From the beginning

In November 2007, Keith and I bought our first house together. We got engaged in August of that year and with my apartment lease up in December and Keith's up in April, we needed to act fast and purchase a house. It took weeks and months of searching until we found "the one". I still wasn't convinced I could live with such a small master bath and a house that needed A LOT of work...but Keith convinced me this would be an amazing house for us once we put our own touches into each room. Here's a photo tour of the house before we moved in. I am happy to report that it currently looks nothing like these photos! Lots of love, long hours and late nights went into the transformation. The front of the house was charming, cute and had good "curb appeal" plus the beautiful pecan and oak trees in the front yard were gorgeous. The back yard had much more grass in 2007 than it does currently, thanks to our dogs who have killed most of the grass and we now have mostly dirt. Hopefully someday we'll be able to grow grass again...

This first room is right past the front door and used as the original living room before the addition was built onto the house 10 years ago. It wasn't too bad except for the wallpaper. The hardwood floors were in great shape and the only hardwood floors visible throughout the house. I can't find the original picture of the entryway but it was too bad either...just needed a coat of paint and someday we'll replace the porcelin tile with travertine. A project for another day...

Next on the tour is the kitchen which is actually prety large and has tons of cabinet space. This picture was taken after we painted the cabinets and put new hardware on each cabinet and drawer. Just picture cream colored cabinets and gold and floral drawer pulls. It was awful! (I'll write about that transformation another day.) The linoleum was really easy to keep clean but gave off that 70's vibe with the colorful dark green diamond design. I think that is why the homeowners have green corrian countertops. They're not my favorite but granite countertops aren't in our budget so we've had to work around them. They've grown on me in 3 years!

Off of the kitchen is the dining room/breakfast area. The carpet in the dining room is different than in the second living room and is pretty darn ugly! Plus the wallpaper is a bit much and I'm not a fan of the off-centered chandelier hanging down. As you can tell, I wanted to change pretty much every single surface and color in this house. But that's the point of making a house your own. I get to put my stamp on every room...with Keith's help, of course!

This addition and second living room was Keith's number one reason for wanting to purchase this house. It is enormous and perfect for his big screen TV and for having friends and family over for the big games. The windows look onto the back yard and it has a huge openness about it. The curtains are AWFUL and it didn't take me too long to take them down! To each is their own, but seriously, who decorated this house?

Aww, look how nice the backyard looks with all that green grass. It hasn't looked that good in years. I guess that is part of owning big dogs. We've just done some additional landscaping in the backyard but other than that, it looks pretty much the same with the addition of a grill and some patio furniture.

The hallway...nice green carpet, right? The doors are all hollow with lovely brass handles. Not to mention the overly pink bathroom with beige carpet. I was scared to look under the carpet to see what lie underneath. Luckily it was just some pink linoleum and nothing too terrifying.

Guest bedroom #1 and guest bedroom #2. Again, lovely green carpet...these rooms also have the hollow brown doors and brass handles. I love the blank canvas we have to work with in these rooms.

Good news - I pulled up the corner of the green carpet in the master bedroom and what did I find underneath??? Beautiful unfinished HARDWOOD floors. It was the best thing I saw throughout this house and reminded me of how much potential our new home would have. This is a picture of the master bedroom post green carpet and right before we began painting. It even has a new ceiling fan that Keith installed for me for my birthday. So sweet!
I don't have a picture of our teeny tiny master bath but it was recently redone with a pedestal sink, laminate hardwoods, large walk-in shower and fabulous cabinets. This was the one room in our house we didn't paint because we liked the color!

Last but not least, our garage. It too has even undergone a transformation recently. I think I am probably the only person on the planet who cares what their garage looks like. My family likes to tell me I have a bit of OCD and I know I am definitely a Type A personality who thrives on perfection. I can't help it!

Well, that completes the first tour of our house and I can't wait to share the progress and changes we've made over the last 3 years. I know I may seem a little harsh on my overview of the house, but I truly did fall in love with this house and it's absolutely the perfect one for Keith and me. We love it! I hope you've enjoyed the tour...
(P.S. I meant to post this on 12/12 but hit the wrong button so you get 2 posts today!)