We bought a HOUSE!

I have been dying to blog and document this, but we JUST got the internets this week.

     After months of looking, we closed on a house November 22nd.  We expected to do a little work on it before we moved (like putting tile in all of the wet areas).  However, we ended up doing so much work so fast!  Things that I thought we wouldn't get to for 2-3 years!  We had originally planned to have the carpets cleaned, but found out they weren't worth keeping, so we had to replace them (something I only hoped to do in the next 2 years)... and while we waited for the flooring to come in we decided to go ahead and scrape ceilings, peel wallpaper, and retexture both walls and ceilings.  Oh, and lay tile in the meantime.  It was a crazy first 3 weeks!  Corey worked so so hard.  And we had a ton of help from friends and family!  A barn-raisin if you will.  We moved December 15th, and I am dumbfounded at how far we have come in the past 3 months.  I attribute this to: lots of snow days,  pent-up energy from renting the past 5.5 years, having children that go to bed at 7:00, not owning a tv or the internet, and having awesome family and friends that let you borrow their tools, time, and watch your kids for you.
   

For our records, here are some before and after shots... or "then" and "now."  The original photos are ones that I took during the home inspection.  It's not even the same place!

living room as you walk in:

     We're still a work in progress of course.
     I love how much the place has brightened up!  I was a little worried when we walked through initially b/c it felt cave-like, but I knew with all the windows that it SHOULD be a bright and cheery place.  The photos were taken around the same time of day, it's crazy the difference that scraping the ceiling and paint choices can make!
     I love so many things about our new home.  Thank you Lord for blessing us!

For the record, here's what we've done to date:
1) tile: kitchen, laundry, hearth, both bathrooms.
2) peeled wallpaper: entry, dining, guest bath, master bath, den, kitchen
3) scraped ceiling: living, dining, hall, 3 bedrooms, kitchen, guest bath (remaining: den, master bath)
4) retextured everywhere (walls and ceilings) except for kitchen, den, master bath
5) primed and 2 coats of paint everywhere (including ceilings) excluding den, kitchen and master bath
6) laid laminate flooring
7) laid transitions between tile/wood
8) updating trim... so far we've done living, dining, hall.
9) new exterior door on den
10) dozens of other tiny projects :)