After walking around with paint in our hair for over a month, I am thrilled to tell you that the laundry, entry, hallway, kid's rooms, kitchen and dining rooms are done! Since J and Bean are napping, I thought I'd take the opportunity to show you the kitchen/dining area. I just put everything back in the kitchen yesterday, and M hung the cabinet doors last night. It is clean for the first time in weeks, and might be the last time it's clean for a while-- so now is the time for pictures. :)

Quick disclaimer: The family before us lived here for 28 years and took great care of the house and it showed beautifully. Some of the changes we have made are purely because of differences in style. The before photos are the real estate listing photos, I wish I would have taken photos of the how it looked when we first moved in. The after would be so much more dramatic...

Again, they clearly had the house looking great. M and I just prefer cool colors and a brighter more modern look.

First, we painted the walls BM Stonington Gray {same as the office}. We love gray. I'm thrilled it's "trendy", but I think we'll still be in gray years from now. I think it goes back to my love of sweatshirts. 

Second, we painted all the baseboards, chair rail and dentil crown molding BM Chantilly Lace. Have you painted dentil molding before? It's terribly tedious. Finally, I painted the cabinets in the kitchen and laundry {laundry not shown because it is covered up in paint cans and dirty clothes} Chantilly Lace. I also spray painted the hinges oil rubbed bronze. We've been updating all the hardware throughout the house this way. Costs $5 instead of hundreds.

We debated on the island and the light fixture, but landed on leaving the dark wood for a couple reasons: 

1. It's very pretty and nicely done. 

2. It adds warmth to our cool room. 

3. It adds to the character, the vibe that the house has been added onto over time. Which is true. There are also dark beams in the living room which we have decided to leave for the same reasons. It's homey.

I'll start with why we didn't have a Christmas card this year:

"All is Merry and Chaos!"

After Thanksgiving we carefully decked the halls...

I tried again to get a Christmas card picture...

Considered sending one out with just Bean on it... ;-)

Found a fairy in the kitchen...

M turned 30...

We saw Rudolph at the park

We made Christmas cookies...

Tis the season for eating.

Christmas Eve we tried again to get a picture.

I guess that's pretty good. :)

Christmas morning...

Christmas Day at Momo and Popo's house with Uncle Chris and Aunt Minsey...

And finally, crashed at home to finish out the year.

In the midst of it all we potty trained, painted, potty trained, painted and painted. And potty trained.

Did you notice the shift from dark wood to white? From diaper to undies? {It's not like we were going to start putting pants on J now...}

January has again been full of painting and rearranging. We are this close to only having the living room and master bedroom to paint. Pictures soon! Right now the kitchen cabinets and doors are drying!

This holiday season M and I have been painting our socks off. We absolutely could not have gotten so much done without Momo and Popo watching J and AP a few days, thank you!

I'll start with the playroom, stairway and office. All before pictures are from when the former owners lived here. {And a lot of them are iPhone photos, so forgive the quality}

BEFORE: 

Stairs to the Bonus Room, aka Playroom. The walls all the way up the stairs were textured like a popcorn ceiling in addition to being red. WHY? Thank you, 90's. Lots and lots of sanding to make them smooth before priming...

Office and Stairs Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray, trim BM Chantilly Lace

PLAYROOM BM Bird Egg with Chantilly Lace ceiling and trim.  

I plan on getting photos of J and AP and their art work on the walls soon.

 

Note the security camera above the TV so I can watch from the kitchen. That would be M and his Dad's idea- love it! The lattice is to keep AP from falling down the stairs, but I think it'll be a cute play garden someday.

Bean's Christmas present, even though she cannot reach the freezer or microwave... I suppose we did want one she could grow into!

Here's a little tea party to make things more interesting. What TV character said, "I served the best air!" ?

And, the moment I realized the play S&P shakers were too small for her to play with.

Finally, the post would not be complete if I didn't show you what it looks like now and 99% of the time. And trust me, you don't even want to see the kitchen. ;)

More to come, over Christmas we've been working on the kid's bedrooms, hallway, bathroom, entry, dining, kitchen and laundry. We are so tired. But, it feels GREAT to get home feeling like home!