At the end of 2014, Kevin and I knew that we wanted to expand our family and we knew we would need more space to do it (the one bedroom condo we were living in was not going to cut it)! Thus we started our harrowing - and exciting! - home search. Because we started our search in the winter, there was a lot of inventory on the market, but we did end up finding a small house with 3 bedroom, a HUGE yard and lots of potential in metrowest Massachusetts that seemed perfect for us.
The house was a flip that the previous owner worked on from spring to fall in 2014. Originally, the house, built in 1961. looked like this:
Scary, right? Looks like the house you would stay away from around Halloween. Thank goodness there were some updates and today, it looks like this!
We haven't done much to the outside of the house yet besides some much needed landscaping, but its on my continuously growing to do list to
- Remove the shutters (I don't know why anyone every put shutters on this style home!)
- Paint and/ or get a new front door (I've never really seen a front door that is a full pane of glass. Luckily last winter I got some stick on frosting that allows a little more privacy)
As mentioned, the house was flipped, but it wasn't really staged as a flip - we needed to paint everything and come up with our own vision for furnishing and decorating. Let me show you what we came up with.
The front door enters into the space we use as our Dining Room
The Kitchen is open concept directly to the left of the dining room.
When we moved in there was no backsplash and the cabinets were just a plain wood coloring - not really my style. I had Home Depot come out and was enamored with all of the wonderful things they could do to our kitchen (cabinets with drawers that pull out!!), but Kevin was NOT enamored with the $10k price tag. We did the backsplash last winter in hopes that it would tide me over until we could redo all the cabinets, but they really bothered me every time I walked in. So I took some time during naps and after bed time and painted the cabinets myself using Annie Sloan Chalk paint! I'm really happy with the way everything came out!
I love so many of the elements in our kitchen. The Craftsman style fireplace in the sitting room has its backside in the kitchen, which makes a really nice focal point in the room. I also love these stools I got from Target! They are a great contrast to the white cabinets, but I also like that they have a bit of warmth with the wooden tops vs. being all metal. Though - my favorite aspect is that they allow for every more people to enjoy the kitchen!
We added some open shelving to make better use of the blank space in between the cabinets and the mud room. I love these natural wood shelves with metal brackets from Target. I would use them all over the house!
We really like coffee in this house - running after a one year old will bring that out in you. I wanted to create a space in the kitchen that matched my love for the beverage I drink so often. Below is what we came up with.
On the first floor we have a Sitting Room that we use when we have guests over, when we want to listen to music, light fires in the winter or where we play with our daughter on weekend mornings right after she gets up.
Music is another one of my passions. I couldn't go a day without listening to the radio or my iPod. One of my favorite memories so far in this house is Sunday mornings making pancakes for my daughter while we listen to the vinyl record player. (In case you're curious the music in the print below is the Wedding March)
Here is the Main Bathroom on the mail floor. Still working to get it exactly where I want it in terms of decoration - and don't mention to Kevin that he hung that towel bar way too high (I do it enough for both of us! :) )
Heading downstairs off the kitchen is our mudroom that you enter into from the garage. Its simple, but a nice place for us to put our shoes and coats so that the house doesn't get cluttered.
One of our favorite areas in the house is the finished basement we use as our Family Room. We spend most nights down here relaxing, watching tv or reading. It is a nice little retreat away from the rest of the house so we strive to make it as cozy as possible.
We love having a second fireplace downstairs. Its not optimized for use yet (no hearth, no screen), but we plan to update it this winter or next.
My younger (foofy) cat Nala decided to make a starring appearance in the picture below. I'm sure you will get to know her well.
Audrey also has a Playroom down here. Its currently under construction, but here is a sneak peak of the chalkboard wall I have just finished and a few of the decals I'm using the decorate. I will feature the work in an upcoming Project post.) We envision this to continue to be a great space as Audrey grows and wants to have friends over.
We also have another full bathroom downstairs, which is a great feature since so much living is done down there! I decorated it with abit more whimsy as it seems like it will probably be used more by children as we continue to have kids over to play.
Now a quick look at our bedrooms. These are located down the hallway from the Dining room/ Kitchen.
The Master Bedroom is my least favorite room in the house. I know that sounds a little counter intuitive, but in reality I probably spend the least amount of my time there so I am ok with it for now. Its my biggest dream to some day put an addition on it and really make it into more of the "sanctuary" type of place a master bedroom is supposed to be. For now, here is just a sneak peek.
We have a small en suite - really more of a water closet - in our bedroom. Its small, but I've tried to dress it up a little bit and it serves as a nice place for me to get ready in the mornings. I painted the vanity using a mix of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (Paris Grey, Louis Blue, Old Violet) and I put a stencil on the wall behind the mirror, which makes the room look a bit bigger.
The Nursery on the other hand, I have put a lot of effort into! I had so much fun last summer planning this room for the baby girl we were expecting (even though she didn't sleep in here for the first three months!) I wanted it to be cheerful and feminine, but not too girly. How did I do?
For now we have a Guest Room as our third bedroom. All of Kevin's immediate family lives in different spots throughout the country so its really nice to have a place for them to stay when they visit.
Thanks for taking the tour with me, I hope you enjoyed it! Would love to hear your feedback or any questions in the comments section below!
