Good enough for now

The past month we have been busy de-nautical-izing this house. As with all home projects everything takes at least twice, some times three, times longer than you anticipated. I am so sick of painting I don't know that we will do anything else to the place for another year!

Shepherd was real tired of painting... her little ear was not the only area that "helped", one day she decided to take a nap at the bottom of the stairs after I finished painting them and her back was slightly white washed when she got up. Another day she decided to bring her fetching ball in and dropped it in the paint tray... blasted dog!

The before pictures:

As you come in the front door, here is the living room. Previously it was just all white washed.

Next you walk into the dining room, still just a white washed room.

From the dining room there is a staircase up to the girls bathroom and bedrooms, from there you can continue up another small staircase to our master's sitting room. Note the "beautiful" sail ship gate!

The dining room also leads into the kitchen.

Here is a closer look of the "darling" sea creature backsplash.... a dastardly design.

From the kitchen there is a staircase up to our master bedroom, or down to the family room and also a side staircase down to the laundry and garage. Here the lovely family room is in all her glory. Don't you just LOVE the blueish gray trim, it highlights the wood paneling so well!

Oh yes, a wood paneling nightmare! Around that column on the left of the picture below is a door to the spare bedroom and half bath.

The after pictures:

While mom was here she helped me pick out paint, I wanted to be daring but chickened out and went with a version of light beige as our main color throughout the house.

Initially as the paint went up I was wishing I would have gone a little darker but now I am really pleased with it. I already have so much color in my living room that I think it balances the room out nicely. This is not a permanent bench by the window, I just needed to see what an extra piece of furniture would look like in that space so eventually I will find something to go there!

In the dining room I decided to add some more color on the walls, pumpkin butter, I really love this color! I think it adds some richness to the room and is also a nice contrast as you come in from the living room and see the kitchen/family room beyond.

We tore up the carpet off the stairs and said goodbye to that cute little gate, with some putty and a fresh coat of high gloss white paint they look much better.

In the kitchen we covered up the backsplash with some of those facade panels and changed out the blue cabinet knobs with bronzed copper knobs.

Eventually we would like to put a counter unit in by the stove. The one thing this house really lacks is counter space in the kitchen, but for now it's GOOD ENOUGH!

We toyed with the idea of a breakfast bar and stools or a small little bistro set for this area of the kitchen, but in the end our leather wing chairs inherited from dad and a little pedestal table I had worked out just fine... and with no added expense!

The family room turned out really nice, it actually looks bright and clean now!

This room was an absolute nightmare to paint... some of the trim required 4 coats of paint and still looks like it could use one more.

I cleaned up the fireplace, spray painted the vents and removed the screen. I wanted to make it more of a focal point but even though this room is really good sized with the cabinets, the staircase and sliding door I have had a hard time coming up with a good arrangement. Eventually we would love to sheetrock the room and get rid of the paneling and cabinets... for now it's just a dream!

I still HATE this carpet but I am trying my best not to look at it. The room still needs some more furniture... coffee table, side table and maybe a love seat???

Who knows when we will decide to tackle our master bedroom area and the spare bedroom, like I said... good enough for now!

Nate was also able to get our gates in the backyard secured so it is finally Baby proofed! It is such a relief to be able to let her out and not watch her like a hawk. Speaking of the Baby, she woke us up a couple of mornings ago having a seizure. I can not even describe to you how scared I was, I didn't know if she was dying or what. Nate called the vet while I stayed with her and they said to just watch her and wait and if she has another one to document everything about it and come in. So hopefully it was a freak thing, I can't stand the thought of watching her go through that again.

Hope you all had a wonderful summer, I am back on rotations and the kids will FINALLY be going to back to school the day after Labor day!