Back to the Best: Our Home

And here are more ~~current~~ pictures of our home! I will update soon.

The Living Room

Ignore the inside-out cushion on that couch!

To Do:

remove basket from bottom of coffee table
replace those sticks with one not quite so tall
replace tall lamp (that isn't quite tall enough!)\
replace light fixture wih something more fun

Master Bedroom

To Do:
remove clutter from chest

move Papal blessing to Living Room & replace with wedding photos

To Do:

remove basket from vanity (less clutter)

replace lamp shade

Replace light fixture with a pretty chandelier (garage sale hunt for summer '11)

The Study/ Guest Bedroom

To Do:

hide cord/replce with white extension cord wedged to molding
reupholster chair
replace pictures with self-taken architecture photos from travels

To Do:

Declutter top of the small shelf
Rearrange pictures
Small, comfy pillows for the loveseat
make a collage wall of travel photos above loveseat

The Bathroom/ Laundry Room

To Do:
Paint? or ask landlord to

The Kitchen

To Do:

Paint the cabinets white (j/k!)

Declutter above cabinet

The Dining Area

To Do:

Paint hutch a robbin's nest egg blue of some sort either inside or completely
Paint table legs and chairs white
Declutter above hutch

The Entrance

To Do:

finish painting and organize entry way bookcase unit with baskets
paint door

The Patio/Deck/Outdoor Entrance

Adventures & Misadventures

Read more about our Study/Guest Bedroom Transformations here.
Read how we almost burnt the place down & cleaned it here.
See how we get creative decorating our little home here.
See how we maintain a living faith in the ordinary, small details here.

Here's a little background. . .

A month until our wedding and still we had no place to live! There we were- my husband-to-be and I, each on a laptop trying to efficiently search, while my mother-in-law on the other couch calmly opened up the Advertiser (who would have thought?) and after glancing around for a few minutes, picked up the phone and made an appointment for a half hour later. What?!

So up the side stairs we went! Turns out it was an old home converted into businesses on the bottom floor, and a private apartment on top! We would have total privacy after 5 p.m. on weekdays and on every weekend, plus our own area for parking aside from the "backyard" converted into a business parking lot! (Parties, anyone?).It even had a walk-up deck/ front door area. and a bit of a garden on the side of the house.

First Impressions
Mine & my fiancee's: Eewww! Old, kinda smelly and ugly, dark colors!
My creative mother-in-law's: Ooo! Character! Look at those awesome, large, double-pane windows!

Needless to say after we spent some stressful two weeks last-minute looking at smaller, more crowded, expensive, not-so-great options, the first one certainly looked promising!

With lots of help from my family-to-be, and lots of paint, the place was totally transformed in just three days! It was such an eye-opener for me! I'd never known how ~~easy~~ manageable DIY home projects can be. Sure it was time consuming, but it is very rewarding because it all adds to the character of our home which we love! It's small, but cozy! We have great landlords who gave us all new appliances and a month-to-month rent! Unheard of!! Needless to say we are very ~~satisfied~~ happy!

. . .

A look back at the beginning of our first home project!