The New House

Hello Blog-World! We finally have internet, and are getting kind of settled. As settled as you can get while you are still painting and making plans for more and more painting. I have tons of family and friends that live away and are constantly asking me to put up some pics - so here's what we've got going so far. I didn't clean before taking these... we put up the Christmas tree tonight, so whatever... overlook any mess if I captured it.

Here are some before and after pics:

BEFORE: Originally names "The Skeleton Room" due to blood red walls and what is probably supposed to be zebra print but looks like spines to me.



seriously... tell me that isn't a skeleton spine



Looks like a crime scene





Oh look! More skeleton details!



After: Now the boys' room



Okay, bad picture... but both boys' beds fit very easily in here and they still have a lot of floor space! Awesome! Better yet, no more remnants of the bleeding walls from Amityville Horror!

BEFORE: Known as "The Creepy Hand-Print Room" by all that entered. Dark brown walls, blue handprints EVERYWHERE. For the record, the hands were bigger than mine... not cute.

AFTER: For now, this is Madison's room. In the future, it will likely be a nursery/toddler/small child room for foster children. It's the closest to the Master bedroom. I'm still working on the other bedroom.. which I'll show you in a bit. Nothing fancy at the moment but it is no longer dungeon brown with handprints.

BEFORE: Known as the ugliest of the 3 bathrooms.. original to the house pink tile, hot pink cabinets, and dark, dark, DARK brown paint EVERYWHERE else. Even the face plates for all of the outlets and switches were hot pink.



But nothing made me say "Oh Lawd" like this. Oh. No. They. Didn't.

AFTER - pink tile still there... but cabinets now white, and walls lighter. Major gutting of this bathroom will occur in the future. Standby for more pics after that...

BEFORE: Super ugly black, peeling, gross paint in kitchen. And this is just one section. Yikes.



AFTER: So far just paint... paint is a beautiful thing.

BEFORE: Nothing majorly wrong with this... this is our 'sitting' area.. meaning totally wasted space that I have big plans for in the future. It was just very "blah."

AFTER: New paint, trim is now white, instead of that yellow-toned "egg-shell", and the black trim is gone from the dining room. (the crown molding in the dining room was also black.. dear God.. why oh why?)

BEFORE: Living room. With the blah color on the walls that ugly fireplace really stood out. Again with the black? To each their own!

AFTER: New paint, and that's it! Everyone thinks we've done "something" to make the fireplace look better.. but nope. We will be doing "something" to make it look better, but hey, I'm STILL painting, okay!

IN PROGRESS



This is the "extra" room that I've just finished the first coat of paint - it was the darkest brown known to man... lightening it is quite the process. I am thankful it has no carpet right now!! It's easier to paint when you don't have to use drop cloths!







This is the playroom... love the desks, love the storage... but it needs a lot of beautification. It makes me feel like the kids did in The Cat in the Hat. "This mess is so big and so deep and so tall! We cannot clean it up, there is no way at all!" (or something like that.. I don't know where that book is. In a box somewhere..)

There are two other bathrooms that we've not done a thing to, but they don't even come close to comparing to the, umm... creativeness of the one I pictured. The office as well, but we just painted it, and it wasn't quite a disaster either. The sunroom... love it, but not much to speak of right now. A big room, concrete floors, TONS OF WINDOWS. It will be one fine room one day!

I do LOVE my new house. I LOVE my neighborhood. I LOVE the nature trails out my backdoor and the woods and the sand and that kids ride their bikes around. That people walk their dogs. That there are SUPER nice lamp-posts up and down the street... that there is no thru-traffic at our house b/c we're the last cul da sac. I could go on and on... I am so thankful! I really pray that this house is a major blessing to MANY.