Our House: Before & After (The First Year!)
This past weekend marked our 1 year anniversary in our house! Well, the house itself is quite old but we’ve been in our house for one whole year! Where did the time go!? I thought it would be fun to do a little look back at what we’ve done to the house so far. Our house was built in 1923 and we love the charm of an old house but with great charm comes great… uh, challenges. It needed a bit of a facelift. Some of it was just a coat of paint and some of the less glamorous updates included things like replacing pipes and creating a dryer vent.
There are 3 things I learned:
- Every single project takes 3x as long as you think it’s going to take.
- If you send your husband 1,497 of things you like on Pinterest, he’ll get overwhelmed.
- Marrying an engineer is a good idea. Having a father who is also an engineer and owns lots of tools is an added bonus. (And a husband & father that get a long really well is probably the best overall strategy.)
Ok, so let’s jump to some of the before & after photos! We are by no means finished but I think it’s fun to look at the progress! Most of these before photos were taken during the home inspection, so the quality isn’t great but you get the idea!
Here’s the living room when we first looked at the house. Did someone say potential? 😉
Here’s the living room now! I think painting the fireplace was probably the biggest part of the transformation. I also love the rug we just got. It’s so fluffy and soft! It really makes the whole room feel a little cozier.
I loved how the dining room opened up to the kitchen, but it looked sort of blah when we first bought the house.
Luckily, the space was perfect for a big dining room table. We even have a piano in there! We added the wainscoting to the bottom half of the wall and painted the top half “Gray Matter” (Sherwin Williams).
This bathroom was “fine”. The fixtures were fairly updated but it needed a little something.
We added the medicine cabinet for more storage and painted the walls “Tranquil Aqua” (Sherwin Williams) which I love. It’s darker than I would normally pick for a small room but with all the white tile, I think I like it! I also used Grout Renew on the floor which takes a loooong time to do but it really makes the floor look fantastic!
All of the upstairs rooms were this buttery yellow color. It was fine, but definitely not what I was looking for.
We painted our bedroom “Grey Clouds” (Sherwin Williams). I love how light and airy this room feels. Next on the list: find a headboard and something for the walls!
Earlier this year, we stained the deck. This was right after power washing, which actually made a pretty significant difference.
This was one of the more satisfying projects! We stained it with a solid stain and it made quite the transformation. We snagged some patio furniture on Craig’s List and have enjoyed quite a few meals outside.
There is still so much to do (you should see the basement) but it’s kind of nice to look back on the progress we’ve made so far. This house has been a lot of work but seeing the transformation from a house to a home has been an exciting whirlwind!
Have you done any house projects this year?
Your house looks amazing! We’ve done way too many projects to name- we’ve completely gutted our condo in the past four years! And now it’s time to sell and start over in a larger house. 😉
you guys, this is great!!!! i love how airy and bright it looks 🙂
I’m not great at home improvement but I’ve really enjoyed following your housing improvements. I love colored walls and the colors you chose are gorgeous.
Your house is gorgeous!! I love all of the updates that you have made!
xo,
Angela
Your house looks great and I love your style! Can’t wait to see what else you do with your home!
Everything looks great, Liz! I love your taste – very light and welcoming. Love all of the natural light shining through the bedroom. I also LOVE the dining room lighting fixture!
Thank you so much!! I was nervous when we first bought the light fixture but I love how it ended up looking in the room!
Liz, it looks so great!! I especially love what you have done with the dining room area – it is like straight out of a magazine! And that light fixture??? LOVE IT! I totally need you to come decorate my house. I have no skill for this kind of thing!
Looks amazing! What a great job. I really like the grey walls in the bedroom, I never considered that color before.
It looks AMAZING! When I buy my first home I need you and your husband to come fix it up for me 😉
I absolutely LOVE IT! You’ve done a fabulous job. We have that buttery yellow color through out our house and like you said, it’s not HORRIBLE, but it’s not ideal. Your guest room looks like fresh and inviting. Also, I totally agree with the “Projects take 3x longer than you think” and that’s even MORE true when you don’t have an engineer for a father or husband… Throw a couple of small children in the picture and that number is closer to 45943x longer than you think haha. How did you paint your fireplace? We have pretty gross tile around our fire place that I’d like gone, but not sure if painting it would look weird?
Hahaha I can’t imagine how long a project would take if there were small children around! We’re hoping to get all the major projects done before kids enter the picture, haha
For the fireplace, we sanded the tile a little bit to rough it up and then used a primer that is specifically made for tile. After it was primed, we just used regular semi gloss paint! It’s been almost a year since we did it and it actually has held up great, even on the floor part!