn't take a picture of the original.) It is hard to tell from the photo but the walls are the worst color possible. My mom calls it "Pepto Bismol if Pepto Bismol came in green." It does make the room brighter... but it has to go.


Look at our cute little entry way!


 The dining room is spacious, which is great for us. We love to entertain and we could not pass on this buffet and table setting.
 
 The kitchen leaves... something to be desired. It was super cramped and dark dark dark. That last picture shows the only lighting in the room, an old hanging nautical lamp with a deep red shade. Plus the giant farmhouse table took up so much room! The kitchen is and always has been "my room" so this was a big project for me. I just kept telling myself "good bones" and moved on.

 Also, just for kicks and giggles, this was (and temporarily still is) in our kitchen. A rotary phone. An honest to God rotary phone! If you haven't had the pleasure of having one of these in your home (which who the hell has because honestly....rotary phone...) they sound like a fire alarm going off every time they ring. Seriously.

I'm going to post a warning here because these next few pictures may frighten you off. When we moved in we moved into a fully furnished house. Clothes in the closets and all. After my grandfather passed we took on the task of cleaning the house out as well as moving in at the same time. So part of our basement has become a storage space... You have been warned.
See what I mean? Storage and dumpster space. And this was AFTER a full day of hubby chucking things out. There is still a long way to go, obviously.

So there you have it. Casa de Bright! Our first home!!! Keep posted for the new comings and goings and all of the progress we have to make. Keep an eye out for some "after" pictures that I will be posting soon and as we go.  Plus feel free to leave me any design tips because Lord knows I could use them!

-Bee

No comments:

Post a Comment