Living room update

This is what the living room looked like in 2001:

 

 

 

 

This is today - all of the furniture in here is hand me downs.  The only things we purchased was the carpet, and decorative touches like pictures and pillows.  I also covered the piano bench to hide the black vinyl cover.

 

 

Entryway - what a difference!

Below is what the entryway looked in in 2001:

This was updated in 2003 - and still looks the same today:

Island Love

This is to show pictures of our kitchen island.  I LOVE my island!  The cost for the island was as follows (rough estimates):

• Clearance cabinet - $350
• Formica counter custom cut - $200
• Stools from Target - $100
• Grand total - $650

When we went to look at islands in 2012, I went to a cabinet store and built out my dream island.  With a granite counter top (of course).  The total came to $3,600.  WHAT?  Hmmmm, with three kids, one in college, one in dance, and one in baseball plus a dog that was NOT in the budget.

So - I found the cabinet listed above - normally a $900 cabinet and subbed in the formica.  It has been great!

The layout has been perfect for entertaining and just day to day life. 




How did I live without this for all of these years?

 

 

 



 

 

Updating our kitchen - overcoming curtain phobia

We have slowly been updating our kitchen for the 11 + years we have lived here.  We started with knocking the wall out between our kitchen and dining room.  We found that we never used our dining room and the table collected clutter.  That was about 6 or 7 years ago.

 

 

This summer we added an island, replaced the window with a slider, and bought a used pub table that seats 8.  My husband mounted a tv for me, so I can watch a little tv while I am cooking.  Or the kids like to watch tv while they snack.

 

 

We also started to build a small deck, that will be finished in the Spring with railings.

 

 

I made a trip to Target and purchased curtains for our slider which is 104 x 84.  We picked out curtains that were $34.99 for two panels.  I bought two packages and they look great.  The hardware was another $30.  So for $100, we were able to dress this slider!

Shout out to my husband who after a little cursing, and an extra trip to Lowe's, got the curtains hung.  :)

About our house

Our house was built in 1976.  My family moved to this house when I was 16, around 1985.  Fast forward to 2001, my husband and I bought the house from my dad.

I will be posting pictures of our house from when it was in it's glory in the 1980's through the present.  We have been updating and fixing up the house a little bit here and there.  Thank goodness my husband is handy and has family and friends that help on most of our projects.


2012 we updated our kitchen.  This has been a work in progress since we moved here in 2001.  Normal people would have gutted the kitchen and been done with it.  However we have three kids and did not have the budget or patience for that. 

Before: Kitchen about 2001 and below the wall and door to the then dining room

 

 

This is what was behind the door.....

After: 2013 and how the kitchen and dining room look today - a lot more functional for a family of five!



I will post pictures of the kitchen from the 1980's and its really groovy wall paper.  To be fair, I will also need to dig up the pictures of the kitchen painted bright yellow with grapevine stencils (that was my design idea).

I think it is a lot of fun to see how you can change a house into your own home, it's also a lot of fun to see how your design tastes change and grow.