Before & After
I’ve been meaning to post before and after pictures of the house we live in at camp. Most of the hold up has been waiting on a sunny day because we all know pictures look a thousand times better with lots of light. Rooms look larger and cleaner and happier, too. Sunny days are rare in winter in western Maryland and sunny days that jibe with house cleaned up days are worth a gold mine. Yesterday we finished up with school in record time and the boys helped put things away before we headed out to the library so I hurried through the house and snapped a few photos. Here is your little virtual tour …. although visiting in person would be at least thirteen times better because then we could have a cup of coffee or a glass of tea. First, in case you don’t remember, here is what the house looked like when camp acquired it. It should be pretty self-explanatory.
The day after the contract was signed, we headed to the house and started hauling stuff out. A few guys showed up to help carry out the furniture and at the end of the day we’d taken down all the window treatments and hardware and patched lots and lots and lots of little holes in the drywall. David started putting up trim in all the places that just never got finished. The perfectionist finish carpenter in him went into hibernation otherwise I suspect some of the rooms would have gotten re-worked. You know, the man who trims corners so tightly they almost don’t need caulk staring at the half inch gap between where the baseboard ends and the door frame begins … that kind of thing.
You learn something new every time you do a house project and my learning curve this time was deciding on the correct shade of grey. Seriously. Twenty years from now I bet they’ll send you home with an app that shines colors on the entire wall so you can see what it would really look like instead of guessing from a two inch color sample. I was a little horrified at how blue it looked when I first painted it, but now that I’ve lived with it a few months, I don’t think about it as much. I think the blue grey carpet makes the walls look more blue than they really are. Hey, at least it’s not green-grey or lavenderish-grey.
And now, here’s a little virtual tour of the house with as far as we’ve gotten. We haven’t done a thing to the kitchen except a friend and I yanked the one cabinet out and shoved it to the other side of the frig to make it at least a little more efficient. I love how the cabinets look from a distance. I love that they are white and I like the simplistic lines. It looks even dreamier on pictures with all the gorgeous light coming through the windows. But, it is seriously inefficient. Think Lowes plastic (whatever that stuff is they use instead of wood) with shelves inside that aren’t as wide as they should be and at least one replaced with a six inch wide piece of plywood. Some of the cabinets aren’t even attached to the wall and most of the countertop could just be picked up off the cabinets. Maybe that’s why they aren’t level? I learned quickly to never lay an egg on the counter because it will roll off and go crashing onto the floor!
There are a couple of things though that are absolute God-sends. The closet in the dining room acts like my pantry and helps to compensate for the deception of the cabinet’s capabilities. There is another large closet right inside the front doors that is stashed full of table boards, the vacuum, extra folding chairs, shoes, muddy boots and coats. I look at that closet sometimes and want to whisper words of endearment for whoever put it there. The windows!!! Seriously, for being one of those small, typical ranch houses, this house has an amazing amount of natural light. If you have heard me talk about the grip SAD gets on me every winter, you’ll understand why this is such a big deal. I don’t even want to think about what it would be like if we were still in the basement apartment.
Our bedroom is pretty tight and both bathrooms are super tiny, but it has space in the rooms we most need it. The boys’ room is graciously large and easily houses their toys. Which is good since I have no idea where else we’d put them. The dining room is too little to have a table full of guests (I miss entertaining like that), but the living room is big enough to set up homeschooling stuff on one end of it and we have hosted 16-17 people somewhat regularly. So far they’ve all been gracious about crowding around in the living room with their plates of food and lack of personal space and we’ve had lots of fun anyway. I’ll know it’s time to get worried when they start boycotting invitations. 🙂 The one thing I really still wish to unpack is our books. Maybe someday Ikea will come up with a way to suspend bookshelves from the ceiling that can be raised and lowered. Oh, and the wall above the sofa is still bare because I can’t decide what to hang on it. I’m all ears for suggestions. Help a girl out, pretty please?
And that’s about it. If you’re ever close by, stop in and say hi or better yet, stay for dinner!
Love the clean look you have. My very favorite thing in the house are living room curtains!! Now I’m wondering if I could pull something like that off here… or what the man would say to that. 🙂 Looks great, you’ve made a house a home!
You should try them! I love the color pop in the otherwise super neutral room.
I love your cute little place. Cute and cozy!
Are you sure you weren’t collecting the color samples for Pinterest project? 🙂 🙂 And it seems like home designers went through this phase where they got an award for the smallest bathrooms possible! I’ve seen some where you can sit on the toilet and brush your teeth at the sink at the same time. I’m tickled you have so much light in your house. Wish I could come see it. 🙂 Looks lovely!
Can’t say that Pinterest hasn’t inspired me a LOT! Mostly I’m just so thrilled that my favorite colors are finally in and readily accessible. 🙂 Small bathrooms? You said it. These are the walk in / back out variety. 😉 Seriously, we can’t even keep bathtowels in ours so if you get ready for the shower and forgot to grab a towel and washcloth in the hallway, you are kind of down on your luck. 😉 I wish, too, you could come visit!
Wow, you have completely TRANSFORMED that place! It it just darling!! So so pretty, and fresh, and clean, and magazine-esque! I love you and Christy’s styles – each unique and not identical, but I love the fresh clean lines, the openness. It looks straight out of Ikea! 🙂 Fabulous job, Michelle!!
Aw, thank you! It is amazing how different it looks for how little we did! The place looked so different just getting the existing furnishings out. Aside from the few pieces of trim, the only thing we’ve done was paint about 3/4 of the house. But even just that little can do so much. I wish it were ours because I would rip out the carpet so fast you wouldn’t have time to sneeze. It still smells like a nursing home in here and I think the carpet is the culprit. But beggars can’t be choosers so we just burn LOTS of candles and I hold my breath when I first walk in. 😉
Wow, I’m so glad to finally see pictures of your house!!! It looks so nice, and I especially like your living room and homeschool corner! The curtains are so pretty. I LOVE Adam’s telescope in his room. I didn’t realize your bedroom was so tiny, but it also looks cozy.
You did an amazing job! Love it!!
SO interesting to see where you live and what you’ve done to the place. I know all about grey looking blue! And your bedroom might be small, but it looks larger than ours. Maybe it’s because the windows are bigger and brighter. But no, it’s more than that. Our bedroom is simply tiny, but that’s okay. 🙂 I would LOVE to stop by for a visit. Maybe the next time we happen to be in the area. (that’s supposed to be a joke!)
You have that place looking good. I would come have coffee and cheesecake there. Oh, nevermind the cheesecake. I know how you feel about me and that. Guess I’ll just go eat a truffle to make me feel better. I would come for coffee sometime – you know – drop in while I’m (cough) shopping in Cumberland. =) Nola
Sure, go eat truffles. I can’t say no to the ones you gave me and I’ve heard that the best way to get skinnier is to feed your friends cupcakes. I’ll just stick with truffles. Oh, and yes, you should stop in while shopping in Cumberland (cough, cough). Actually, we got a brand new T J Maxx ….. imagine that!
you’ve got the touch, girl! i love those living room curtains. and grey is my color, too. you are so right on the craziness of finding that perfect shade of grey. i would love to stop in for dinner….:)
If you come, we’ll kill the fatted calf …. or grill salmon. Or maybe do both. Because THAT would be cause for tremendous celebration. 🙂
Of course you are amazing…as always! Love it! Wish I could be there…….tomorrow! To help you celebrate your birthday! Missing you!
Thanks for the tour! I love what you’ve done w/ the place, and you know I”m a huge fan of those chevron yellow curtains. They add the perfect pop to the room:-)
I think that you are the one who first introduced me to chevron, but I can’t remember for sure. Didn’t you use it in Abbi’s room or something a long time ago?
ohhh. i love before and afters~ yours looks like a totally different place. love the fresh crispness of it. and the word spring on the scramble stand. too cute!
xox