Le Grand Tour

You asked for it. You got it. Welcome to the grand tour of our new casa.  Nothing is even remotely close to being in a finished state - few things are even in a permanent place even after living here two(!) months - so we're going to throw in some before and sort of in progress pictures. In addition, we thought it would be fun to list some of the projects we have in mind as we tour along. You know, to help you visualize what kinds of changes we have in mind. Since pictures + project lists = really long post, we'll split this up into two posts - one for inside the house, and one for outside/miscellaneous.

We are pretty fortunate in that there weren't any major changes we needed to make immediately upon moving in...you know, like really heinous brown and orange floral wallpaper or something that would make us want to tear our eyes out just looking at it everyday. Which is pretty good considering our house was built in 1926. That's right folks, our house is older than my grandma. Fortunately, our seller got rid of the scary all-over-wallpaper stuff during the 14 years she lived here - we know how bad it was because she showed us pictures of what it looked like when she moved in. (Thanks for doing the dirty work for us Bev.) Even though there wasn't anything too scary, obviously not everything fits our tastes, so there are plenty of changes we have in mind. Let's start with the inside:

Living Room:

Living Room Projects:

• Paint walls and ceiling - I painted the walls a pale greyish-taupe before we moved in to hopefully brighten up the dark wood thing we have going on in there. I also bought some Sherwin Williams Brilliance ceiling paint during a later sale, but have yet to paint that. (I think it is fantastic that all the original woodwork is intact - and looks great - so as much as I love the look of bright white trim, I'm going to be a 'naturalist' and keep the original woodwork downstairs for now)
• Paint heat registers so they blend in more with the dark woodwork
• Get matching jute rugs for both seating areas - our current rugs are quite clashy, so I'm hoping for something neutral and durable that will create a cohesive look.
• Replace loveseat with two chairs - the loveseat doesn't work functionally as its own seating space in our long narrow living room, but hey, we work with what we've got in the meantime
• Acquire less modern looking lamps - left from our college-to-'grown up' transition and a little boring for my taste
• Slipcover the sofa in a washable neutral color - it was a hand-me-down from Darren's oldest sister and is a little rough around the edges.
• Make or buy light and breezy neutral curtains for the windows 
• Create some front entry organization. There's just an awkward bare wall where Remy's toys are supposed to live right now and I feel the need to do something more practical with it.

Dining Room

Dining Room Projects:

• Paint walls and ceiling - check! Did the walls before we moved in. Ceiling soon.
• Change out the chandelier - I like it for now but might try to play with changing out the covers or something as a start
• Get rid of the old blue recliner (it has a vice grip for a handle - classy.) that is randomly floating at the back of the room because we have no place for it
• Create a wood wrap-around 'bar' for the kegerator - the white monster is a bit of an eye sore, but we can't bear to stick our beloved (DIY-ed) kegerator in the basement (not to mention it would be super inconvenient when we have parties) so we plan to class it up a bit.
• Make new curtains - dark green is one of my least favorite colors, so I will probably go with something light and breezy to tie into the living room.
• Get a larger more room-size appropriate rug (yellow pattern?)
• Find different pairs of dining room chairs so they aren't matchy-matchy but still have some cohesiveness and interest

Kitchen

Kitchen Projects:

• Replace hardware with oil rubbed bronze knobs and pulls - the current ones are a little modern for my taste and I'm hoping to go for a more rustic, country kitchen kind of look
• Build breakfast nook benches, possibly with storage, so we can make practical use of the space (currently we just have boxes of picture frames, decor, and books sitting in there, which we have yet to unpack)
• Build or find a breakfast nook table
• Make roman shades for the windows - there are valances everywhere(!) and I'm not the biggest fan.
• Make pantry shelves and paint the pantry - we need more food storage and that closet would make a perfect pantry
• Install undercabinet lights
• Get rid of the fan or replace it with something smaller and more appropriate for the space
• Replace the nook light fixture. Gold = ick.
• Replace the countertops
• Paint all the trim - it's a little dingy looking
• Replace the light fixture above Remy's food, which looks like it's going to fall out of the ceiling

Half Bath

Half Bath Projects:

• Paint a seafoam blue color
• Find or make shelves out of crates
• Install reclaimed beadboard wainscoting (we have it sitting in the basement from a friend who tore it out of her new house)
• Replace the laminate floor with white hexagon tile
• Remove the current light fixture and install one or two sconce style fixtures with a switch

Stairway/Upstairs Hall - still looks exactly the same and I just plan on painting for now!

Full Bath

Full Bath Projects:

• Paint a neutral color - maybe the grey from the living room?
• Paint the trim and doors - they're white, but all dirty and streaky looking
• Make a shelf with hooks for towels
• Make shelves for the closet so we can finally put away all our stuff (yep, that's all of it still in boxes)
• Repair and clean the white subway tile
• Install a fan
• Install low flow dual flush toilet adapter
• Replace laminate flooring with white hexagon tile
• Buy a new shower curtain since the current one is a little too vertically challenged like me short

Master Bedroom:

Master Bedroom Projects:

• Paint a dark bluish/grey color - You can see the paint swatches on the wall. I like to sleep in places that are dark and cave-like. (Is that weird? Like something Batman would do? I guess I just never understood having a bright bedroom when the whole purpose is sleeping.)
• Install bamboo shades in place of the white ones
• Replace current quilt with white pickstitch quilt to contrast with the future dark walls
• Possibly make/buy a bed skirt so you don't have to see the ugly metal bed frame
• Make a few pillows for interest
• Replace my dresser with a vanity style dresser I can sit at to do makeup
• Buy/make a shoe rack for the closet
• Acquire under bed storage for my out of season clothes

Office

Office Projects:

• Paint - possibly orange? I'm feeling like something bright (since this will also be my 'craft room') to get the creative juices flowing.
• Get better craft organization so Darren will let me make the Office an Office/Craft Room
• Purchase a desk lamp
• Buy a desk for me to use - Done! Scored one for $50 from a sorority sister who moved out of state and couldn't take it. Best part is that the desk was exactly what I had been looking for for months.
• Replace curtains with something bright - maybe a breezy yellow print?

Guest Bedroom

Guest Bedroom Projects:

• Paint - same seafoam color as the half bath? the current mint green color kills me.
• Find a new bedspread - maybe ticking stripe? The old one I used was from college and has a rip in it and a big stain on the underside.
• Buy better pillows and throw pillows - we want our guest to be comfy!

So, that's pretty much it for the inside! I apologize for the bad pictures. We just have a basic point and shoot camera that won't allow me to adjust settings manually, so some of the pictures distort colors a bit.

In addition to what you saw, we have a basement and an attic as well, which I chose not to take pictures of because there really isn't anything to see. The basement is pretty much what you would expect from an 80-something year old house and is too damp to consider finishing. The attic is actually split into two separate rooms and we just use it all for storage. We think someone might have used it as an extra bedroom at one point - though we don't know how because it isn't very temperature controlled. It does have a vent and an old cable line up there, but for now, we don't really have any desire to convert it into an extra room.

Stay tuned for the much shorter back and front yard tour along with other outdoor and miscellaneous projects we have planned. What do you think so far? How about an orange office and dark bluish-grey bedroom? I know it's not everyone's cup of tea...