This weekend marked our first house-iversary here. So I thought it’d be fun to take a side by side then and now tour. Think of this as a child celeb where are they now special E! special. Everyone loves those, right? If you don’t, think of this as an updated house tour.
Let’s start at the front door. Here’s the entry on move in day:
Add a rug, small table, a few prints, and here we are today:
The living and dining rooms one year ago:
And now:
Our furniture makes a big difference. The rocker has to go back down stairs, but my dad needs his rocker when they visit.
Other than moving furniture in, painting over the red accent wall (which might change-see the swatches?), and building an entertainment center, this room hasn’t gotten much attention.
Same goes for the dining room. Here it is before:
And now:
Yes, that’s a folding table in there, but it’s better than nothing. We’ve got plans that could change the flow of the room, so we’re waiting to buy/build a table to decide the size and shape.
One big change has happened in the kitchen. Check out how it looked then:
Now, the dark wall paper is gone. Soon, I plan to finish the walls and paint.
Of course we still want to rework the kitchen.
The dark wallpaper wrapped around to my office, too:
It’s amazing how much brighter the room is without the dark walls.
One of the rooms we’re nearly finished with is the family room. On move in day, it was a blank canvas with a 70’s moss rock fireplace.
The previous owner added some too traditional for our liking elements, like the sconces and arches.
Here’s the room after covering the fireplace, adding a bar/wood storage, painting the walls, re-arranging furniture, and squaring the arched doors:
Clearly the ceiling isn’t finished. We’re fixing a few small cracks. It’s on my to do list this week. But the room itself is nearly complete, just have to shop around for furniture we like.
Along with the arches, the previous owner updated the main bathroom:
Despite being the most recently finished room in the house, it was the first we remodeled. More storage and a shower were necessary for our family. And here it is now:
Light walls, a colored vanity, and coral accents make us smile.
The smallest bedroom, our guest/Handy Sammy’s room just got a make over, too. Here it is on closing day:
Today the room is bright and sunny thanks to a larger window and happy yellow paint:
Reconfigured bookshelves allow more floor space while giving the bed a cozy nook.
Our boys share the second bedroom, which was a plain box before:
And it still kind of is:
Before we can do much else, the popcorn ceiling has to come down. Then we can add trim and paint the walls. Until then, we’re living with swatches on the walls.
Same story in our bedroom. Popcorn ceilings are preventing us from working on the room. I can’t wait to paint over the cobalt blue walls:
We have built a bed (though it’s not finished) and added art:
I guess that’s something. Ha!
Before, our master bath was a burgundy cave:
A coat of green paint lightened things up, but we want to remodel this bath to include the claw foot tub we removed from the other bathroom.
Most of the basement is unchanged, so I’ll just share the laundry room. Ben pulled pet stained carpet out right after signing the papers:
For now we’ve got an old rug in place:
Gotta make things work, at least until we can really tackle each room. So there it is, our house one year ago versus our house today. It’s nice to take a look back, because sometimes it feels like we’ve barely scratched the surface of this remodel project we call home. But, we’ve actually got three finished (or allllmost finished) rooms with lots of changes in others. Slowly but surely, we’re making progress. One day, weekend, and project at a time.
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I can’t believe it has already been a year! Are you going to paint all of the trim in your house white? I love bright white trim but that can be a daunting task! Also, do you have any plans for the pool room?
Consider yourself ahead of the game for simply unpacking all of your things! 🙂
We’ve been in our house for almost 2 years and still have unopened boxes in our storage room. Haha! We are scheduled to start a complete gut/remodel on our 2nd floor in 3 weeks so I doubt I’ll get around to those boxes anytime soon! 🙂
Hey Lizzy!
Time flies, doesn’t it?! Eventually we’ll probably replace all the trim and paint it white. And the pool room will get a kitchenette (once we remodel our current kitchen) and we’ll fix the pool. None of that is a priority at this point.
Ah well, at least you’ve got a good excuse! Haha. Happy remodeling to you! It will be awesome!!
Thanks!
Amanda
Love that you removed the ornamental railing above your kitchen cabinets. I have the same ones and have been thinking of removing it for some time. Did it cause any problems for you? Did you simply cut it off? Thanks!
Hi Genevieve!
We were able to pull off the decorative railing with a pry bar and hammer. A few of the cabinet trim pieces came off with it, but they’re easy enough to nail back in place. I’d try prying it off in a small area to see how it goes, but you could cut it off if that doesn’t work. Hope that helps!
Thanks!
Amanda
Isn’t it crazy how fast time flies?? We’ve been in our house for two months already, and I know that one year anniversary is going to sneak up faster than we think. Congrats on the anniversary and fabulous job so far – can’t wait to see what it looks like a year from now!
Hey Dateswithdrywall!
It really is crazy! Having time markers (like buying houses and having kids) really makes you realize how quickly a year does go by. Congrats on your new house! Have fun remodeling!!
Thanks!
Amanda
I can’t believe its already been a year! I have been following you faithfully. I always get excited about what you are going to do next! You have so much house to work with. I love what you are doing. Keep up the good work!
Hi DeNise!
Isn’t that crazy?! It seems like we closed on it yesterday. Thank you so much for your encouragement and cheer leading! 🙂 Sometimes it’s easy to feel bogged down, but your words always help!
Thanks!
Amanda
You’ve gotten so much done in just a year! My favorite makeovers have been the fireplace in the living room, the bathroom with the blue vanity, and the kiddie’s room (I think the swatches are actually kinda cool). I love how playful all your spaces feel. Totally inspiring!
Hey Jennifer!
Looking back, I really think we got a lot done. We’re still so happy with the fireplace make over, and glad to hear you are, too! 🙂 Thank you very much for being so great and supportive!!
Thanks!
Amanda
you’ve done lots of work on your house the past year, I was laughing at all the paint swatches all over the house! It’s so hard trying to nail down colors! But love that every color your thinking about is a color vs. a non color
Hi Katrina!
Ha, I know. It’s a sickness. I’ll love a color, but Ben says he doesn’t. Or I’ll get one thinking it will be great and it’s super light. I guess I should do something to cover those, huh? Thanks for the kind words!!
Thanks!
Amanda
What a great jub! So much work, you should be proud.
Hi CC!
Aww, thanks so much! We’re so happy with what we’ve done so far. 🙂 Thanks for the encouragement!
Thanks!
Amanda
Wow! A year already! I always love looking back to see how far a house has come. We’ve been in ours just over two years and I love to remember back to see the horror we started with. Your house is looking great!
Hey Mary!
It’s so fun to look back, isn’t it? Makes you really appreciate where you started and how far you’ve come. 🙂
Thanks!
Amanda