Before and After pictures- Part 1

When we started this project, I was hoping that I would be posting these pictures back in November or December, and then for a while I thought the day would never come that I would be posting these pictures, but believe it or not folks, the time has come! Here they are! What you have all been waiting for! The Before and After pictures of Tarin and Nathan's first home.

BEFORE: View of living room, looking straight in from the front door.

AFTER: View of living room if you walk through the front door and look to your left! Haha- I had forgotten exactly what my before picture looked like.

Besides the furniture, the big changes made to this room:

New flooring! No more ugly ceramic tile!!

New baseboards and trim, new paint, new light switches.plugs, painted vents, new doors and knobs, and we put in a ceiling fan because this room had no light fixture at all, believe it or not.

BEFORE: Another view of the living room, facing the front door.


AFTER: Living room facing the front door. We are going to be adding window treatments and blinds at some point too.

BEFORE: Living room with a view into the dining area.

AFTER: Living room with dining area behind. There will also be a piano against that wall with the sign on it- but that's a post for another day.

BEFORE: View of the living room from the dining room.

AFTER: Looking at the living room from the dining room.

BEFORE: Fireplace

AFTER: Fireplace. We didn't really do anything to the fireplace besides add decor. Our love sack doesn't fit in the front room like it did at the apartment, so that's why there are so many pillows around- for additional sitting space. =)

We haven't officially decided if we are going to do anything else to the fireplace or not.

BEFORE: Dining room.

AFTER: Dining room.

Besides the furniture and decor, changes to the dining room:

New floor, new baseboard, new paint, new light fixture (the old one was brass and hideous!), new switches/plugs.

AFTER: Dining room from another angle. I like this one better because it shows off my fabulously huge mirror. =D

BEFORE: Hall bathroom- from the door.

AFTER: Hall bathroom from the door.

Changes to hall bath:

New tile, the baseboard/trim, new paint, rebuilt vanity, new cultured marble vanity top and shower walls, new HUGE bath tub, new toilet guts, new faucet, new light fixture.

BEFORE: Hall bath from the tub, looking downward a bit...

AFTER: Hall bath from the tub, with a more straight forward approach.

I like this view- the view from my fabulously awesome tub, which, as I predicted, is fantastical for bubble baths! Great news, considering my husband bought me 5 bottles of bubble bath for Christmas! (See my cute candles lined up against the mirror? I also have a cd player with Micheal Buble in it under the sink!) I think I might adopt this bathroom as my own- at least until we have guests or children.

AFTER: Bathroom tile.

I must apologize, as the tile is not at it's best in this picture. Try as I may, there is still construction dust lingering in my home- the tile is proof; it needs a good cleaning.

BEFORE: Tub in the hall bath.

One word: Gross!

AFTER: The new and improved hallway bathroom bath tub! Woo hoo!

So white and pretty! I love it!

And in case you are curious, that is Black Amethyst bubble bath in the corner there. ;-)

BEFORE: Master bathroom

AFTER: Master bath!

Changes that we made in here:

New tiles, new baseboard/trim, new paint, rebuilt vanity, new cabinet hardware, new faucets, new mirror, new cultured marble vanity tops and shower walls, new shower doors, new toilet flusher, new light fixture, new towel bar/paper holder AND I bought new tooth brush holder and soap dispenser. w00t!

AFTER: Master bathroom, from inside the shower. This shower is so huge compared to the one we had the apartment. I could probably live in there if I had to. I love it!

BEFORE: This is one of the nasty ceiling fans that was in one of the bedrooms. Ick. Also notice the disgusting popcorn ceiling.

AFTER: Our super new ceiling fans! Woohoo! One in the front room, and one in each bedroom.

AFTER (no before pic, sorry): the hallway. There is a giant mirror at the end of the hall that makes the hallway look super long. Almost every dog that has visited our house has run into it at some point- it's a pretty hilarious thing to watch.

Having a giant mirror at the end of your hallway that you can't avoid, is also a good motivation to lose weight and get in shape. That is now on my to-do list- because there is no way I am taking down such a fabulous addition to my home.

AFTER (again, sorry- no before pic!) : The hallway from the other direction. This picture nicely showcases our new flooring, which I couldn't be happier with! It looks so much nicer than the tile that was in here before. Honestly, it changes the entire look of the house- I barely recognize the place from where we started.

Oh yeah, while we are the hallway, we made an awesome discovery here! We can change the sound of our doorbell to play different songs depending on the season or whatever. For Christmas we had it play "Deck the Halls!" Nathan just changed it to a dog bark, and the puppies are freaking out- I won't be able to handle that for long....

Anyway, this concludes the Before and After Picture-Part One. Please tune in a week or two for Part Two- featuring the kitchen , the bedrooms, and our addition: the attached laundry room!