New Cabinet Hardware

We also checked out the selection of cabinet hardware at Lowe's.  We thought it would be an inexpensive way to update the kitchen, until we realized we needed 57 of them!!! That's a lot of cabinets! We picked out 2 that were $2.50 (2.50x 57=142.50) a piece and bought one of each to try.  What we didn't do was measure the space between the two holes, so one one ended up fitting, but we liked it!!!

We think it will look good with our paint color and really update the kitchen without spending a lot of money.

Front Door

DJ picked  up some buy one, get one free valspar paint samples the other day so we could experiment with our three colors before buying the 5 gallon buckets.  Since it was BOGO, I told him to pick up a Fabulous Red that I have been obsessing over painting the front door since I saw it on my favorite blog, Young House Love ( check it out here!). I tried it....

and LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I decided to use the sample to get as much of a first coat on it as I could and suprisingly it covered the whole door (it was only $1). No, it isn't outdoor paint, so we will have to be careful not to get the door too wet, but we have a brand new RED front door and it's AWESOME!!!

FYI- A bigger piece of paper might have helped, when I put the second coat on I used plastic. ALSO, don't let your husband help you clean up or he will step in red paint and track it all over your living room.

I taped the window, but decided to paint all the trim.

The first coat.  It might not be the best paint job, I haven't ever painted a door before. We went to Lowe's before we picked up the eliptical and bought another sample so we could do a second coat. So our new front door only costs $2 to paint because we already had all the other supplies!

DJ putting on a second coat

Here's the before and after- LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!!!

I need another can of spray paint so I can finish painting the white planters black (also got that idea from YHL)



New Addition

The newest addition to the Holmes' Household....

An Eliptical!!! We went to pick it up in Springfield yesterday and took it to the new house last night.  The living room will not be its permanent home, but with all the construction, painting, etc. going on in the rest of the house, it will live there for now.

Just for Fun

DJ forgot he had mud on his hands and scratched his head...lol

Texture!!

This weekend we textured the walls in the master bath and the guest room, but before we could do that we had to cover the windows, doors, vents, outlets, etc. with plastic.  We also had to tape all the woodwork and put plastic on the floor so we didn't ruin anything.  I was a HUGE help in this process- just ask DJ! Anyway, here are some "before texture" pictures. 

Oh yeah, there's our toilet- in our bathtub (we are getting a new sewer pipe)

On Saturday, Darryl and Tonya came over with all the equipment to texture and the boys got started....

but not before DJ took a little break...:-)

The Bathroom

The finished product. It doesn't show up very well in pictures

The Guest Bedroom

Assessing the situation....

Getting the mud ready....

Almost done...

Here's a close up....

Asparagus

We have an asparagus garden!!... That I have no idea what to do with...any suggestions?

Stove

 Here is a picture our "camper stove".  I love the cabinets around and under it.  They are great for pans because you can pull out the shelves.  Unfortunatly, we might not be able to save them when we remodel, but I will need 4 burners on my stove at some point.  It will be interesting to cook my first meal on it. 

I do have double ovens though....

Before and After Shots

We were at the house this weekend so I took some post-wallpaper pictures before we start painting.  Service Master will be in and out for the next two weeks, so we have from free time before we can painting.  This week we are going to mud nail holes, etc. to get ready for painting.  We are also going to spray the texture on the guest bedroom walls and the master bath.  The plans are still to move in the first weekend in June and open the pool ASAP! The weather today made me realize how excited I am for this summer!!!!

Not too much better, there was two layers of wallpaper and the color underneath wasn't great.  We are going to texture this walls and paint them Valspar Hopsack and hang some new valances. 

The master bathroom minus the wallpaper and carpet.  Textured walls, new linoleum, new shower curtain, and toilet seat (not pink) are coming soon!

Bye, Bye border!!!! Can't wait to paint and get new lighting!

Just another view....

wall with the mural...

wall without the mural... (a horrible picture, I know...) We aren't sure why there is a white square there. We are thinking the wallpaper mural was there first, with green painted walls around it, and then later the old owners decided to get the matching wallpaper for the entire wall.  This green paint by the way is ALL over the house.  She must have liked green....

Online Shopping

I have been searching on lowes.com for a few new light fixtures to help update the house without spending a lot of money before we move in.  Here is what I've found so far....

For the master bathroom I like this 4 Light Brushed Nickel Contemporary Vanity Light. I think it will help update the dated bathroom until we remodel.  If it doesn't go with the bathroom after the remodel, it can be reused in the guest bath.

I love love love these Sconces to replace the old dated ones hanging on either side of the window in the dining room.  They would match the paint colors, make the room look more modern, and best of all when we remodel the kitchen there are matching pendant lights for over the island and this matching light for over my new dining room table!

I've had my eye on this bedding set since before we got married, but couldn't afford it then (and I still can't), but I would love to splurge on it when we re-do the master bedroom.  Which also means we would need to by a new (king size) bed and a bedframe to match the bedroom furniture we got for our wedding.  So we will stick with what we have for now, but I thought I would share it anyway....

And here is our bedroom furniture for reference....

I love the drawers on each side of the bed for extra storage, for all of DJ's clothes of course...

Paint Colors

Cream in My Coffee (ceilings)

Hopsack (for a majority of the walls)

Moose Moussee (for a few accent walls and the master bedroom)

We picked pretty neutral colors for the whole house since we want to redecorate a room at a time.  This way the colors will match pretty much anything and we can repaint as we go.  The office (with the paneling) and master bathroom will be white for now.  The guest bedroom will have texturing on the wall since it had not one, but TWO layers of wallpaper and they did not come off easily.

Inside Tour

I will try to do my best to walk you through the house room by room.  All these pictures were taken on the day of closing, so it already looks different in there. 

This is what you see when you walk in the door from the carport (yes, carport.  DJ is not thrilled about that, but he already has plans for a garage!). The cabinets are in great condition, we are going to change the hardware which I think will help to update them.  The counters are white, but in good condition so they will do for now.  See that low countertop? The previous owner was really short, so when she remodeled the kitchen, she made a special section of the countertop low just for her so she could roll her pie crusts and cook with her grandchildren.  You can see evidence of the previous owners height all over the house from low countertops and vanities to shower heads, top custom closets- which really doesn't work well for my 6'1 husband! Anyway, moving on- it was double ovens which are original to the house (1959 by the way) but in great condition.  There is a two burner cooktop, which is odd and everyone who walks in comments on our "camper stove".  It will have to work for now! That doorway in the back leads to the basement, which is a whole other story I will get to later.

A view of the kitchen from the dining room.  It is a HUGE room!! To the right is the sliding glass door to the patio/pool/backyard.  Lots of windows in this room! We will hopefully get a table one day to replace the folding chair. A couple things to check out in this pic- the light fixtures on either side of the window and the beautiful ceiling fan/light fixture.  Updating those for sure- I already have ideas.

Here is the den/family room.  It is going to stay like this for now due to the fact we only have one set of living room furniture and 2 living rooms.  Eventually, it will be the room we spend the most time in and the other living room will become the formal living room. We will deal with that wallpaper later.  It is textured, which we heard will not be easy to remove.

View from the other side- Great light and 1 of the 2 fireplaces in the house.  See that bathroom in the left corner-

Here's a close up.  This innocent little bathroom has started the Great Bathroom Debate of 2011 in the Holmes' household.  It is right off the kitchen and across from the den/living room (not to mention close to the ppol)so I, of course, think it will come in VERY handy! On the other hand, DJ thinks if we get rid of it we can open up the kitchen to make it bigger.  He keeps saying one day I will come home and it will be gone!

Walking into the formal living room from the kitchen/dining room.  This will be our living room now, until we can get to work on the den/family room.  It has a huge window, firplace, and built ins!

A couple other views of the formal living room.  From this view you can see the front door and the hallway to the rest of the house. On the left wall, past the built in's WAS this beauty-

A wallpaper mural!!!!!

Of course we took the opportunity for a family photo op in front of the mural before my mom and I got ahold of the wallpaper steamer the next afternnon. (Pictures of that to come soon!)

Bedroom #1 with walk-in closet and attached bathroom (picture below). This will most likely be the guest bedroom for now, except we don't have a guest bed, so I'm not sure what will be in there until we get one. 

The washer and dryer is in this bathroom for now, but soon we are going to remodel this bathroom.  Our plan is to move the washer/dryer downstairs, expand the bathroom a little bit, add a bath/shower, and move the door from the bedroom to the hallway so our guests don't have to go through the bathroom to get to the bedroom. 

Bedroom #2- It will be the office/work out room for now and eventually a nursery (EVENTUALLY mom and Tonya, don't get too excited yet!) As you can see I couldn't wait to start tearing down the wallpaper and see what was behind it! And to my surprise, this is what I found-

Paneling, yay! :-/

The master bath which has been called my Mary Kay bathroom because of the pink! This will be one of our first projects.  New EVERYTHING, including a new doorway so you enter through the master bedroom instead of the hallway.

And last but not least, the HUGE master bedroom. (Old homeowners bed and decorations, that is gone now which makes the room look so much bigger).  Those windows overlook the pool and patio and there is a walk in closet as well. 

View from the other side- more windows!

So that is basically the "before" tour, besides the basement which is off limits while the Service Master team is working on the crawl space! We have already done a lot of work, so more pictures to come soon!