Here I am, finally bringing to you some pictures of our house since it was painted and updated a little bit. So far we’ve only worked on the kitchen, living room, breakfast room, and laundry room. So let’s get started!

Kitchen

Here was what it looked like before:

Here is what it looks like now:

The kitchen is the room in our house that is the most complete. (That’s probably because it doesn’t require any furniture.) I’m not crazy about the pinkish backsplash, but it will do for now. There’s kind of a lot going on in the left corner of the first picture, but that’s because we like bread products and that’s where they’re piled up for now. Notice the lovely flowers that David got me, in a beautiful Longaberger vase. The bamboo roman shade is from Target and it was really easy to install. Just ask my dad! ;)

Breakfast Room

This is the little nook right off the kitchen and living room. Here is what it looked like before:

Lots of wood, pinkish walls, cheap metal blinds, and one hideous light fixture. Let me show it to you up close:

Um, yeah. That had to go. So this is what the breakfast room looks like now:

Nothing too fancy, but it’s a big improvement, right? We still need some window treatments, something to go on the walls, and oh yeah – a table and chairs. What I’d like to get is a round, dark wood table with four mismatching yet coordinating white chairs. Sort of like this (the picture on the top right). I’m going antique shopping with my mom on Thursday to try to find something!

Laundry Room

Usually this room might be forgotten when it comes to decorating, or at least put off until last. But our laundry room leads to the door to our garage, so we go through it several times a day. Here it was before:

Just kind of blah. And here it is now:

I drew that whiteboard calendar myself because I couldn’t find one big enough at the store. I knew I wanted something like this when I was having all my computer problems and organization went out the window. Making this helped me to feel a lot better! I want to get rid of that peg board on the wall and put up something nicer, but it’s stuck on there good. Another project for a later date. Oh, see my reusable grocery bags and dog leashes hanging there by the door? Now I have no excuses!

Living Room

This is where we spend most of our time, so I want it to be a space I’m happy with. I like bright, open, airy places. But here is what it looked like before:

All of the same colored wood made it feel very closed in. This was the major painting job that was such an ordeal to get done. It was worth it though:

The stationary bike isn’t part of the usual decor…we just happened to have used it recently and I was too lazy to move it out of the way.

A small update I made to the mantel. On the right is one of our engagement pictures, and on the left is something I made in five minutes with some scrapbooking paper I had. The vase was a gift from my good friend Megan.

Obviously I’m not the world’s greatest photographer, but you get the idea! We have to keep our couches covered with sheets or else I think they would become giant mounds of dog hair. Second on the list after a kitchen table and chairs is a TV stand and a couple end tables and lamps. And I’m wondering if I should paint the fireplace brick white? Right now I’m leaning toward yes. I think it would complete the look.

So there you have it; the work we’ve done on our home so far. Comments? Questions? Praises? Constructive Criticism? I’d love to hear it! This post has been a long time coming and I stayed up late (for me) to get it up, so please at least take the time to say hello!

XOXO,
Kathleen