I thought you might enjoy a little virtual tour of the "before" look. =)
Here is the very HAPPY looking house I will be living in! (Ok, for the record, I hate this color. For the record, it wasn't Steve's first choice either. One day it will be a much softer, mellow yellow. For now, it's just "the house you CAN'T miss.")
Our tour begins by entering through the kitchen door in the driveway. When you walk in, this is what you will be standing on (below). (We will never be renting the house again. Tenants destroyed it.) We're ripping out this floor and putting down fresh flooring! The countertops are a dark blue so I will look for something that reflects that a bit when I go "floor shopping." The paint I chose for this room is also a nice blue.
Standing in the back doorway, this is what you will see. The wood wall will stay just as it is and the little "breakfast bar" won't have so much crap on it! (The water at the house is shut off until tomorrow so we've been bringing in jugs of it.) The room you see on the other side is the family room.
My little kitchen windows look out into the backyard. This spring I have intentions of pressure washing the back patio, cleaning up the lawn a bit and putting in a garden! I have wanted a garden for SO LONG. The kitchen cabinets will also be painted a crisp white to freshen them up. (And if they're lucky they might even get new handles that aren't falling off.)
And, of course, this wallpaper is coming down. The wallpaper itself isn't THAT bad, but it's crammed up underneath the cabinets and just seems kind of pointless to me. I will hang some sheer white curtains in the windows to make the room a bit brighter.
There is a slight step down from the kitchen into... the family room! Also currently known as the Nerf gun refill station. The family room is BIG and I'm excited to make it nice and homey. I will paint a couple of walls a very light green and the other two an ivory color (which will actually be all through the house).
If you take a right from the family room you will find yourself in the hallway. Pretty boring hallway... Will be a paint to paint with all those doors!
An immediate left will land you in this dive. This is the laundry room and somebody, at some point, really screwed up the floor. They used mud instead of leveling compound, linoleum on top of that and tile on top of the linoleum. Needless to say, it's coming out! I had picked out a sand-colored speckled flooring before finding out that it isn't the best kind of flooring to use in a bathroom/laundry room so I'll be looking for a similar pattern in a different kind of flooring. I think some wall-washing, new floor and fresh paint will make me a nice little laundry room! Eventually I will put up shelving as well.
Through the laundry room is this bathroom. This bathroom is what started it all! It's trashy. The linoleum is starting to peel back from the wall and there is some dry rot next to the tub that needs repaired. In "consulting" with my sister's boyfriend about this project (he will be doing half the work and has a friend who will help him) he started asking what I think about the pink board around the tub.
Um... I HATE IT. So that will be coming out. The shower area will be tiled with nice, white, ceramic tiles. A shower head will be piped in. (How weird is it that there is no shower head??) And it's possible that we will be re-texturing the walls. Plus, new flooring. But, of course, I will totally miss the pink wall and brown floor. *gag*
In the hallway there are two small bedrooms that I did not photograph because, well, they're just small, empty bedrooms! One will become a craft room/game room and the other will be a library/guest room.There is also a second (smaller) bathroom in the hallway that was recently re-done. The only thing I will change in that bathroom is the shower curtain. It was so recently done that I won't even paint it! (It's probably the only room in the house that will not get painted.)
At the opposite end of the hallway from the family room is the living room. It's a pretty decent sized living room but I'm not sure yet how I will furnish it. I never thought I would say that I don't have enough furniture but it's true. I'm actually looking to buy a loveseat and a couch! The living room actually might go empty for a little while.
To the left of the living room (where I was standing when I took this photo) are two more bedrooms. One will be mine and one will (eventually) be Jordan's. Mine will be painted a soft yellow color, just like my room at Dorothy's (which I LOVE). Jordan has always wanted a RED bedroom. We compromised a bit and will be painting a very small portion of his room red and will accent with things like posters and a bedspread.Below is my color scheme for the house. From left to right we have: Jordan's room, my room, the kitchen, the library, the craft room (one wall), the family room, the large bathroom (this is a sandy/beige color) and the rest of the house (this looks much darker than it is - a nice ivory color).
I am hoping to buy the paint tomorrow and get started on Saturday. Cody and I will try to pick up most of the supplies this weekend and he and Josh are aiming to start work on Sunday. Neither of them are working day jobs next week so they think they can get it done in 3-4 days. WOW! The painting is what will take the longest! My old roommate graciously offered to come down from the Portland area and help me so that could be loads of fun. If we get the water turned back on by then (it should be on by this weekend) I might even offer to let her stay there for optimal painting time! ;)Needless to say, though this will probably break my bank, I am SO excited about how it will look when it's finished. I will have a HOME! A place that I won't have to move out of for YEARS! A place that I can really settle in to and make my own. Too fun.
13. As always, when I'm scarce here, check out my 