Showing posts with label Our Home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Our Home. Show all posts
Hi friends!
Here is it, our formal living space. When we first moved in I had no idea what I wanted to do with this room. It would obviously be used as a formal living area but if I'm being honest I was so overwhelmed by everything else we had going on that we did't give this room a second thought. At that moment this room was not a priority and definitively not on the budget as we knew we wanted to make some changes. Even the one window to the left used to bother us. I have noticed that I like a symmetrical look and this room was driving me crazy. Hubby and I talked about making another window on the other side and having the fireplace in the middle but alas, this look has grown on us. For now.
After we started to furnish the dinning room hubby decided that he wanted to work on this room. We have two entrances and no matter how hard we tried getting everyone to use the family's room entrance some people would use the front main entrance and this room was such an eye sore. And so we agreed on revamping the fireplace, painting the walls, and changing the moldings. Something simple.
I don't have many before pictures but this room only had a white fireplace and very ugly moldings. The original fireplace was so blah. I really didn't like it at all so when I pitched that we should do a shiplap fireplace and showed hubby some pictures he was on board. We had already done an accent shiplap wall in the dinning room and we loved the look. I personally was obsessed! If hubby would let me I would shiplap our entire house :)
There was no going back after this room started to look presentable. I started to gather ideas on how I wanted to dress this room and I found the most inspiring picture on Pinterest. It actually had a black shiplap wall with a seating area similar to this one. I fell in love instantly and based this entire room on that picture. Except I wanted to keep it as light as possible and give it a modern farmhouse-ish rustic industrial look. That seems to be the trend when dressing up any room around here lately. One would say that I am undecided but I love how the pieces go so well together. From the ceiling fan and light fixture, to the fireplace and stone accents, to the armchairs and wall decor. I love it all!
Talking about wall decor, I have an Etsy order coming soon that will complete wall decor in this room. I've also been in search of a tall floor mirror to go in a corner right before the dinning room. I have not found anything I love yet and the one I did find was way too short. I think it was 57" tall and it just didn't look right but it looks beautiful in our master bedroom ;) So there will be a follow up update post to this room sometime in the future.
So yeah, this is our formal living space. I call it Mommy's time out area. This room has beautiful lighting in the mornings and evenings. I love to come here to drink my morning coffee, read a book, or simply breastfeed CJ as I admire the work we've done. Some Friday nights hubby and I sit here with the fire going and just talk over a drink. Some days the kids join us and it makes for really nice family time. I love all that this room represents. It's for sure my favorite room thus far.
This is what this room looked like prior to us buying. These pictures are from the listing when we found the house.
Here you have it, friends. Our modern farmhouse-ish powder room. Since there’s no window here I intended to keep it light with paint and decor. I craved adding a wallpaper wall behind the sink but Jamil never worked with wallpaper so he couldn’t do it for us. I was going to attempt doing it myself and of course, my wallpaper took longer than expected to get in and he needed to finish the bathroom because he was booked for other jobs. We didn’t install it after he was done because the room is very tiny, and the vanity and toilet are in my way, so it’ll be that much more challenging to get it done now. But to be honest, I’m just intimidated by the wallpaper hence why I haven’t done it myself yet. Maybe I’ll build up some courage this year and do it but for now, the walls are pretty plain. We shall see.
Over the summer, this little guy was being super fuzzy because he needed a nap but the heat and probably the humidity were making him feel uncomfortable. His bathroom was occupied and the so was the kitchen sink, and the other bathrooms have stand up showers. So we headed over to the powder room and he went to town! He loved it, I got to snap some pretty cool and memorable pictures, and then he went down for a long nap. We all won!
As I looked for inspiration for this room, I fell in love with cement countertops. I wanted to try it for this room before we do it for a bigger project. Again, Jamil had never done that either, but he gave it a try. The way he did it was a bit different from the way I had researched it and the final look didn’t come out as I expected. I think it should have been left drying a few more days or the vibration part of the process could have been more but to be honest, the way it turns out goes with the “look” I was going for. A mix of a modern farmhouse, rustic, and industrial. I didn’t get a chance to take pics before he added the sink but here’s a closer look.
Vanity, sink, and toilet is from Home Depot. The faucet I found on amazon and I am completely in love with it. I couldn’t have found a better one. The vanity light, towel holder, and toilet paper holder are also from amazon. The mirror is from Hobby Lobby. The shelves are from Michaels.
We ended up spending a lot more than we anticipated for the complete project, but the final result was worth it and we have peace of mind knowing that the beams are good now. I also must add that we probably saved some money by going with Jamil rather than hiring a big company for all the extra fees. Thank goodness for the Jamil’s everywhere 😁.
(This was how the bathroom looked like prior to us moving in)
This little space was once a spacious bathroom with a stand-up shower with access from the formal living area and a bedroom. On the first look, you could tell that it needed major updates for our liking. It wasn’t until we moved in that we realized how uncomfortable the shower and sink were. The shower was literally a cube with barely any space to turn. The sink was so low it felt it was for either a small child or an elderly. And don’t get me started on the toilet. Again, super low and to make matters worse every time you flushed it the water would come out of the sides on the bottom.
The bedroom with access to this bathroom was for our oldest son and he’s currently 5’10 so that sink was way too low for him and the shower was just uncomfortable. He never really complained but I could only imagine.
Since moving in I insisted that we needed to remodel that bathroom, but I wanted to do it the right way. Once and done. Not just a paint job. The sink and toilet needed to be replaced and if we were doing that we might as well do the shower too right. The flooring was a little unusual as well and not leveled. The entire bathroom really needed to be gutted out in my opinion and hubby was not about it. Not right after moving in and having to deal with a roof leak and water damaged floor.
Fast forward to springtime when we decided to update the fireplace and replace the trimming in our formal living room. We decided to go ahead and renovate the said bathroom. Originally the plan was simply to update everything. Then we decided to close off the entrance from our sons’ room by adding a wall giving him a walk-in closet and having only an entrance from the living room.
(Powder room side)
Jamil, my hubby stepdad and the person who takes all the credit for the labor in our home projects suggested that we split the bathroom into a powder room and still have a full bathroom for our son. We liked the idea. I had my doubts because my son is, well he’s a messy teenager. I didn’t trust him to be responsible enough to be in charge of his own bathroom. Except that he would still be using the shower in the original plans and at least this way if his bathroom was messy it wouldn’t scare off our visitors. So, we went with option 2.
This is when all the headaches started. Obviously, floors had to be removed to re-arrange water lines and drainage pipes and what did we find? Rotted beams 😩. This home was built in the 70s. The sellers were the original owners and they added two extensions to the house. This bathroom was part of one of those extensions therefore there should have been no reason to have rotted beams. But alas, it was what it was at that point. We had to reinforce the beams and replace wall support that started to grow mold, etc. Which also meant bye-bye budget.
(Son's room side)
Several weeks later the bathroom was divided, the dry walk was up, and it was time for what I call the pretty phase part one.
Check back in for the reveal coming up next.
(This was how the bathroom looked like prior to us moving in)
It's been a while since I posted anything, yet given the time of year it's only fair I share a glimpse of our home. There are so many updates that I have and I want to share here but those will come in due time. For now I hope these pictures bring you some cheer.
Did I mention we had our first snow day? Oh it was magical friends!
Only 4 more sleep till Christmas.
D
It's been a long time coming friends. A look into our home room by room. I am so proud of all that we have been able to get done in this home since moving in. Believe it or not when we first moved in I had no idea this would be the final look. I surprised myself with this little space and the other spaces we have completed so far.
This post will only include the entryway as there are some little details that I love and wanted to share. Funny story. We had friends over several weeks ago and she mentioned that our home was "such an Etsy home". I laugh just thinking about it because days later I thought to myself, maybe she should have said a Pinterest home since that's where all my ideas came from lol. I just happened to purchased some things from Etsy :)
Both wooden signs hubby and I made at home. I kept seeing the wooden sign with large hooks all over Pinterest but no link to purchase it from and one day I thought well maybe I can just make it. I searched Amazon for the hooks and found the exact ones I wanted. Hubby picked up some boards for me, then I stained it by mixing two stain colors, and he added the hooks.
Something I have learned about hubby since moving in is that he's very precise when doing things, especially things with measurements. I love that and I love watching him work.
This little board I saw on Etsy but I wanted to keep the same to very similar stain color theme throughout the house. I had my mother-in-law make the words in her Circuit machine, we picked up hooks at Home Depot, and again I stained and hubby added the hooks for me. Right before hanging it Hubby's stepdad rounded the edge for me and I loved the way it turned out. I want him to do that to the bigger board as well eventually.
Every piece here was thoughtfully chosen but my absolute favorite piece here is the lumbar pillow with the coordinates. I love thoughtful, personalized details and this was the perfect piece to finish this area. I look forward to dressing this area for the seasons :).
Across from the bench is a closet with sliding doors. I want to change the doors eventually to give it more of a rustic feel but for now it's just plain white doors to a coat closet.
Directly pass the entryway is the formal sitting area, aka #mommystimeoutroom as I joke to the kids. This room just need some wall decor before it gets blogged but here's a little sneak peak ;)
Let’s talk home updates.
It’s been just about seven months since we moved into our home. When we first saw the home we fell in love and now that I’m thinking about it I don’t really know why. Maybe because they had it nicely decorated? For their own taste of course but it was definitely an eye catcher. Maybe it was the layout? Or better yet the nice patio, large yard, and most prettiest landscape. They knew exactly how to suck us in. If I am being honest, with all the updates we’ve done to this home I wonder what was it that made us love it so much when we first saw it.
Our home was built in the 70s and had only been occupied by the original owners. We loved knowing that they were the only owners that’s for sure. Yet as the months pass by and we see all the DIY projects they did that were pretty much shitty work we wonder how we didn’t see it on the first look. Or the inspection day. Or the walk through. I just don’t know what we were thinking. My only guess is that it was simply meant to be.
It was listed as a move in ready. Which it was. We knew we’d be changing wall colors and replacing a reddish/burgundy carpet that was in one of the bedrooms, updating the bathrooms one in particular as soon as possible, and further down the road doing a kitchen renovation to make it more modern and functional. But we never thought that something as simple as removing a carpet would lead to finding rotted floors caused by prior water damage that was not fixed correctly which would very rapidly increase our "carpet changing budget". Ever since then I feel like every room we update is more than “just a wall color change or adding trimming”.
I plan on going room by room to show a before and after picture but this post in particular I will be showing y’all our (or rather my) mood board with our plans for certain areas of the house. We started with the family room, dinning room, and what I call the little boys bathroom. Just some paint, a brick wall whitewash, and some decor so stay tune for that!
For several weeks now we’ve been updating our entryway and formal living room. That’s almost complete. We just have to finish the painting, some minor touches, and then furnish it. I look forward on sharing that space and what we decided to do with it. Now we’re moving on to the bathroom located in the formal living room area which is also connected to my oldest bedroom. That bathroom is a pretty nice size so we’re planning on dividing it into a small powder room in the front with its entrance located right in the living room and keeping the back part as an en suite to our oldest bedroom. Spoil much? He’s pretty excited about it because our original plans were to close off the entrance from his bedroom and just this week we decided to leave him his personal bathroom.
In between all of this hubby and I are giving my oldest bedroom a facelift. His room is going to be pretty cool I tell you but you’ll have to keep checking back to read about our plans for his bedroom 😉.
Here are our mood boards for the entryway and powder room.
2019 has been so good to me, to us. From traveling to Europe, to being pregnant with our third baby, to buying a home. Can this year get any better?!
So yeah, we bought a home.
We had plans to do so for a few years now but we wanted to wait till I had finished nursing school and had worked and saved a pretty penny. Plan was to start looking in April, after getting back from Europe but there were some things that we needed to do behind the scene prior to. After those things were settled we started to work with a bank and a realtor.
He started to actively look for a home in late June. We literally saw 3 to 4 homes every other day for several weeks. I was worried that this process would take a long time as I have seen it happened to others so I wasn’t really expecting to find a house that quickly but I was really hoping we did. We put in offers on about four homes including our current one. I was so close on giving up because I was frustrated at how expensive the homes were and the homes that I did like we’re out of our budget or had crazy taxes. Then those that were in budget were not what we wanted and had a lot of work to be done.
When we came across our home I wasn’t too thrilled about it. Matter of fact, hubby never showed me this home before booking a showing. I knew about it right when we drove into the drive way. I wasn’t impressed. But after walking through it I had fallen in love. There were some minor things that we didn’t like about it but somehow we found solutions for them even before we left the home. We ended up putting an offer right away but it wasn’t accepted. To say that we were disappointed is an understatement, I was truly torn. Then exactly 2 weeks later and after seeing many more homes we got a call from their agent asking if we were still interested. We revised our original offer and submitted it. They counter offer us, we liked what they had to say and just like that we had a deal. Those next six weeks were the longest most nerve-wrecking days of my life. I hated the waiting game. I had heard so many stories that did not end well and I was terrified that that would happen to us. I try to stay positive but it was so hard.
The week prior to closing there were so many paperwork and other things that needed to be done that I was honestly having major anxiety. Everyone always say “buy a house, it will be worth it, you’ll save money in the long run, you won’t regret it” but they never tell you how stressful it is to go through this process. Even the day of closing there were hiccups that needed to be dealt with or the deal was off. It was crazy. Then when we were at the office signing I honestly started to have palpitations and I was sweating like I had just ran a marathon all because I was double guessing if we were really making the right decision.
When it was all said and done we picked up the boys and headed up to the house and it all felt so right. Everything about this home felt so right. I really felt like we were home. Originally I had wanted to build a house but it was so hard trying to figure it all out not to mention that we needed a big down payment for the type of house we wanted because of course we didn’t want a cookie cutter and custom homes have the tendency to be pricey. It would had also taken a year or longer to be finished and ready for move in. So this route was without doubt the best move for us.
Today makes exactly a week since we closed on our house. We have done a lot of painting with a couple small projects and are hoping to be moved in by next week. The house was pretty much move-in ready but we wanted to do some changes to it, like the painting, before moving in any furniture.
The boys are super excited. We met all but one of the neighbors. We are in a cul-de-sac with about six homes. There are some children which is perfect because they are similar in age yo our boys and everyone have been super nice and have welcomed us with a big smile and kind words.
I personally feel beyond blessed. And I look forward to this next chapter in our lives.
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