The “Before” Home Tour, Part 1

If I never see another cardboard box, it will be too soon!!! I can’t say that we have ANY idea where half of our stuff will go… but I CAN say that we’ve been able to unpack ‘most’ of the boxes in the main house (no comment on the garage…). Artwork and wall decor is next so those are still lingering in cardboard, but… I wanted to share a home tour of the house as it looks right now. 2 weeks in. Furniture is moderately placed but every room has a project. Or twelve.

This house is oooold. 1830 give or take. We loved some of the classic features that comes with a home of this age, but it also poses some dilemmas… no closets, limited overhead lighting, uneven floors… I’m sure we’ll find other little kinks as we go. You walk in the front door to a large spacious foyer. If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I purchased a basket at Goodwill and finally, months later, there it is as our new foyer pendant light!

Other plans for this space?
– paint the blue foyer table
– recover and repaint the chevron chairs (bye, guys)
– I’m contemplating a subtle runner for the stairs just to help with the creaks and noise

PSST: HERE’s HOW IT LOOKS NOW!

To the left of the foyer is the living room. The furniture arrangement is probably 80% set… notice anything? Happy 40th birthday to me from my amazing hubby… can you stand the emerald green Ikea loveliness?! Note the pile of picture boxes in the corner… when those clear out, I think the room will feel a little more open. No home for the red coffee table for now, but we shall see.

Other plans for this space?
– Paint. I actually like this color, but it’s not great with vibrant colors of the couches, etc.
– I keep threatening to refinish that hexagonal table between the windows… maybe I’ll get to it one day.
– The coffee table needs a little TLC too. Again… that’s been on my To Do list for years.

PSST: HERE’s HOW IT LOOKS NOW!

The living room opens into the office. This is currently ground zero for the stuff we haven’t found a home for. The office is the one room where a lack of closet space poses a problem. Things like files and misc. paperwork have nowhere to hide. In our old place, we had built ins and a closet/ office so… plenty of nooks and crannies for all the “stuff.”

Other plans for this space?
– Storage. I have a large armoire in the garage (thank you, hoarding tendencies) that needs some love, but could be perfect in here to help corral the papers and files and craft supplies. Once the picture boxes are cleared out, we’ll have a better sense of the space in here!

PSST: HERE’s HOW IT LOOKS NOW!

The office leads into the playroom. (The playroom is the room directly ahead when you come in the front door.) This is the only room with built ins so perfect for ALL the kids stuff. I don’t love the mass of baskets on the floor, but we’ve essentially consolidated all the toys from the playroom, the family room and bedrooms in the old house… to this one room. That one door is also the only bathroom on the first floor. Important.

Other plans for this space?
– WALLPAPER!! It’s got. to. go.
– Organization. It all feels a little haphazard to me, so I’d love to keep weeding through the toys and getting them in better order. TBD what that will look like!
– Bathroom. This space can use a refresh. Floors and walls are a little drab. It’s a small space (duh), so not too much to do, but I’d love it brighter.

PSST: HERE’s HOW IT LOOKS NOW!

From the playroom, you head into the dining room. The best part about the dining room is that it opens up on either side to front and back porches! What?! We have NO idea whether these fireplaces work… we’ll cross that bridge this fall. This is our old kitchen table and it’s not perfect. We’re trying to decide whether the table from the formal dining room at the old place would work better… Decisions, decisions. Notice anything against the wall? Yep… I posted about it on Instagram and snagged it from the Restore for $25. Twenty five dollars. It’s already filled with extra plates and tchotchkes that haven’t found a home yet. The other big difference with this new house is that there’s not an easily accessible basement, so… there’s lots of cleaning/ seasonal ‘stuff’ like our apple corer that would normally just live within arms reach downstairs, but now need to be considered a bit more.

Other plans for this space?
– declutter
– figure out the table/ chair situation
– recover the pair of chairs on either side of the sideboard
– fix the missing piece on the sideboard… I’m thinking I might source some stone from a local stone yard?

PSST: HERE’s HOW IT LOOKS NOW!

And onto the kitchen/ family room… we’re going green. (See what I did there?) The configuration of the kitchen took some getting used to, but the chimney in the middle limits how “open” this space can get. (We were told that for thousands and thousands of dollars, we can remove the chimney, but honestly… we’re sort of excited to have a cozy fire going in the family room and don’t mind the way it is so far.) The back door is our main entry point so this hallway will be a mudroom of sorts. And a dutch door opens onto the back porch which has already become a nice perch for Frank until we can fence in the back portion of the yard. The family room is window filled and our old furniture fits the space great! With a playroom downstairs, this room doesn’t get NEARLY as much clutter which has been great!

Other plans for this space?
– again… paint. Unfortunately, this yellow is EVERYWHERE. On the stairs, on every closet door, the staircase spindles, window mullions… this is a job for a pro, so we’ll have to save up.
– mount the TV over the fireplace. Again… a job for a pro.
– kitchen cabinets? Before we moved in, I figured painting the cabinets would be a GIVEN. Now that I’m living in the space, the color doesn’t bother me aaaaaas much. Stay tuned.
– the floors. The green has GOT to go. I was tempted to experiment with some paint and I think it would actually hold up were it not for the table… the kids sliding in and out of the table on their chairs are BOUND to scratch off any paint, no matter how durable it is!
– I found that oval kitchen table on Craigslist for $75 and have some ideas for that bad boy.
– backsplash. No question, I need more vegetables in my life, but… these tiles are not the answer.
– organization. Everything is somewhere, but I need to live with the kitchen a bit more to really crack the pantry/ snack/ drink code here. The open shelves in the eating area are nice… but they can get cluttered fast… what goes where is still a question in here.
– I have plans for that armoire in the corner
– the mudroom needs some help. That white Ikea piece used to live in the family room at the old house, and it works pretty well right behind the door to hold extra storage. I was thinking of hanging some hooks for coats, but… that piece might make more sense. Again… we’ll need to live with this for a bit to see what makes the most sense!

PSST: HERE’s HOW IT LOOKS NOW! And another HERE.

Are you as exhausted as I am?! I’m going to leave you hanging for the UPSTAIRS because this post is already ridiculously long. Come back on Thursday to see all the bedrooms, to get a hint of what I have planned for the nursery and to see Oliver’s favorite part of the house.

Update: Part 2 of the Before Home Tour is here!

Update Update: See the CURRENT state of the house HERE!

If you want to see how all this stuff used to look when it coordinated, feel free to check out the Home Tour from our first house here.
I also posted a video House Tour of the first house, if you want the live version!!