Let's Take A Tour

We keep showing you bits of the house one room at a time as we begin to tackle some projects, but I am sure curiosity is getting the best of you so let's take a tour... (all of the photos were taken when we went for our home inspection.)

Front of the house.

Entryway and dining room -- view from living room.

Living room fireplace.

Living room -- view from dining room.

Breakfast nook -- view from kitchen.

Kitchen

Kitchen/breakfast bar with view of the living room.

Our super fancy cabinets have slide-out pot/pan drawers.

Pantry -- one of my favorite parts of the kitchen! 

Laundry room.

Hallway to the two guest rooms and guest bath.

One side of guest room #1 -- the "Man Room."

Other side of the "Man Room."

Guest Bathroom.

Guest room #2 -- office and guest room.

Screened porch.

Master bedroom -- it's huge, so big that I couldn't
fit it into one photo. Our king bed looks small in here and the
previous owner fit a california king bed and a sectional couch in here!

Master bathroom. 

Master bathroom -- part 2.

Left side of the master closet.

Right side of the master closet.

Overall this house is fantastic! The rooms are large and there are tons of closets for storage, the only downfall is that the home still feels very "builder grade." Over time we hope to accomplish some large projects such as dark hardwood floors throughout, painting the kitchen cabinets white, new counter tops, upgraded laundry room, backyard fence, and painting. Of course there are some other smaller projects like changing light fixtures and adding decor that will help make this house feel like a home as well.

Thanks for taking the tour, make sure you check back as we tackle more projects!

       

The Bed Arrived!

The bed arrived about a week ago, but it stayed in boxes for a few days because we needed a break from home projects. But, she is assembled and absolutely gorgeous! The color of the suede goes perfectly with our linens and we can't wait to paint the walls so it stands out a bit more.

Not the best picture, but you get the idea.
And ignore the boxes on the right.



   

A More Welcoming Front Door

At 9am on my day off I grabbed the paint brush and began painting our front door. This is the one part of the house that has irked us since we first saw it -- who paints their front door poo-poo brown? And with light tan trim on top of that!

The poo-poo brown door in the beginning stages
of being taped off

We chose to paint the door black because its traditional yet modern. The approved black color for our neighborhood is Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black. After tackling this project, I have decided that painting doors is worse than walls. Especially since there was some strange goo-like sealant on the windows that had to be scrapped off. But, the end result was worth it! 

The door with its new color -- such an improvement!

Changing the color of the front door really improved the overall look of the house, it's amazing what a $20 can of paint can do! Now it's time to find the perfect wreath...

Let's Eat!

Finding the perfect dining room table was essential for us since we love to entertain. And the search had left us with lofty dreams of one day being able to afford one of the large rustic dining room tables that grace the pages of Pottery Barn -- like this or this. But alas, we are not the type of people who could ever throw down $1,500 on a table. So we perserveared and kept looking.

There is a small furniture shop less than a mile from my office that specializes in handmade furniture from places such as India. It's called Nadeau -- for anyone that is within driving distance to one, I suggest you hurry along and get to one. Now.

Last Thursday evening I got an email from them saying they had just received a new shipment of farmhouse style furniture. Score. Little did I know our future dining table would be awaiting my arrival the next morning. I wandered through the store and found some gorgeous dining room tables, but all of them were a bit too large and a tad more than I wanted to spend. Until I found the perfect table hiding under some other furniture. She was perfect, big and rustic, but with some more formal features. And, the price was just right! So I snapped this photo and texted David.

Our hidden treasure at the store.

Now, there is something that you should know about me. I don't like to buy anything furniture/decor that over $50 without asking David if he likes it. So, after a minute or two of texting and talking we decided this table was going to be ours.

Thanks to some transportation assistance from a friend/co-worker (the Jeep was 12 inches too short), we got the table home the next day.

Our new table :) 

Now, doesn't she look a lot like this table from Pottery Barn?

Summer Dining Table by Pottery Barn

Glad you agree. Anyway, now that we had purchased this fabulous new table it was time to search for the perfect chairs. Not such an easy task -- since when did dining chairs get so expensive? We needed 6 chairs and the ones we liked were going to cost between $100-200 each. No. Thank. You.

So, to my trusty friend Craig (aka Craigslist) I turned. I figured finding chairs we liked for the price we were willing to pay was going to take at least a month or two. Well, fate had different plans and we found someone who was selling 6 Pier1 seagrass chairs (we were debating between seagrass and linen upholstery). Needless to say we didn't think twice and emailed the seller right away. Fortunately we beat the slew of other inquirers that followed us and we picked them up the next afternoon for only $60 a piece.

Please excuse the quality of this photo. New one coming soon.

At first we weren't too sure about getting light seagrass chairs, but we plan on putting darker hardwood floors throughout the house within the next year. And with dark floors, dark chairs, and a dark table it would just look so...dark. Plus we will be painting the walls a different color soon, so the lighter chairs will be much better in the long run. (Don't worry, we will be staining the legs darker this weekend to match the table.)

Now, who want's to come over for dinner?!

Laundry Room Remodel -- Phase One

We made some progress this weekend on our laundry room remodel, inspired by this room on Anything Pretty. On Friday we hung a new light which we found a few weeks before at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore for only $20. Similar ones, sell for $100 and up like this one from Restoration Hardware. We also painted the room Aqua-Sphere from Sherwin-Williams. The color is very soothing and looks smashing against the white of our new washer and dryer.

New light fixture.

Wall color with the W&D.

Aqua-Sphere by Sherwin-Williams

Stay tuned for phase two of the laundry room remodel in a couple of weeks!


  

Frugal Find -- Lantern Pendant Light

I had only been on Craigslist once or twice until we went under contract on the house. Now, I am slightly addicted. So when David and I went to Florida to visit family and friends, I searched the Orlando listings and found this beauty.

Pottery Barn Hundi Lantern

A woman in Orlando had recently remodeled her home and ended up not using this fixture and lucky for me couldn't return it because it was past the return window. The lantern sells on Pottery Barn for $269, but I managed to snag it for $140. Score.

Now this rustic but elegant fixture is proudly hanging in the entryway. It's a huge improvement over the tiny little thing that hung there before.

Before -- the tiny pendant on the left.

After -- lights off.

After -- lights on. 

Another view for scale. 

The bonus? At night the light looks striking from the road as it shines a welcoming glow through the window.

I had my eye on this fixture for couple of months after seeing my dream kitchen remodel. And lucky for you, you too can have a nearly identical fixture. It was my backup plan had fate not brought me to the one in Orlando. Check out this light on overstock.com. Can't find a difference? Me either.

Cleaning Up Fall

There is one disadvantage to buying a house in February that has been vacant since the end of summer...leaves! We love our neighborhood because although it is new (homes built from 2004-2007) the developer did a great job of leaving mature trees throughout -- including two parks. Unfortunately for us that means leaves. Lots of leaves.

We started on the roof where pine straw had collected from the towering pine trees located in our back yard.

Dare Devil Dave on the roof.

And then we raked. A lot. 12 yard bags worth of leaves and pine straw.

Yes, there are still a few leaves. But after bag 12 we decided the
good ol' lawn mower can tackle the rest.