Some Final Before & Afters

While the current state of my house is looking a little scary from boxing our whole lives up, I thought I'd share a few final before and afters.  Now mind you the final pictures are the professional photographs that were taken of the house to sell it.  And then I will also remind you that my original photos are far from professional :)  So while the house looks so much better, it's probably a little skewed due to the quality of those photographs (just a little disclaimer, right?)

Ready for the final tour?  Here we go:

Exterior:

Before:

After:

 Entry/Foyer:

Before:

After:

 Kitchen:

Before:

After:

Living Room:

Before:

And if you want the true before :) 

After:

Sun Room:

Before:

After:

 Master Bathroom

Before:

After:

  

TV/Entertainment Room:

Before:





After:

Downstairs Bathroom:

Before:

After:

Our little house has come such a long way in the three short years we've lived here.  I'm so proud of all our work.  But I am so excited for our new house and all the love and sweat we will put into it.  Have a good week, bloggy friends! :)

  

After two years.....

Anyone out there?  It's only been, um, 2+ years since I've posted.  And I can tell you so much has happened.  Just as I'm sure two years changes a lot in your life too.  So where did I leave off?  I stopped blogging to focus more on my job with the family plumbing and heating company.  At the same time my husband's position change at work made his work-life balance almost all work :(  So I gave up blogging to do the more important things in life.  It was a good break, and completely necessary in order to keep me focused on what truly mattered. Then big changes came along and I well, blogging was at the bottom of my list.  But - I will be back (on a new blog).  So here's my big changes in the past two years:

BIG CHANGE #1:

Meet Adrienne June:



My little sweetie (now already 15 months old) has consumed my days and nights -- and I LOVE it.  She arrived on May 29, 2012 and this spunky, little chicky has filled our worlds with joy.

You can follow me on Instagram to see oodles of pictures of her :)

And because of Big Change #1, Big Change #2 had to happen (I sound as if I've read too many Dr. Seuss books, right??)

BIG CHANGE #2:

Goodbye Hand Me Down House.....a little sad, but very excited, too.  We are moving!  I'm super, duper excited -- but honestly, as I'm packing up my house (especially Adri's room), I'm getting a little teary-eyed.  We put so much work and love into this house that it will be sad to go, but I'm so excited for our new adventure on Parkridge Drive :)  

(I am hoping to have a little bit of time to get up some final before and after pictures.  We updated a lot since I've been absent from my blog and I think it'd be fun to see the final product).

I also think I might like to start a new blog (or add on to this one??) with all the changes we will be making at the new house.  It's outdated, but we love the style, layout and neighborhood. 


BIG CHANGE #3:

In addition to my job with my family's plumbing & heating company, I've added one more venture to my list :)  I have created an activewear site that carries some awesome brands.  This is where I've been blogging recently.  I got serious about exercise and healthy eating after Adrienne was born (yup, I packed on 40 lbs -- ugh).  But it eventually all came back off (and that 5 lbs I was trying to shed before I got pregnant even) with a little extra work.

www.alldayactivewear.com

I'm so excited about all the changes that have happened, and I know there will be more to come. 

Thank you, HomeGoods!!

Last weekend we gave our living room a little revamp (oh I cannot wait to show you!!).  One of the things we replaced was this rug:

The first picture of our living room with the floors installed in 2008

I actually LOVE this rug, it's so cushy and comfy on our wood floors.  We got it on sale at Home Depot years ago and it has held up pretty darn well in my opinion.  We were planning on keeping this rug in our living room, but it looked VERY funny and small with our new layout.  We needed something much bigger than our 5x8 size.

We had kind of already looked at a couple of stores and online in case we might have to replace the rug, but we hadn't found anything we liked.  On a whim we decided to stop in at HomeGoods to just see if they might have something we liked.  We didn't have anything in particular in mind, just something neutral but with a pattern.  And that's when we saw it.......

Please ignore the mess and just admire the beauty of the rug.....

It was chic and modern all rolled up into one glorious rug ..... seriously.  I wouldn't even leave that rug's side while Kevin went to find someone to roll it up.  I couldn't risk someone thinking it was as gorgeous as I did.   And you know that HomeGoods is always good for a deal....and this was no exception!  We stole bought this wool beauty for 65% off retail.

The best thing is the rug fit perfectly in the living room and it matches all the new furniture (post coming on that soon!!)

Oooh, sneak a peak of that chair!!!

Do you have a wool rug?  What's the best way to clean/maintain it??

 

Oh Sectional!

So last week I told you about the perfect little sectional we found to go in our living room .....

Since falling in love with it, I've been looking at different sectionals and their coffee tables/ottomans.  Here are some that I love.....but I'm not sure what would look the best or be the most functional:


I love this ottoman (room designed by Candice Olsen), even though it's not a sectional around it, it's a pretty "square" room

I love this round coffee table with a nice square sectional...plus it looks like has drawers (courtesy of The Sweet Life Studio).

Here's another one that is kind of  interesting....two small square tables side by side...hmmmm (via bassett furniture)

Maybe an ottoman with some storage inside?? (from decorpad)

Here's a more modern round coffee table (west elm)

And here is my favorite idea (just different fabric on top and make it square).  I love that it's functional with storage under neath and comfy on top with a cushion and fabric:

What do you think???