Fair warning; the above photo is the only pretty picture in this post. So go ahead and lower those expectations.  (it’s the plan for the dining room…. the floral is for curtains!) We knew that the changes we wanted to make to our “new” house would have to happen over time. Our budget simply doesn’t allow for us all to do it right now. After meeting with about six different contractors and only getting two quotes back (which is infuriating) we are at a standstill trying to figure out what to do. Should we take out a relatively small personal loan to complete the master? Should we wait a year and take out a home equity loan instead (if needed, we might could save up the remaining amount between now and then and need no loan at all). Should we pay off debts with the cash we have, then re-save for renovations? Ready for the ugliest house tour ever…. here goes. (I don’t mean that I think my house is ugly…. but these are real life, not styled, we live here photos…. so don’t judge me, internet…. you know you have sheets folded on your kitchen island and a bat-mobile box in your living room too…) 1. The kitchen/den area. At one time a wall separated these spaces…. I’m so glad that’s not the case anymore. You’ll see a big cabinet below, that’s the “office”. It’s a computer cabinet that houses most of my gear and desktop. This will eventually live in our new master bedroom and a loveseat or a few club chairs will take it’s place. The window in here will eventually be a door leading to a deck or patio. The perimeter cabinets will eventually be white and the island, dark gray. The floor will be tiled. We got a quote to have the cabinets painted and I almost pooped myself…. like, we could literally replace all the cabinets for less. So maybe we’ll do that. Who knows. 2. The door to the right of the stove currently leads to the garage. That will eventually become an opening to a small hall with a laundry room and our master suite. Below is what the garage looks like at this moment…. laundry, trash, an old fridge, a high chair…. you know, the norm. Don’t judge. Your garage isn’t magazine worthy either. 3. The two bedrooms are almost identical, except one has a 1/2 bath. 4. Speaking of that 1/2 hath… here’s the full & 1/2…. so sexy. The tiny 1/2 bath will stay as is. It’s the lowest man on the totem pole for any renos. It works just fine, and none of the tile is cracked. The full bath might get tackled after the master is done. We’ll see. 5. Our living room is pretty much staying as is. Whenever the master bedroom is done, this tv will go there and a bigger one will get hung above the fireplace. You can see the dining room in the bottom right photo, which connects back around to the kitchen. Now, for a little inspiration….. All on my pinterest board…. *the one heinus, grainy cell photo is the mid-centry dresser we are using for our new master vanity…. it has awesome brass hardware and feet! I cannot wait to see it refinished… think of it as you see that beautiful inspiration photo on the left! I’ve been trying to think about some of the smaller, less expensive projects we could do, that would make our house feel like a home. I picked out that drapery fabric for our dining room and some trim to use elsewhere (maybe a pillow in the adjoining living room) in the photo above. I did make my first bigger purchase… two barstools for the kitchen island…. they’re perfectly vintage, bamboo and were a whopping $20 on Craigslist! Here’s a list of items to tackle (over time)…. 1. Build master suite & laundry room 2. Enclose porch into a mudroom 3. Build garage 4. Renovate man-cave (Jeremy will DIY!). His goal is to have this done by Super Bowl 2017. 5. Paint kitchen cabinets. Wall cabinets will be white & island will be gray. OR replace all the kitchen cabinets? 6. Renovate existing full bath…. new tile & re-glaze tub. 7. Replace all interior doors with solid doors. 8. Wire living room for tv above fireplace. 9. Purchase/make curtains and blinds (we don’t have a single window covering up!)   So… who wants to hire us. I got lots of projects that need funding 🙂