Renovation Update 1

 Kitchen Before

Lovely wallpaper, tile with so much crud on it we finally ripped it up and stained the concrete as a temporary bandaid, blue carpet going up the stairs, pantry door opening into breakfast area, huge glass window and door, island that was too small to be useful, the only drawer in the whole place big enough for a silverware basket was the one in the little desk, ovens fell out of the wall, I could go on... (look at baby Wilson- he was just three!)

Kitchen After

Ahhhh!  Much better.  Island, gone. wallpaper, gone. Tile, gone.  Much more orderly, totally functional.  Everything in its place- even Jack!

 Master Bath Before

Again with the wallpaper, tub too big, shower too small, black tile, too many doors, in one word- GROSS!

Master Bath After

So much better.  The linen closet is where the tub used to be to give you a reference.  We moved the tub, enlarged the shower and added the arch. 

 Back Hall Before/After

Before there was black carpet that can only be described as the backside of velcro, and, like everything else in the house, the walls were purple.  We moved the entrace to the master bedroom down (you'll have come over to understand this move if you've been in our house previously), added the nook with power strip for all of our bags and charging phones.  Lastly the stairs to the bonus room were reworked so that you can now enter from the house instead of the garage.  In the photo on the left you get a teaser of the master bedroom- is that windows I see!? 

For those who didn't know me four and a half years ago when we bought the house we're currently in, it was a bit of a fixer upper.  We loved the neighborhood and the size of the house, but that's about it.  We redid a little here and there as we could and then did some major demo about a two years ago.  Right after that demo we realized the Lord was taking us on a different path.  A path to South Korea.  So our kitchen sat with a huge hole in the wall (and a social worker walking through it!) for about two more years.  This February we finally got started on making this our dream house.  All in all it took about eight weeks- thank you so much to my in laws who let us crash with them for 6 of those weeks!  We now have a new kitchen, master suite, bonus room that is my studio and our guest room, and the old studio/office/sunroom is now the playroom/school room.  I've still got some details left in our bedroom, the bonus and play/school rooms, so I'll post pics of those later.  We also redid the floors throughout the first floor, so the den and dining room look all fresh and pretty too (same wood as in  the kitchen).  We are LOVING it and finally feeling like this is where we can stay for a long time!