Our House – Downstairs

The biggest excuse I have for my web-absence is our new house. We obviously liked it when we bought it, but we knew that it needed some cosmetic updating. So, that’s what we’ve been doing – in addition to unpacking boxes, we have been using a little elbow grease to make it pretty.

I thought you might want to see some before & after pics, along with a description of what we did in each room. The before pics are courtesy of my MIL who was here to help while we moved in (I was so overwhelmed, I didn’t even think about picking up my camera then). I will start with the first floor and post on the second floor tomorrow. Of course, since most people have given up on my blog, I don’t expect anyone to really read this, but here it goes:

Entryway

The first thing we had done when we moved in was have the banister replaced. The wrought-iron banister was too low, and was only attached in two places – out of date and unsafe.

Dining Room

We stripped the wallpaper, textured, and painted the walls and the inside of the cabinets. I painted over the faux-finish and flowers painted on the cabinets and changed the pulls. We also took a horrible gold chandelier from the living room, spray painted it black and added shades to hang over the table. Many thanks go to my mom for helping me out so much with the room.

Living Room

The thing that bothered us most about the house when we moved in was the RED carpet. The previous owners claimed that their interior designer said that it was a neutral, but we disagreed. We recarpeted the entire house before moving a stick of furniture in. We also took out that chandelier (in the living room? Really?) and put in a ceiling fan.

Master Bedroom

The distinguishing feature in the bedroom were the two hanging lights that illuminate the nightstands – a great idea, but impractical in real life. The only sources of light in the room were controlled together by a switch across the room. We got new fixtures and Matt installed the “Lightening Switch” (as seen on TV). Now we each have a control for our own light on our nightstands.

Master Bath

Oh, that horrible brassy-gold. It was all over this house! In the master bathroom we got rid of it all – we replaced the faucets in both sinks and in the shower, got all new towel rods and drawer pulls, and hung cabinets in the shower area. We also stripped wallpaper, textured, painted, and got rid of those awful sliding glass shower doors.

Office

In the office, we painted the walls and back of the bookshelves, put in new cabinet pulls, and installed a ceiling fan. (Seriously, what did the previous owners have against ceiling fans – there were none when we moved in.)

Kitchen & Backyard

I’m not doing befores & afters for these two areas, because we really haven’t done anything to them. The kitchen is big and had been updated with granite counter tops and new pulls about 6 months before we moved in. The back yard is narrow, but is host to an herb garden, roses, a hammock, and two huge pecan trees. The only grass is in the front yard, which Matt finds delightful.