Before, During and After

I found some old photos of our house from before we bought it, and I thought it would be fun to share a few, starting with before we moved in (with the with the previous owners' furniture,) moving through the early days of bad paint choices and old furniture, and on into the current incarnation.

These three show similar angles on the living room in 2005, 2006 and 2007 (not much has changed since then). Here it is before we moved in, with the previous owners' furniture. We took down those dowels and the half wall in the entryway.

Here it is after wall paper stripping and re-painting. The yellow color was a last minute choice that I hated from the start, but we lived with it for almost two years.

Here it is after the new coat of paint, new sofa, recessed lighting and drop down screen tv. Ahhh.... Still need new bookcases though...

Here's the fireplace during the intermediate stage...

and what it looked like after we had it resurfaced...

Here's another angle on the room in the beginning and at the end:

We had the mantle built, and the tile is Malibu tile from Classic Tile on Kettner.

We didn't take very many photos of the kitchen in the early days - these are the only two I have. When we moved in, we wanted to make some cosmetic changes, but didn't want to spend the money for a serious remodel. We stripped the wallpaper (yes, in the kitchen!) and took out the decorative trim, ceiling fan and fluorescent lighting...

We replaced the stained glass lamp with a school house style fixture from Rejuvenation and put in track lighting to replace the fluorescents. It really helped a lot.

Here's another angle:

We painted the walls charcoal gray (an idea I found in a Kraftmaid cabinet catalog) put in a charcoal gray slate tile floor and installed a new sink faucet, new hinges, and new drawer and cabinet pulls. We bought a new stainless dishwasher and refrigerator, but kept the gas oven and six burner range - they're still plugging along just fine.

In the dining area, we painted two walls apple green, and just decorated with the miscellaneous stuff we already had. I'm starting to get tired of the green now, but there aren't too many colors that work with that pinkish tile countertop. One of these days it's going to have to go - but it will have to wait until we have the time and money for a bigger project. I'm thinking marble, or maybe butcherblock... It's gonna be fun!