Our First Home

On November 19th we listed our house.  Of course, as anyone who's listed their home knows, I have about a million and 1 different emotions associated with this fact.  The house has seen us become husband and wife.  It's seen 3 different cars and 4 different jobs between the two of us.  It's where we brought Lola home.  It's where we brought Emery and Brynn home.  It's where we've all grown and thrived for the last 5 years.  To say that we love it wouldn't do it justice.  That isn't what this post is about though, so I'll leave it at that.

We settled on listing the house in mid-November because the market has softened considerably in our area amidst interest rate hike chatter and oil prices plummeting.  We were under the impression our new house would be ready at the end of January or in early February.  (Foreshadowing for the next Home Sweet Home Reno?  Si.)  We also learned that there was some new regulation in residential real estate that can make closing take 45 days to 60 days.  The combination of these facts made us think we needed to list stat.

We were all beyond shocked and counting our lucky stars when we listed on a Thursday and went to work on Monday with a signed contract in hand.  Our real estate Guardian Angel must have known trying to keep this house show-ready with 2 toddlers in the mix was likely to result in the purchase of a 1-way flight to Mexico.

As I've documented on the blog in the past, when we moved into this home we had all kinds of grand plans.  I had visions of completing fantastic DIY projects and writing about them all here on the blog.  While I have documented most of what we've done in some form or fashion, we certainly didn't get to everything we planned to.  I had really hoped to "finish" each room and then give it it's own post.  To no one's shock, I haven't ever considered a room finished enough to do that (except Brynn's).  I've come to realize though that selling your house is a pretty good pencils down moment.  So, what better way to pay homage to the home that has taken such good care of us than by showing how it's grown and changed.  Kick your shoes off and take a trip down memory lane with me, won't you?

THE FRONT

Before.

After.  We painted the door red.  Ryan re-shaped the beds by the house and added the pavers lining them.  We completely re-landscaped with the exception of the wax trees.

THE FOYER

Before.

After.  Unfortunately this isn't from the same angle.  We painted the foyer (SW Harmonic Tan).  We had the inside of the door painted white.  It was black.

THE DINING ROOM

Before.

After.  We painted.  Above the chair rail is SW Bracing Blue and below is SW Cottage Cream.  Oh, and we had the chair rail painted so you could actually see it.  Your girl loooooves herself some chair rail.

THE OTHER TV ROOM

Before.

After.  We actually did nothing in here.  Oh, actually Ryan hung a TV which is not pictured.  :c)

THE LIVING ROOM

Before.

After.  Ryan & my Dad spent quite a few days mounting the TV and hiding the accompanying cables/wires.

After.  Oh, and we painted.  A couple of times, actually.  :c)  This color is SW Cottage Cream.

More after.

THE KITCHEN

Before.

Before.

After.  We had the door painted white.  

After.  We also painted the walls SW Foothills.

More after.

Apparently we have a lot of pictures of the kitchen.

THE MASTER BEDROOM

Before.

After.  We painted the walls SW Mannered Gold.

THE MASTER BATHROOM

Before.

After.  If you're thinking- man that looks similar- you are correct.  The bathrooms are #1 on my list of self-proclaimed failures.

BRYNN'S ROOM

Before.

After.  Ryan & my Dad hung the fan.  Ryan added chair rail.  We painted (colors I don't recall the names of.  Similar to SW Butter Up though.)  I cranked out that stencil.

THE PLAYROOM

Before.

After.  Ryan & my Dad hung that chandelier.  We painted SW Morning Fog.

EMERY'S ROOM

Before.

After.  Ryan & my Dad hung that fan.  Ryan & my Dad added chair rail (wasn't joking about my affection for it).  We painted SW Baize Green above the chair rail and Behr color I can't recall the name of below.  I decided stencils were hard and ordered Lottie Dottie decals from Land of Nod.

THE GIRLS' BATHROOM

Before.

After.  We painted Martha Stewart Sandpiper.  Another area I consider a total failure of mine.  I can count on one hand the number of times this bathroom has been utilized in our time here.

THE BACKYARD

Before.

Before.

After.  As you can see this is where we did the most work.  Ryan & my Dad removed a lot of landscaping. 

We added the pergola and a flagstone patio.  We gave up on growing grass under that tree and put some bark mulch down.  We added a flower bed along the garage.  We spruced up the bed under the master bedroom window.

More after.  We love you, house!

Brynn's Space

Alright, so I promised myself and the blog-o-sphere that I was going to finish Brynn's room before going back to work.  This is me delivering on that promise.  Have you sent those cookies yet?  You probably should now.  Seriously.

It's by no means perfect but it's what this busy Mama could manage to do.  Hopefully one day she appreciates it.  If not, perhaps her punishment will be stenciling other rooms of the house.  We'll see.

P.S.  Let's not judge the picture quality, hmmm?  Emery's nap time is a very short window in which to accomplish as many To-Do items as possible.  It makes Minute To Win It look like a piece of cake.

P.P.S.  I'm linking writing down some things because if I ever need to know it in the future, this is where I'll look.  I'm getting way too old to store much beyond last week's Celebrity Apprentice in this noggin of mine.  I do not actually expect that you will find yourself so impressed that you'll need it.

This is what walking in a door to a room looks like.  I know, I know- try to catch your breath.

Where this princess will lay her head.  Some day.  Furniture is from the Nottingham line by Baby's Dream.

Ryan loved hanging those bird cages.  Ask him about it.  That stencil is called Large Moorish Trellis from Royal Design Studio.

This was an exercise in how much I could squish myself up into a tiny corner.  Not very well is the answer for anyone curious.

These curtains were made by my amazing Mama.  The fabric is called Aqua Dot (clever, I know) from New Arrivals.  That print with Brynn's birth deets is from Willow Lane Prints on Etsy.

Again my talented-beyond-words Mama made this bedding.  The outside of the bumper is in a fabric called Layla Rose, the inside is in a fabric called Peppermint stripe and the skirt is in a fabric called Aqua Solid all from New Arrivals.

NSFJ: Backyard... Agains?

January 11th was a big day in the Martin world.  Why?  Because it was 1/11/14 and I'm really weird about numbers/dates (4 1's and a 4)?  Well yes, but also, our backyard was FINALLY finished.  Mostly.  Until I start trying to work on furniture, at least.

As you may recall from here, this saga started nearly 3 years ago.  We moved into our house and pretty immediately undertook the task of de-jungling the backyard.  We thought- we are young, childless and have PLENTY of time & energy to get this whipped into shape.  Over time this poor space fell fast on our priority list.  Fast forward 2.5 years and we are with child, without energy and willing to admit we were shamefully wrong.  So what's the best way to fix this?  Hire someone.  As Ryan can attest, this is my go-to method of solving problems in the first place.

After a couple estimates and a few months of waiting, on January 6th Steven's Landscaping showed up and got to work.  They managed to clear some mange-y brush, demo the existing patio, lay sod, make new beds, build a pergola, lay a flagstone patio, build a path to the utility area behind the house, re-level the back yard and re-position sprinkler heads in a matter of about 5.5 days.  I am very impressed and I highly recommend them.  Most weeks I can't manage to get 4 loads of laundry done over 5.5 days, so two thumbs up from yours truly.

So that's that.  What is the moral of the story here?  Hire people.  Write that one down folks.  I am about to show you some before/afters, but I do so with the disclaimer that Ryan & I decided to re-do the backyard in the dead of winter.  So keep in mind the grass is dormant.  I considered spray painting it green for after photos to impress you, but Ryan talked me out of it.  So just imagine it's greener.  Some day, maybe, just maybe, when I get my act together and have the new backyard staged I'll post some updated pictures.  Because you know as well as I do that is unlikely to happen, I'm posting these now while it's fresh in my mind.  

This is what the backyard looked like when we bought the house.  Those palms were so big that we could have lost Lola in them.  She also frequently used to trip over that monkey grass.  Which was indeed hilarious but screamed "here come's a vet bill," to me.

More backyard before.  WAY before.  Did I mention thanks to a lack of leveling when it rained the backyard became a swimming pool before?  It did.  Princess Paws was not a fan of that.

After they tore out the existing patio and prepped the space for the new patio.  Sorry about that Saturday morning wake up call, neighbors!  We love you!

View from the corner of the yard of the future patio space.  Also a rake, wouldn't want you to miss that.

Purdee flagstone.

Pergola.  It's hard to tell but this patio is about 2.5x bigger than the previously existing patio.

View from behind the backyard's main tenant.  

Why I no longer have to keep the shutters closed in the back of the house.

Excuse the poor lighting.  The whole week the crew was working we never got to see the backyard in the light.  I was too excited to wait this night, obviously.

The lady of the backyard got a little sprucing up.