Our House then and now

We've been in our home almost seven years.  That's a record for us.  We've never lived anywhere this long.

I thought I'd like to document what our house looked like when we bought it and what it looks like now.

This is what the outside of our house looked like when we first bought it in 2011...

Notice there's no landscaping.  The colors are a bit different too than what they are today...

We did some landscaping, changed up the colors a bit, added window boxes, a new mailbox and had a new roof put on.  This Fall we are getting new gutters which should help in more ways than just cosmetically.

Here's what the living room looked like when we bought the house...

Here's another look at that corner...

Before...

After...

The fireplace was awful with sconces that did nothing for it...

The ugly fireplace, looks better after a coat of paint and some barn wood...

Don't let the shiny floors deceive you in the former pic's.  The former owners must have treated them with something to make them look better than they actually were because after it wore off they weren't in very good shape.
So I painted every floor white.

The kitchen was super sad and needed some love...

The counters were small tiles mixed with faux butcher block.  There was a floral chair rail and lace, grease-coated valances.

It was the first room we tackled.

We added a glass/stone back splash, new faucet, sink, counter and light fixture. 

After a plumbing issue I planked the ceiling...

And changed the cabinet color making a tuxedo kitchen...

We put back a door where it belonged, dividing the back door entry from the kitchen.

We made the kitchen updates for about $2000.

Our stairs were carpeted.  We ripped out the carpet, painted the stairs and added a Dash and Albert runner...

After the carpet was ripped out the stairs looked like this...

You can see the carpet in the above picture.  Here's the runner all installed...

Our dining room was less than attractive...

My realtor actually liked that light fixture, maybe I should have let her have it.

But we swapped it out for something new, painted the walls and trim, stained the coat closet door, added a butler door to its rightful place, painted the floor and built the dining room table.

Our back yard before...

Seven years later...

We painted the garage, added shutters, window boxes, made curtains for the windows, added a barn quilt, installed a picket fence and did LOTS of yard work!

We've done so much more to our house.  I don't have anymore before pictures to show though.  (All of these before pictures were taken by Gambino Realtors, the listing presented by Eve Dano.)  I'm grateful to be able to look back and see how much our home has changed.

I have to say that perhaps we have stayed as long as we have because I have come to love what this home has become.