Before and “After” Pictures – House Tour 2012

Today, I am going to show some before and “after” pictures. I am not able to show any true after pictures because all of my rooms are constantly in transition. I like to rearrange things every couple of months, and I am frequently changing locations and bringing in new pieces. However, I do have some pictures of the rooms as they were when I first came to the house, as well as pictures of the rooms as they are today, August 08, 2012. So, here are the pictures “Before” and “August 08, 2012.” All of the before pictures are from the realtor.

The Front View

Not much has changed physically to the outside of the house. I am planning to put on a new roof soon, but up to the present day I have not changed anything about the outside of the actual house. I did buy a new bigger mailbox last summer at a garage sale. It is a beautiful one from Restoration Hardware, but I only paid $5 for it. We also took the air conditioner out of the upstairs front window.

The garden has changed. I put in a lot more plants. My roses and irises to the right of the front door are doing especially well. I also added two beds in the front. The stones came from the school where I work. They were thrown over a hill during construction, and I was told that I could take as many as I wanted. I really like the circular bed, but I did not put enough plants in it this summer. It looked a lot better last summer. It even looked better last week when the lilies that are in it were blooming. I like the wildflowers in the front bed, but I would like to make that bed bigger next year and plant more than just wildflowers. The new tree in the front yard, the very small one that almost looks like part of the wildflower bed, is a sour cherry tree. I just planted it this spring, and there were not many cherries in it this year. The birds ate them all. I cannot wait to have enough for a pie!

The Living Room/Dining Room

When you walk in the front door and turn to the right you are in the living room, which extends into the dining room. The rooms were paneled when I bought the house. The furniture in all of the before pictures is from the previous owner. As you can see, beyond the furniture, a great deal has changed in the living and dining rooms. We took down the paneling and two layers of wallpaper. I paid a friend to spackle the walls, and we painted. We still need to finish painting the trim. I also had the floors refinished.

The Kitchen

Off of the dining room is the kitchen. We plan to make more changes to the kitchen in the near future, but we haven’t done much yet. We bought a refrigerator from my brother and a cabinet at an antique store in North Carolina. We didn’t have the measurements when we bought the cabinet, but it fit perfectly. I am planning to paint it soon. We put in a new sink and faucet. Other than that the only changes so far have been decorative.

The Bathroom

There have not been many changes in the bathroom either. I love the vintage 50s look, but Douglas does not. I win this debate, because it is cheaper and less work to keep the existing tile. We did change the faucets in the bathroom, both in the tub and sink.

The Master…. & Mistress Bedroom (Why do we keep calling it the Master Bedroom?)

This was the first room to be redone. I wanted it to be my sanctuary, and it is. We painted it first and hung the candelabra. My grandmother bought it for me, as well as the bedspread. She also convinced me to buy the curtains seen throughout the house.

The Second Bedroom

The floors were redone with the rest, but nothing else has been done to this room yet. I still think that it looks a lot better with my furniture in it!

The Back Porch

We have not done anything structural to the back porch, but it looks a lot better with the new table and chairs we picked up at a garage sale. Only a year old, and we got them for $75. This is the only picture that I did not try to take from the same angle, but you could not really see the porch in the first picture.

The Back Yard

There are more plants in the backyard now. We also put in the shed and the raised garden. There was an indentation in the middle of the yard from a tree that had been taken out. Now that is filled in.

I hope that there will be new changes to show you soon. I will also do a post about the upstairs in the near future. I rent out that portion of the house. By the end of August, we hope to have the basement organized. I do not have any pictures of the basement before I moved in, unfortunately.

Happy Homemaking!