Work in progress
We moved into our first house in April of 2009. We knew when we bought this house that it was going to be a lot of work. It was a foreclosure that had been on the market for something like 6 months before we looked at it. You could tell when you first walked into the house that the previous owner had not put a lot of effort into keeping the house up to speed.
The Front Yard
You only get one chance to make a first impression and this house lacked that welcoming feeling before you even got to the front door. The yard had a ton of bark, weeds and overgrown plants, very far from the desired curb appeal that everyone wants. This picture doesn't show it but the garage door had needed to be replaced, when we first moved in it was falling off the track and had been bent in many places. We knew that is was going to be used every single day so we replaced it immediately. That was a great update with a lot of impact.
This bush was very much an eye sore, it was overgrown and collecting trash and other random things in its under-brush. It also started growing over the side walk, making it hard to get by it on your way to the front door. When we removed it there were toys, trash bags and beer bottles hiding in there.
There was a lot of hard work that had to be done with this front yard, removal of the bush by the window, adding a stone pathway, removing the bark, adding gravel, and planting all the flowers under the tree.
We have made a lot of progress on the front yard and we still plan on doing a few more updates to really make it look complete. At some point there will be more landscape lighting including spot lights on the front tree, pathway lights and a new garage light. We also plan on updating our house numbers and replacing the front window.
The Courtyard
The courtyard has also been a lot of hard work that I feel has really paid off. When we bought the house the fence in the courtyard was completely covered with 7 overgrown ivy plants. It was like having to walk through a jungle to get to the front door. To make things worse, there were tons of spiders and cockroaches living in there.
The gate needed an update as well, it was rusted and looked scary with the added metal mesh. It was very unwelcoming.
After the long couple of days it took removing all the ivy, cutting it back and digging out all the roots we were able to see the fence again. We built a fence blocking access to the backyard for added privacy, refinished the gate, and painted the front door. We took our time buying garden soil and flowers to make sure we created a welcoming courtyard. We absolutely love walking into the courtyard now.
The Living Room
This room has had a few changes; we painted the fireplace mantle, trim, and doors white, and installed a new ceiling fan.
Next on the list of things to accomplish are the removal of all of that tile and replacing it with a hardwood or laminate. At some point we want to change out the fireplace surround for something more subtle like marble or a light colored tile.
The Dining Room
Adding a new light fixture, curtains and furniture has really helped this room come a long way. The only update we have left is to replace the flooring. It is possible that one day we will replace the windows but that is not a big priority right now.
The kitchen has gone through quite the transformation. In 2009 It had some dingy white painted cabinets, a light tan tile countertop, a useless pantry as well as some questionable paint and tile choices.
After a long renovation of the kitchen we finally have something we both love. We replaced almost everything; the tile, the counter-tops, one of the light fixtures, painted the walls, striped and stained the cabinets, bought a new faucet and changed out a few of the appliances.
We still have a few more items to check off our to-do list but things are looking much better than they had been.
The Hallway
This hallway was terrible when we did our initial walk through of the house. The walls were dingy because they used flat paint, the trim and doors also had flat white paint on them via a possible finger painting method of application. There was also a different tile in only the hallway. not to mention the terrible color choice and outdated sconce light.
We painted all the walls a nice subtle tan color, repainted all the doors and trim in pure white, replaced the sconce with something more up to date, replaced the doorknobs and hung pictures on the wall.
2012
-- The Guest Bathroom --
2009
2009
2012
-- The Guest Bedroom --
2009
2009
2015
-- The Master Bedroom --
2009
2009
2015
-- The Master Bathroom --
-- The Side Yard --
I can't even explain how happy I am with what we have accomplished with the side yard. When we first got the house I didn't understand why they created this random walking path that ended before reaching the pool. There was zero character to this side yard and it was actually pretty depressing to walk back there. Having this area directly off the living room really made me work hard to come up with a plan for this area.
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| 2009 |
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2015
-- The Backyard --
2009
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