Four years ago today...

Four years ago today, we closed on our very first home! One we never thought we'd be able to purchase or afford on our own. I was about 15 months pregnant with Paige at the time, lol. She arrived less than four weeks later.

Lately, I've gotten the idea that bigger and better is, well, better. So, I started house hunting. By myself. Neil has always been satisfied with our home. And the truth is, I am really happy with our house. The few things we would want in a new home, we can't change about our current home. We can't change that our street is the main thoroughfare, situated between two school zones. We can't change that our backyard is ridiculously small. We can't change the fact that the kids' bedrooms are shoe box sized.

But the one thing we've done with this house that previous owners hadn't is to make it our own. We've lived here longer than any previous owner. We still get mail for about five different last names, I think. The idea of moving to a new house (i.e. monstrous debt + unstable economy = not a smart idea right now) and having to start all over with getting a house where we want it is not appealing. So, I think I'm 'OK' with saying, this is our house. It is definitely a home. And the real beauty is knowing we struck gold with our first purchase, not realizing it at the time.

So, I'm going to show you a few pictures from the weekend we moved in (courtesy of my SIL, Alice) and then a few pictures {and by few, I exaggerate greatly!} of our house now.

BEFORE & AFTER:

{mls listing pics- I love how it looks like a one story from the outside. It's very deceptive!}

{the foyer-before}

{after-these walls are finally going to be painted to match the living room soon!}

{the display niches/insets/cutouts/whathaveyou}


{the dining room - before}

{after: this room is still a work in progress, though after a few years of trying to figure out what to do, I found a nice buffet from ZGallerie that will work and isn't too deep.
This dining set is from Neil's parents, who drove it down from Virginia!}


{the kitchen-before: the people before us thought the kitchen wasn't busy enough and so they added this "delightful" faux finish below the chair railing. As you can see we took care of that by painting it red and using the leftover paint from the dining room to minimize the tragedy that is kitchen wallpaper gone horribly wrong.}

{the after in a series of shots - I got tired of the ugly light brown cabinets, so on a whim I went out and got paint for the cabinets. I had *wanted* red, but Neil convinced me that black would look better. He was totally fashion forward since it's been almost three years since we did this and I'm starting to see it more in modern kitchens, though not with the uber stylish counters that we have ::snort::}

{the ultimate inspiration for the cabinets}

{the mustard yellow walls that are about to get the boot in favor of something less hotdoggish, lol}



{the office}

{after}

{the living room-before}

{this is what we look at when we walk in - I *love* the curtains since I made them myself!}



{our robos have a temporary landing spot until I find them a better place}


{our 'empty' corner that Neil filled with my favorite chair once the
Christmas tree came down...we are open to ideas and suggestions!}


{the playroom - and it's odd that they had almost the same sofa we did!}



***
THE BEDROOMS:

{the girls}


{the boys}

{ours}


{three of Neil's guitars...and if you've been counting, there's 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 guitars *AND* one bass}

{Drew's changing table - a necessary staple in our bedroom...hopefully, not for much longer}
***
MOVING IN:

{the horrible excuse for a playscape, though I must admit it looks pretty good here}