One Year Later: The Downstairs

Oh boy. Not sure what to think after looking at these photos. On one hand, we've done a lot since moving in, but on the other hand there's a lot left that I want to do.  In no particular order, here are all the rooms on the first floor.

 

 

Entry

We'll start with a fairly straightforward room.

 

 

I painted the walls and painted the front door red and that's been about it for the most part.

 

 

 

 

I got this mirror at a local consignment shop when we lived at the old house and never really had a great place to put it.  It's perfect for the entry way.

 

 

To do:

• Replace the desk with a more substantial piece of furniture
• Purchase an umbrella stand

 

 

Family Room

 

The family room hasn't really changed all that much.  Aside from filling up the bookcases and adding some art, it's very similar to how it was when we moved in.

 

 

Up until last week we had a nice tv to fill up that empty space.  Hopefully we'll have a replacement here sometime in the next week or two.

So far in this room we've changed out the ceiling fan, hung up some art, and brought in some cute throw pillows.

 

 

I hung some curtains shortly after we moved in and painted the mantel as well.  The door will hopefully get replaced this weekend.  Like how it's screwed shut???  UGH.

 

 

To do: 

• Paint the walls the same color as the hallway
• Paint the bookcase interior a medium gray
• Figure out what to do with the fireplace (paint it, leave it as-is, or cover it in drywall)

 

 

Dining Room

 

The dining room has been surprisingly one of my favorite rooms to work on so far.  It's also the room that's the most finished!

 

 

Shortly after moving in, we bought a dining room set, flipped an Ikea bookshelf on its side to use as a makeshift buffet, changed out the light fixture, and recovered the chair fabric.  Then we got some fun artwork to hang on the walls, painted the walls, and refinished a little storage chest.

 

 

 

 

Kitchen and Breakfast Room

 

The kitchen and breakfast room haven't changed much either.  We got new light fixtures and Chris created a pot rack and that's about it.  

 

 

 

To do:

• Paint the walls
• Maybe get a rug for the breakfast area?

 

 

Future Kid's Room

 

 

This has been a fun room to work on: it'll be a kid's room someday, but since that kid is a ways off, I figured that we'd paint it a gender-neutral color and that can work now with just adults living here.  So, I painted three of the four walls a high gloss navy blue and painted the other wall cream.  I also made some crepe paper puffs using a Martha Stewart kit and dug out my old map of Australia from when I spent a semester there in college.  I still need to put some trim around the map as a frame of sorts.

 

 

 

To do: 

• But a nightstand
• Buy a dresser
• Buy a rug
• Figure out what to do with the ceiling fan (it's just weird)

All three of these items will do double duty in the room as another guest room and when the room is a kid's room.  We're hoping that we'll get our tax refund soon so we can start looking for rugs.

 

 

 

Guest Bathroom

 

 

 

Aside from getting new towels, we've done NOTHING with this room.

 

To do:

• Replace the vanity and toilet (both with something taller)
• Repaint the walls (Griz accidentally shit on the wall once {I have no idea how} and when I tried to scrub it off, I scrubbed off some of the paint and I don't have any touch-up paint to fix it.  Oops.)

Guest Bedroom

 

 

I've hung some curtains and refinished the desk (one of my favorite projects, if I do say so myself!), but this room is still remarkably the same as the way it was when we moved in.

 

 

To do:

• Get another desk/tall nightstand for the other side of the bed
• Replace the bedding with something brighter and more colorful
• Get a rug

Living Room

 

This was the one room in the house that was a color other than tan.  Why the former owners chose such a weird green is beyond me.

 

 

One weekend my mom and I painted the walls a pretty cream and it's 1000% times better.  Although it's still not done. 

 

 



To do:

• Sell the enormous red chair and replace it with two side chairs from Craigslist that we'll get reupholstered
• Get a rug (seeing a trend here?)
• Install two antique brass swing-arm lamps above the sofa

Pantry

Not much has happened in the pantry, other than swapping out the standing freezer for a chest freezer.  The standing freezer opened the wrong way, keeping a huge amount of the pantry completely unusable.  Go figure.

 

Sorry it's blurry.

And of course, the former owners painted around the old freezer and so we have a weird blotch of white in an otherwise green pantry.  Does this bother me?  Yes.  Am I going to do anything about it?  Unlikely.  Moving on.

 

Master Bathroom

Ah, the master bathroom!  A gem of a room:

Mmmmmmmm...blue laminate countertop.

Our plan is to basically gut the entire thing.  The tile in the shower and the vanity need to be replaced.  I want something taller, something sleeker and more storage.

Not much has changed, other than adding in some towel rings and towel bars.

Master Bedroom

The master bedroom is pretty much done for the most part.

To do:

• Add a small table
• Paint
• Replace or refinish the ceiling fan
• Find something to balance the window on the other side of the bed.

So, that's where we're at one year after moving in!  We've made some progress, but we definitely have some work to do!  Maybe I'll go back to my plan of one-room-at-a-time?  Nah, probably not.  That'd require too much focus.