Big Project

We did a few major projects that delayed our move in.  One, the one I have been most excited about, is our wall knock out...

It's hard to get a good angle of this wall, but there was a wall between our living room and dining room.  My vision was to knock it out and open up the house.  Also, our dining room let's in alot of natural light and I was hoping it would bring more light into the living area.

The far right of this picture is the wall.

The far right again...

And the knock out begins:

Looking at the front door to the right.

Standing at the back door.

There is the natural lighting!

And we have an opening!!!

After all the touch-ups and painting and moving in, I still do not have a completed picture.  We are looking at options to fill the strip where Ross is standing.  Right now my yoga mat is standing in for wood flooring.

Now with all the open space, it really changes the whole feel of the house. 

My favorite Item

If you know me, you know I love to cook.  Or maybe more appropriate, I just love food.  I do have a "dream" kitchen that I have been plotting for many months (help via www.pinterest.com).  Our kitchen right now isn't my dream, but I like it.  The first purchase for our home is now my favorite item...

The refridgerator.

I did alot of research and decided to go with a freezerless fridge.  (My plan is to keep a freezer in the garage, which is attached to the house.)  So I went for it.  I have a massive fridge in my kitchen that illuminates your face when you open it.  Of course the first thing we stocked it with...

A little cerveza.  Not sure if I will ever be able to fill the fridge, but it sure makes me smile when I see it each day.  I am very thankful for my very favorite item.

Renovations

It's almost been 2 weeks since we have had our home, and we still have not moved in yet.  Ross and I have had a few renovations in mind that we wanted to get out of the way before we moved in due to the dust and mess it's created.  Here is what we have done so far.

Meet the Living Room. 

This "beautiful" yellow, deep textured look had to go. 

With that, our first step was to sand, and sand, and sand some more.  

After about an hour of using a small handheld sander, we decided to rent a big sander for the day.

This big mama!  

So we sanded for about a day, and we conquered the living room, the entry way and the dining room. 

This was the texture we were dealing with.  After sanding, we wiped down the walls and got to texturing.

 After some awesome help texturing (thank you Benj, Leslie, and Karen!!) we sanded again.  And wiped down the walls again.  Then it was time to paint.  A quick prime around the room and more help to finish painting the living room.

I am obsessed with grey.  I had two different grey's in mind, and decided to go with the lighter grey.  It fits just perfect!  We are in the process of finishing up the crown molding and touching up spots here and there, but I can't wait to see the finished project once everything is moved in and set up!

Renovations begin

The very first project on the house was done by my brother, Benj and my husband, Ross.  While I was out of town, they decided to knock out the entry way ceiling and raise it to match the rest of the house.

I don't have great before pictures, but here are some "during" pictures that I made Ross take when I found out he was doing this.

The view here is standing in the front door looking through our entry way to the hallway.

This view is standing in our living room.  The ceiling used to come down to the top of the door.  But it's not crampin our style anymore.

It really makes a huge difference and opens up the house immediately!  I have painted the room white and plan to do a little somethin extra to the big white wall you see above.

And this is after a long day of painting :)