New House, part 2

Welcome back to part 2 of our house tour! Today we will step outside for a moment, it's cold here today!

Deck before

Deck After

Rear view of house

The deck needed a lot of love, though you can't see it in the photos.  We stained every.square.inch of it: floors, railings, treads, bench, spindles, back.  It took 2 coats, 8 cans of stain, and Jared spent a lot of weekend hours working on it.  But doesn't it look sharp?!  Those pavers below the steps look like they need a little love now. oh well. we protected the deck and we will do more outside next spring.  you can't see it from the photos, but we got a new grill.  Jared got a floor model for almost 50% off at the end of the season.  We've used it a few times, and boy did we miss grilling.  We are ready to host some barbeques next year!

Let's go back in and upstairs now. The entire first floor has hard wood floors or tile.  Upstairs is the only place we have carpeting.  We had the carpets cleaned while the house was empty and while they do still have a few stains, they are SOOO much better.

Up here, in a lot of rooms, we had to remove lingering decorations from the previous owner. Decorative light switches, stickers, furniture, valences.

Upstairs before

Love this view of the upstairs, so fresh and clean..from left to right: Master, Guest, Hall bath, Caitlyn's room, and behind is...

Upstairs after

Reverse view, before

(sorry for the glare, I only have cell phone photos from our closing day)

Reverse view after

Josh's room before

Josh's room after

reverse view of Josh's room

 We still need a desk and chair, and shelves for this room.  Also, probably a bigger bookshelf since that doesn't really work for him anymore. And of course, paint. We did put a new ceiling fan in, light switch.

Caitlyn's room before

Caitlyn's room after

Caitlyn's room reverse

 We haven't done anything in Caitlyn's room yet either besides the ceiling fan and light switch. She also needs a desk and chair, bookshelf, and a reading chair.  Plus, we probably need to do some custom solution in her walk in closet.  She has the exact closet as Josh, but I forsee a lot of clothes, so we will probably build a solution ourselves.

Kids Bath before

Kids Bath after

When we bought the house, the second faucet didn't turn off, so the water had been shut off. We quickly replaced the faucets, so they wouldn't have to share!  Josh also convinced us to put pulls and knobs on the cabinets.  The wall is way too dark and green for a bathroom, so this room also will need a paint job and the trim as well.  I'm not sure yet about the lighting, or the tile, but for now it works. As the overall design scheme of the house includes oil rubbed bronze hardware, the faucets and cabinet hardware we chose were in that color.

Guest room before

Guest Room After

Reverse Guest Room

(Disregard all the Hanukkah gifts on the dresser!)  This guest room will probably be the very last room we tackle, since it's rarely used, but yet functional.  This was the furniture in the guest room in Arlington Heights, but the armoire doesn't fit in here, and the mirror that was part of the set was damaged in storage.  The bed is a full, and probably should be upgraded to a queen.  We store luggage in one closet - so great we don't have to go up to an attic!  The other side is cold weather coats and accessories, gift wrap, and my sewing machine.  Once we paint, I will decide if I want to change the furniture.  For now, it is the same as what we were trying to get rid of!  We did put a ceiling fan in here.  I'm also working on a print for above the bed.

Upstairs

 Coming out of the Guest room, you see the linen closet.  It's pretty much the same as the pantry, in this case, it works great!  I could probably organize it better for even better storage, but for now it's great.

Master Before

Master after

In the master bed room, we haven't done anything.  Hopefully we will be able to paint soon, but in the mean time, we tried to make the best with linens close to what is in here already.

I had earned new lamps as prizes one quarter last year from my Mary Kay, and I think once we lighten the color of the walls, they will really stand out.

In the master bedroom, there's a hallway with two closets, a master bathroom, and a sitting room.

hallway before

Hallway after; Jared's closet on the left. My closet on the right.

Not much has changed with this view, though we did fix the closet door that wouldn't close!

my closet before

Inside of my closet after

I of course want to do custom closets, but I am having trouble figuring out the layout...And I dream of a chandelier in here...someday

Master Bath Before

Again, we weren't able to paint in here, but the green has got to go.  I have visions of putting in a taller cabinet with deeper drawers, a unit above the counter as well.  And perhaps we'll do something about this tile.

This is the sitting room that's in the master bedroom.  Our plans include a work out space and small desk for when Jared works from home.  We plan to put in a treadmill and TV. We have a mini fridge already and weights.  We will get a simple desk and chair.  Because this space is so removed from the living areas, it's a great place for Jared to do conference calls - no one on the other end will hear all the noise! All we've done is install the 6th ceiling fan!

I don't have pictures of the garage or basement.  I never remember because those spaces aren't finished.

I hope you enjoyed the tour!