Before and After

 I'm finally ready to post before and after pictures on the blog! This post has a million pictures, but this was such a huge step for us and huge undertaking, that I really want to document how everything changed. I have to say, we love this house. Really love it. We are so happy here and happy with the way everything turned out. We put our whole heart and soul into this house. It was all worth it!

Living Room Before

 Living Room After

All we did to this room was paint the walls, but it made a huge difference. I love how the color brightens everything up!

Stairs Before

 Stairs After

This was tons of work. Ben fixed the damaged dry wall under and around the stairs. He also repaired the damaged steps. My dad built the railing for us, which is now one of my favorite parts of the house. I painted and stained the railing and trim. Then we had carpet installed. 

Kitchen Before

 Kitchen After

We had the cabinets painted and then we installed new hardware. We had new counters and sink installed. And then we cleaned and cleaned and added appliances. We love the kitchen, it is very functional (although a little short on counter space). I love the open cabinetry for my dishes and the window over the sink.

Dining Area Before

 Dining Area After

This was the wall we knocked out. It was kind of a pain to do, but I am so glad we did it. It opens up the whole house and allows me to keep an eye on the kids better. People that come over always mention how much they love it and how it makes our home look more custom. And after the fact, Ben now admits it is his favorite project he did on the house. 

Family Room Before

Family Room After

The main things we did here were to take the cabinets down off the wall, repaint and carpet. We still need blinds for these rooms, (the one set that was left is broken and doesn't open well). We love this room, we spend tons of time here. With the new colors and fresh coat of paint, all the moldings the previous owner put up look beautiful. I fell in love with this color after seeing it on a design blog years ago and always wanted a room this color. As we were picking paint colors I knew that for now I wanted the whole house a neutral color (all the many colors from the previous owners were so dark and overwhelming to me), but I wanted this one room this color of blue and I absolutely love it. Later I decided to do Chase's room the same color. 

 Playroom Before 

 Playroom After

The playroom has a closet and can be a bedroom one day. We have two "bedrooms" in the basement, although obviously we don't use either for that right now. All we did here was patch the walls (like crazy) and paint. The color is actually much lighter than the original color, but the lighting in the basement isn't the greatest. And then we replaced the carpet. I love having a room just for their toys! I clean it about once a month so I can vacuum and other than that it's a general mess and the boys are happy!

Other Basement Bedroom Before

 Basement Bedroom After

Besides paint and carpet we added tile by the sliding glass doors. We also had to repair damaged dry wall and baseboards in here. We really have nothing but these extra cabinets in here right now, but someday we will probably make this room into an office or guest bedroom. (If anyone wants to come visit we will blow up an air mattress for you in this room!)

 Basement Family Room Before

 After

This is our second family room. It adds so much space in this house- someday we'll be so glad we have it! All we did in here was paint and carpet. The kids call this the "space ship room" and play "jack in the box" in those white built ins.

Master Before

 Master After

I love my bedroom so much! The previous owners added all this gorgeous trim, moldings and baseboards, but it was all so dirty and gross. With a new coat of paint it feels so light and airy and kind of luxurious! We had to replace that huge window and it is one of my favorite parts of the house! The view from this window is a huge marsh the borders our backyard. It is dedicated wetlands and can never be built on. It is so pretty and green. I love folding laundry on my bed and having this beautiful view! I bought new bedding when we moved in and I still want to add a headboard and some lamps on the bedside tables, but for now the room is "finished". 

Master Before

Master After

This bathroom was a beast to finish. We decided to tear out the existing shower (which was tiny and completely covered in mold) and tub (which took up tons of space, and the actual tub was small and shallow). Then we decided to build this walk-out shower. Ben built the wall and put the right kind of backer board up (the previous dry wall wasn't the right kind which was no doubt contributing to the mold problem). We hired someone to help pour the shower pan (to get the slopes right) and then Ben and Blair tiled the floor. Then we moved in- it was nowhere near functional. For the next several weeks Ben and I worked on tiling the walls (it. took. forever.) Then we repainted, installed window sills, installed new baseboard, towel hooks/toilet paper holder/mirror. We had a plumber come and install the actual shower head, since the existing one was very short for Ben. He came up with the solution of doing this bar and it works well. We have to keep laughing about all the little things about this bathroom that are imperfect- which is what happens I guess when you do it all yourself. But hiring it out would have cost us thousands and thousands of dollars, so I guess you get what you pay for. Even though it isn't perfect, I really do love the way it turned out, and now I can look back at all those hours after the kids were in bed that we spent tiling with fond-ish memories. We also had lots of help from my dad, Will and a few friends- so many people helped make this place possible!

Kids Bath Before

Kids Bath After

 Chase's bedroom Before

 Chase's Bedroom After

Paint and carpet did wonders for this room. I have never really decorated a room for Chase. All his furniture and bedding are hand-me-downs, I wanted to do something to make it really feel like his space with spending much. I decided to do the gallery wall. Most of what is there we already had on hand. I ordered two prints off etsy and painted the frames, added the capitol C and Chase was thrilled with the final product. I think it captures him really well. My mom found the transportation canvas/height measurement tracker on sale and bought it for him, it looks perfect in his room. We also added blinds in here (no blinds came with the house). 

Hudson's Room Before

Hudson's Room After

Obviously the bright pink walls had to go. And the wood flooring looks kind of nice in the picture, but in reality it was kind of beat up, and I really didn't want wood in the baby's room. So Ben painstakingly pulled the flooring up and we painted in here. We also hung blinds. His room is a little smaller than Chase's, so it's a tighter fit, but it works great for him.

So that's our new place! I didn't put up pictures of the basement bathroom, main floor bathroom or the laundry room, mostly because we didn't do that much to them besides paint and they just aren't that interesting, but they are there! We love this house. So many people helped us pull this off and we are so grateful for all the help! And now living here every single day I think about how happy I am that it all came together and we get to live here now! I hope we stay for a long time.