Introductions

My lady here, she’s a little shy and embarrassed to be introduced to you in all her nekkedness. Be kind. These pics were all taken pre-purchase and the extreme makeover had not begun. Unfortunately, I can be a little harsh on my lady. I’ll try to keep the criticism to a minimum so as not to hurt too many feelings. Here she is, the lady we call home.

Can you tell what part of the country we live in by the landscaping? I much prefer grass, but this will do for now. The front porch begs for some sort of seating. The door could use some paint as well. You can see exactly where the sun shines on it, and which part always stays shaded.

Open the door and come in friends.Here we are in the living/dining area. I’ve got a finished product coming up soon, so I won’t go in to much detail here. You see the kitchen through the archway.

As you step in, and look to your left, this is what you will find. The archway to the left that you can’t really see--that goes to the “media room,” which we so affectionately call our office. As you go down the little hallway, there is the laundry room on the left, and a closet underneath the staircase.

Looky! There’s a hookup for a sink! I didn’t think that was a priority, but now that we’ve been here several months, I’m kinda starting to get antsy to get this room a little more functional. That one shelf just isn’t cutting it. I’m thinking some cabinets. Definitely a sink. Maybe some board and batten or beadboard if I can convince the hubby.

The little hallway into the office. I’ll show you a better view of this room as we work our way around. Laundry on the left, closet on the right.

This picture is taken standing by the stairs, facing the front door. Duh. Sorry, but I had to state the obvious there, just in case. That archway to the right is the guest bath. I won’t show you now, because that reveal is coming up next. You can’t see it, but there is a door in between the arch and the front door. That is “supposed” to be the office. It is currently our construction staging area, but is supposed to someday become my massage room.

Let’s move into the kitchen now, shall we? I LOVE my huge island. I DO NOT love the ugly laminate counter tops. I LOVE all of the cabinets/mass storage space. I DO NOT love the wire shelving in my pantry (the door on the right). Hubby promised we could get granite countertops put in before we moved in. Then our closing date got pushed back so far, we had to move in right away. Then we got the quote, and now hubby says I have to wait. Boo-hoo. I am trying to be oh-so patient. It would really look so much more beautiful with non-ugly counters. I’m thinking there might be some beadboard that will happen along the outside edge of the island as well. I could think of a few other things I would like to do in here, but we won’t go there now since they would be too expensive and probably won’t ever happen. Now turn around.

This is the dining area and family room. The arcadia doors go out to the backyard. Those doors to the left go to the office/media room.

Here is another view of the whole room. It is BIG. Almost too big really. I wanted a kitchen that would open up to the family room, so that everyone would be together with family gatherings. It definitely works for that.

See my hubby and baby there with Miss Realtor? Another sidenote: can you see there by the window furthest right, how there’s a line where the paint gets darker? It’s all the same boring builder creamy white, but to the left is flat paint, and to the right gloss. It’s totally obvious and so tacky.

We’re heading through the double doors into the office.

This view is taken from the hallway I showed you before. The doors to the family room are on the right wall, and the door to the garage is on the far left. It is just one big, boring room with no storage. I envision something like this that Miss Sandra built:

Isn’t it beautiful? Not sure my husband or I have the talent or patience to build that, but I guarantee we can’t afford to buy something like that. Sandra is Superwoman. I am not, but I am trying. We did buy some bookshelves to make-do for now, but I eventually would like to have some cabinets built in for storage as well.

Ok folks. That’s it for the downstairs. Let’s head upstairs, and get some sleep eye. We’ll come back for the upstairs tour in a few...