Interior Tour | One Year In

HAPPY EASTER!  It was one unlike any other, right?  Since we couldn't go anywhere, we made the best of it with our little domestic church here and it actually ended up being an Easter we will never forget.  We forged some new traditions and, because it wasn't quite as busy as it usually can be, I feel like we were able to soak in the tradition and could be even more mindful of Christ's sacrifice for us.  I hope you felt that too.  There really is beauty to be found in this whole pandemic situation if you have the eyes to see.

There is also beauty in the fact that Lent is OVER!  We are obviously still very much living a pandemic lent of sorts but I feel a breath of fresh air has filled my lungs with the Easter season.  I gave up being on any form of social media during the day for Lent and, while it was surprisingly hard in the beginning, I'm resolved to make it my new normal going forward.  When I did take the time to post something at night during Lent, I felt like it was much more intentional and not based on some passing whim or obligation to show the internet something during the day.  Maybe that makes no sense at all but I feel like overall, I ruled social media instead of it ruling me...something that I think happens all too often these days with all of us.

Anyway, I'm here today with a big update - how we've progressed on our house thus far!!  We closed on the house a smidge over a year ago and so I've been slowly taking pictures of the current state of each room over the past few weeks to put together a slew of comparisons.      

Hopefully this barrage of before and so-fars is as fun for you as it is for us.  :D  A lot of times, we get stuck in the thought that we're not really making any real progress or we're not progressing and changing things fast enough.  Yes, our pace is slower thanks to the DIY nature of how we do things around here and the fact that we pay saved-up cash for every upgrade, but sometimes it's hard to accept that the before isn't going to be blown away by the after in a matter of days or weeks.  But then I write things like this post, where we can actually see the progress we've made from the start, and all of that not-going-quick-enough fades into the background because really, we've made some good progress over the past year.  Scraped, smooth ceilings are probably the biggest winners but also the most understated because the ceilings aren't usually the first to be noticed.  In their new state, they help bring more light into the house which amps up the after-factor.  Everything else is a matter of new paint in a lot of the rooms and just bringing in furniture with a little bit of styling on the side.  We've still got a long way to go (and really, we'll never be totally finished because you know those winds of change can getcha...) but we have had so much fun planning and making and designing in between that we're almost glad we're not there yet.  ;)

So, come on in!

The entry before:

It's hard to see, but there was wallpaper all over in here.  The pattern is too small for my older phone to pick up but it was straight outta the 80's.

So far:

Before:

After:

Get the details here.  The doors and floors will all be different in the future but you can't argue that it's not looking more 2020.

The reading room before:

So far:

Read about the most recent reading room update here.  (Since I wrote that post, we Scored (with a seriously capital S) a pair of these chairs* from Dirt Cheap.)

The dining room before:

So far:

It's still very much the blank slate it was after we took down the wallpaper and painted. 

The kitchen before:

So far:

There is still a whole lot of that 80's orangey wood hanging out but, hey!  No more wallpaper!  No wall on the right!  (Read more about that wall here.)  We are really digging the open floor plan and our new peninsula.

The breakfast nook before:

So far:

Read about our progress here.  I'll get all of the details on that table we built up soon too!

Before:

So far:

Laundry closet before:

So far:

Half bath before:

So far:

Still ugly - just a little simplified.

Storage room before:

So far:

  

If anything, it's more messy.  We like to think it's an organized mess though.  ;)

Den before:

So far:

Ummm, HELLO!  Opening up that wall made a huge difference, right?  I think this room will win "The Biggest Change" award when we're done with it.

Here's what used to be our view looking in from the kitchen (which was no view at all):

But so far:

We are waiting on someone to come in and finish the drywall mudding for us where we put the beam in the ceiling and then we'll paint the ceilings in here and get those paneled walls looking more modern.  Also on the docket, building a big, floating shelving unit on the wall where the TV is and a fireplace/mantel makeover.  All of the floors in here, the entry, reading room, dining room, kitchen, storage, and laundry closet will be getting the wood-look tile treatment eventually too.

Kids'/Guest bathroom before:

So far:

Same great lighting without the wallpaper.  A cute shower curtain helps maybe a little, but I can't honestly say this bathroom is looking better...yet.  The popcorn ceilings are still there because, after we spent a half hour taping off the walls with plastic to scrape them, we realized with the first scrape that they were painted over with something super hard like oil-based paint.  Boo.  They aren't going anywhere even if they are super white...but they are going to get covered up and that is going to be super cool.

Office/Guestroom before:

So far:

My sewing table doubles as our desk and is a drop-leaf table that folds down to about 12 inches deep and sits up against the wall when we have guests.  It's such a great set-up for us.  I need a large area to make pillow covers but that large area is too large to also be able to pull out the trundle under that daybed to make a king-sized bed for when family comes to visit.  So, we're all about metamorphic furniture in here.  

Those wardrobes flanking the daybed are from a local thrift store and the daybed we bought used off Facebook marketplace.  We had the wardrobes-flanking-the-bed idea before we had found any of this furniture and I think both of us are still shocked that we found three pieces that fit together along this wall perfectly and secondhand at that...and all within a couple of months.

Playroom before:

So far:

Nothing has changed in here yet besides the fact that all of the kids' toys got tossed in and those dingy blinds taken down.

Master bedroom before:

I mean, LOOK at those yucky, brown, cigarette smoke-infested ceilings!  Yipe!

So far:

Beyond the coat of oil-based primer on every surface to rid us of the smoke smell and then paint, there are still a few plans to execute.  We went with a pale greige color on the walls (China White by Ben Moore mixed in Valspar paint) just to get the primer covered up but lately, I've been dreaming of going bold in here and maybe switching up the layout.  Those are back burner dreams though.  Stay tuned... 

And the last room on the tour?  The master bathroom.

Here's what it looked like before we moved in:

So far:

Like all of the bathrooms, this one looks worse than what we started with.  All along the walls around the throne, there were bumps, divots, and weird raised areas on the walls.  We started peeling off the paint (because, oddly enough, it could be peeled off) and realized that *we think* someone started removing the wallpaper in here, got frustrated that it wasn't coming off easily, and painted over the halfway peeled paper.  To whomever you are, thanks.  A lot.  We will recover from this but I'm not sure we can ever forgive the perpetrator.

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To see our exterior progress and what more we have up our sleeves, check out this post.  Oh, and you might've noticed that I didn't include the kids' room in the tour.  That's because I've been tweaking a few things in there and, with the quarantine, I haven't been able to finish what I thought would take a couple of weeks.  *womp womp*  When this whole thing is over and I can frequent Dirt Cheap again to find what I need, I think another little reveal will in be order.  You know I so love those.  :)

Stay healthy my friend!!!!  😷

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*This link is an affiliate link which means that, if you click over and/or make a purchase through the link, we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.  All of our affiliate links will lead you to things we actually paid for or that are similar to the item we paid for in case ours is thrifted/sold out/secondhand.  This extra money helps us with the costs of running the blog.  Thank you for your support and for fueling our love to inspire and share all things DIY!