Home Is Where The Heart Is

Growing up is hard to do. That's very true, but it's also AWESOME!!! One of the perks of making the leap into the "real world" is achieving the dream of owning a home. I just got my very first house!!!! What a surreal and amazing experience. I decided that since the premise of this blog is an ode to new beginnings and adventures that my first post would be all of the "before" pics of my(and my boyfriend's;) humble abode:

 Tada! I absolutely love the big window with all the panes of glass in front. In the evening it brings in that perfect summer dusk sunlight, beckoning me to crack open a beer and sit on the front porch. I dislike the monotone paint color and the huge tree covering up the bedroom but that is an easy fix. . .hopefully:) I think the "fixing" part is what is exciting- there is so much potential. Renting is so boring. You don't want to pour money into a rental and it's so hard to make a place really yours and cozy and perfect to come home and nestle up when you can't change the colors or the blinds or things that you would want to invest in if the place were truly yours.

The first thing we did after closing was rush over to see if there was hardwood under the carpet- and thankfully it was in great shape! We then promptly began tearing all of the ugly carpet out. I was so excited, I didn't even think to take a before picture of the floor before the carpet was gone.

Another shot of the living room going into the bedroom hallway on the right and one of the bedrooms.

Bathroom Vanity

Bathroom

My friend, Emily said it best when she came and looked at the bathroom and said, "This would be so cute if it were the 1970s!". There is no shower head so we decided to just go for it and tear everything out and start from the studs which was so liberating and fun! Now we get to make it however we want it- but for now it looks pretty barren with everything ripped out. . . . 

Above is half way through the demo phase and below is what we have right now- yikes!

As you can see there is quite a bit of work to be done, but my boyfriend, Scott and I have decided to make (or at least attempt wholeheartedly) this experience fun and exciting instead of a source of stress and arguments. Here are some more scattered pictures of the house. We are so excited to share the results of our hard work with friends and family so I will be updating after photos to come!

The living room with all of the carpet and foam padding ripped out. This week we are getting the floors sanded and stained a darker color:)

The best "before" photo I have of the kitchen. We were going to paint the beautiful oak cabinets white(BIG mistake!) but my mom suggested that we replace the ugly brass cabinet pulls first just to see if that would make a difference. WOW- we bought these more modern stainless steel pulls(not pictured-I'll post a close up with the afters) from Home Depot and mom was definitely right! They tie in great with the amazing appliances that came with the home. Avoided a regretful mistake there- thanks mom!

After pictures to come soon!