The heart of the house.

It was clear from the beginning that the kitchen was going to be the first "big" project in the house. Once again, the previous owner's choice of paint color was slightly off from what ours would be. The cabinets and hardware hadn't been updated in years, the light fixtures were from the seventies, and the appliances needed some upgrading. First thing is first....Demo!

The tramp stamp had to go which revealed chipped paint behind it...awesome.

The grandma detail work had lost it's charm :-)

The hanging cabinets were completely cutting off the other side of the kitchen/breakfast area...time to knock everything down.

The breakfast area's light fixture had pineapples on it....????

We took out the cabinets, the sink over hang, and both light fixtures (in the breakfast area and above the sink). Then it was time to paint the walls and cabinets. 

After we knocked down the cabinets the space became so much more open and social...which is great for our dinner parties.

The new light fixture and paint color....Sherwin Williams "techno gray".

In place of the cabinets we added some simple shelves for vases/glass.

The new light fixtures over the sink.

The window without the over hang..brings in so much more light.

 

Cute little vases on the wall that hold mixed beans...can change out with the season.

 To finish it off, we put up a small back splash behind the stove and purchased new hardware for the cabinets and rugs.

And now we are off to our next project....the yard!

The Holidays

We were lucky enough to move into the house the week before Thanksgiving. Spending our holidays in our new home gave us a lot to be grateful for. Plus, any excuse to decorate is a wonderful thing in my book. 

Thanksgiving Dinner

My snowman "Mike", he greets all the guests....haha...so cute!

Since all of our trees our fake I decided to buy real wreaths to put throughout the house. Gotta love that smell :-)

Living Room Decor

Dining Room Decor

Advent Tree/Wreath

Den Decor

Little Christmas things we've collected over the years....now even more room to fill :-)

As our good friends would say....."Stephanie, you should probably get some more Christmas trees."

Bring in the furniture!

Moving from an 1100 sq/ft apartment to a 2500 sq/ft house presents a small complication....FURNITURE!! If you are anything like me, and I know some of you are, it was absolutely imperative that the house be fully furnished when we moved in. I accepted the challenge as my personal mission (Rob didn't really put up a fight). Fortunately, I knew we were blessed with friends and family who stockpiled furniture for us in anticipation that we would some day actually go through with this crazy idea. With my mother-in-law (decorating partner in crime) down to help, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. Here are a few shots.

Front Entry

Living Room

My TV...when Rob's watching hours and hours of soccer :-)

Winged console behind couch, this gives you extra light without having to put your couch right up against the wall.

Love the lamps we found at the local consignment shop.

Every home should have a reading area :-)

Dining Room 

Finally have a place to listen to our records. Fun to put on something old at dinner time and have a cocktail or two :-)

Rob's humidor

My mother in law found this at a consignment shop in Wisconsin, 19th century German hutch with ivory detail...BEAUTIFUL!!

Den/Family Room

Built ins on both sides of fireplace.

We ran cords through the attic to mount the TV...it gave us so much free space. You should have seen how long this took the boys to figure out...haha.

Guest Room

Old oil paintings and pictures give this room an old time feel. We also decided to angle the bed to give the room more depth. 

Guest room.

I love mixing patterns in bedding. And the cute little red lamps really add character.

Rob's music room is upstairs but we hung some of his guitars in this room. I love the look.

The old library card catalog is one of my favorite pieces of furniture in the house. 

I promised Rob that I would find him a "manly" bed...and thanks to our local consignment shop I delivered on the promise.

You can never have too many pillows.

At the end of the week we had so much left over we could furnish another room or two. Which is great because I can switch stuff throughout the year. Everyone needs a hobby :-)