Daily Living Room

The End of an Era

Published on May 8, 2012October 9, 2012 by Our Humble Abode15 Comments

After living in and perfecting our first house for eight years, we found a new fixer upper that stole our hearts. Our first house will always be our first house love, but we’re officially back to owning one house. It’s a little sad, but we’re so happy in the mountain house. Even more so, we’re happy the buyers are happy in our old home. Let’s take a walk down memory lane with a reverse before and after picture tour.

Living room before, recently opened to the kitchen:

After our move out:

Dining room before:

An empty after:

Kitchen, just after finishing a complete gut and remodel:

And after the after:

Guest bedroom before:

Now ready to house a cute little girl:

Main bathroom before:

After, emptied out:

Boys’ bedroom before:

And now, ready for the new owner’s stuff:

Master bedroom before:

And after, complete with the custom-made bed built (our buyer bought it from us):

Master bedroom before:

After:

When Ben bought this house, the basement was completely unfinished. Here it is after finishing it while I was pregnant with Everett:

And two years later:

My office, stocked and ready for work:

Now sad and empty, but ready to work for someone else:

The basement bathroom before:

We never did finish the steam shower under the stairs, but that can be a project for the new owner:

Laundry room and Ben’s reloading office before:

And after we moved everything out, including the washer and dryer:

The small basement bedroom as we had it just before moving:

And after moving:

The large basement bedroom pulled double duty, acting as both a bedroom and a storage room before:

When emptied, it feels even bigger:

Seeing the house empty is especially strange to me because I’ve never seen it this way. Ben bought the house a couple years before we met, so he had already moved in. If we’re in this house again, we’ll be visitors. We’ve become friendly with our buyer, and we’d love to see how the house evolves over time.

Have you been a house after selling it? Was it odd, or cool? Did the new owner make any changes?

P.S. To see true before and afters, check our Our First House page.

{Silver} Dropping In

Published on March 6, 2012March 26, 2013 by Our Humble Abode24 Comments

Since we finished the sheet rock work in the kitchen, we’ve needed to paint the living room. I procrastinated because I don’t like painting and once I started on the living room, I’d need to carry the color down the hall. On Thursday, I picked out a paint color, Silver Drop by Behr (color matched to Glidden) and got started. Nothing like selling a house to get your butt in gear, right?

I started by taking the pictures down and repainting the trim, just to cover any areas where the original tan color may have seeped under.

I filled about 50 nail holes at the same time.

Using Frog Tape, I taped off all the trim. There goes a whole roll.

The boys decided to make a fort out of the rearranged furniture.

Then I started rolling. And rolled, and rolled, and rolled. And that’s when I remembered why I usually make Ben roll.

After doing paint related work all day, I finally finished just as Ben was getting home. When I asked him to start peeling tape he didn’t understand. I told him I had just finished the second coat. He was amazed I had done it alone.

It’s lighter than I would usually go with, but I thought it might be better for resale.

The hall feels so much brighter.

I’m not going to bother hanging pictures before we move. It’s not worth the effort. So I’ll stare at blank walls for the next month or so. It already feels strangely sterile.

You’ve seen our most recent painting adventure. What is your favorite gray color? Do you prefer light or dark colors?

Teal Table Lamps

Published on February 23, 2012February 23, 2012 by Our Humble Abode38 Comments

After a broken lamp snafu, I had a little shopping to do. I started where I usually do, TJ Maxx and Ross. Sadly, both stores were surprisingly bare in the lamp department. No joke, there were about 10 lamps total in each store. Boo to their disappointing selection. Luckily, Target has tons of cute lamps. But I made the choice to buy non-breakable lamps this time, which quickly whittled down my options. I settled on two teal lamp bases (on sale for $14.99 each) and plain-Jane white shades for $13 each, meaning each lamp and shade cost under 30 bucks.

Bonus, the bases are resin! I don’t know that I’m 100% sold on the lamps (hence the tags and stickers), but the price was fantastic.

The teal color is fun and bright, but I think I’m hung up on the shape. Not as simple as the last pair of lamps.

What do you think? What are your favorite lamps? Especially of the unbreakable variety.

It Happened One Night

Published on February 15, 2012February 15, 2012 by Our Humble Abode8 Comments

No, I’m not talking about the Clark Gable movie. I’m talking about something that happened last night. Nothing perverted, but something dirty. First, let’s see if you can figure it out. What’s wrong with this picture?

Nope, not the balloon under the chair. Or the strange coloring from the morning sun. Let me rephrase the question. What’s missing from that picture? Maybe this month old photo will help you.

Have you figured it out yet? If you haven’t, your time is up. I’m telling you. Look at the table by the couch. See a lamp there? Yeah, me neither. Turns out one cute little boy + an inflatable ball (that should have been outside) + ceramic lamp = shattered pieces. Right after that I thought of Bobby Brady and the infamous broken vase. “Mom always said, don’t play ball in the house.”

This isn’t the first time one of those lamps has broken.

Unfortunately, this was the good lamp, and it didn’t fare as well as it’s counterpart. Because I was mad/cooking dinner, I didn’t take a picture of the pieces scattered over our floor. Ben cleaned up the mess, but before he did, he asked, “Do you want to save the pieces to put it back together?” I thought he was joking, he was serious. Apparently I’m ~~crazy enough~~ prone to gluing things back together. Before he threw the pieces in the trash, he took the shade and finial off. He knows me so well.

With two broken lamps, I’ll be lamp hunting later today. Fingers crossed Ross, TJ Maxx, or a thrift store has something good. If you’re wondering, I have plans to put the less broken lamp in the basement bedroom. I like the shape too much to part with it just yet. Plus, it’s nearly identical to this $129 beauty.

What are your favorite lamps? Have your kids broken something recently? Tried gluing it back together?

P.S. I still haven’t fixed the first broken lamp. I just cheated the back to the wall and no one knows, except you now.

Worse for Wear: End Tables

Published on September 21, 2011September 21, 2011 by Our Humble Abode7 Comments

The last time we shared something worse for wear, we discussed how our welded steel dining table has fared the past year. Overall, not too bad. Just a few scratches, but nothing a can or two of white spray paint can’t fix. Unfortunately, not every piece of furniture can be fixed as easily. Take our living room end tables for example. They used to look alright, considering they were $15 Target clearance tables with laminate tops.

When I bought the tables two years ago, I bought them mostly for the price and the steel bases. The laminate tops, not so much.

Laminate is super cheap and peels off easily. Specifically, Vincent peels it off easily. And, he puts stickers on everything. Chairs, cabinets, tables, you name it, it has a sticker on it.