When we bought our house in 2003 it is what one would consider a fixer upper….and by that….I mean a complete and nasty disgusting house. Our house was built in the 70's and I am pretty sure everything in it was still original…I’m talking carpet (picture orange shag), paneled walls, gold refrigerator and stove…the works!
I like to think that I am an ambitious person and I knew
that with the help of our families and friends we could make this place what I
had imagined….When we first moved in we did the basics, kilz and painted the
smoke stained walls -you could literally see where all the pictures on the walls hung by the stains from smoke that outlined them, kilzed the cat pee areas on the sub flooring, replaced the
carpet….the basics but he necessities!
It was a fun and challenging experience.
Then about 5 years ago we decided that we should do more to
the house…so we invested a little more money and sheet rocked the walls, new
laminate flooring, carpet, trim, painted the kitchen cabinets, new doors,
furniture….it was SOOOOO much work, but SOOOOO worth it! I don’t know why…but
for some reason I didn’t get any before pictures…oh yeah…I remember, I think I
was at my parent's house for the day and came home and Jacob and one of his
friends had started tearing down the paneling (insert panic attack here…it was
REALLY going to happen?!?!)
I started to notice that before I have a baby, I get the
itch to do some sort of big project around the house…since we aren't planning
on having a baby this year….I still wanted to do some sort of project around
the house….I had seen all these pretty kitchens on pinterest and I just loved them
and longed to have a nice big open kitchen….I knew that wasn’t going to happen
so I improvised…
I went from cupboards like this:
To the before when we re-did the house in 2009 (I think that's when it was?), to the after which is the current state of our kitchen!
I know it isn’t something that is going to add value to the
house or anything, but it was a super quick and easy fix and it has helped me like my kitchen just a LITTLE bit more...oh...and last week I found these super cute old green wood salt and pepper shakers at savers for $3....love them!
Oh yeah..and while I was doing my kitchen re-do, I also decided to re-do my chairs and table...(ps...I hate to admit this, but I searched for probably 15 minutes for pictures of my table and chairs and the realized I was about 15 feet away from them and could probably just take a new picture of them...)
Chair - They used to be white and cream striped...good, cute decision BF (before children), not so much after children...now the fabric is a brighter green (can't tell from the pictures)...really fresh...and yes, I put plastic over them...with two small children, best decision I have ever made (ok, maybe not EVER but, it was a pretty good decision - especially after Paityn and/or Charlie colored on them with a permanent marker...wiped right off)
Table - I got this table from my parents as a hand me down when we moved in...it was pretty beat up after a couple years of playing drinking games on it wear and tear, so I painted it black and distressed it like the cupboards...
I realize that our house still could use a lot of work and isn't perfect by any means...but it has really come a long way! I often wonder what the old owners would think walking in! It isn't perfect, but it's ours (in about 13 years when we get it paid off!)
I realize that our house still could use a lot of work and isn't perfect by any means...but it has really come a long way! I often wonder what the old owners would think walking in! It isn't perfect, but it's ours (in about 13 years when we get it paid off!)
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