The plans are finally in motion - we're buying my Grandma's house!
The house is a blank canvas now for us to do with whatever we like. I thought I'd blog the process as we go along so you can see just how it changes. Of course it's odd thinking that me and my sister practically grew up in this house so I don't want to change too much, but I'm thinking of adding a few touches to the house that she will appreciate and that will be a nod to our childhood and the fun times we had there.
DINING ROOM
The dining room is a strange off-white/greeny colour. It's not nice,
but it's not horrible either. With a different flooring it could look nice,
but as it stands it's just a bit too boring.
The curtains aren't nice either. The whole house is old fashioned,
so needs updating. But with our possessions, decorations and stamp on things,
it won't take too long to turn this house into our home. Next stop, Etsy, for a tablecloth and curtains!
LIVING ROOM
The living room too needs an update.
We're considering just dying the curtains,
but eventually we will have wooden blinds put in for ease. We
don't like net curtains, but they're handy in this room because it looks
out onto the street.
Again, the walls aren't actually too bad. The beige and white
tops is nice together, and once all the old fashioned ornaments and photos are down, I think it will be a nice clean looking room.
The fireplace is definitely in need of an update, though! It's a very old fashioned one. We've seen lots of fires that we like already so that won't be a problem to change. The actual fireplace around the fire isn't attractive, but I'm sure we could find a wooden style one to replace it.
The sofa needs updating. We're looking at buying this one (below).
It's perfect; exactly what we're looking for. With a few pale blue pillows,
it'll fit right in with the beach look we're going for!
Its the carpets mainly that prevent a modern feel to the place.
If we don't touch the walls too much, we can just focus on the carpets.
We like the white/cream theme for the front room,
adding colour with cushions, frames and decorations.
(Below).
HALLWAY
The hallway carpeting is a bright kind of reddy pink colour. Doesnt show the dirt and it's fairly newish so its in great shape, but it's just so bright! Perhaps with white walls as opposed to peach, it wouldn't look so colourful.
One plan for sure, though, is to knock out the bannister which is solid wood painted peach, and put in plain oak wooden rungs. Not only is it nicer looking,
it lets the light run through the gaps and opens up the stairs.
I love the way (below) they've completely opened up the space.
It's no longer a wall, but a feature. A bit of white trim and some frames
have added so much, so we're hoping to do something similar.
MASTER BEDROOM
Okay so we come upstairs to the master bedroom.
As usual the carpet is not very aesthetically pleasing, but the walls aren't too bad. A quick modernisation with frames, bed covers, etc will do the job.
Its bigger than it looks, because this is a huge bed and ours is a lot smaller, but still big. There are built in wardrobes on the far side down the entire wall and the wall dips in in the middle. Getting rid of those curtains would let in so much light!
The top photo is the same room even though the walls look different. The paper is odd - in the light you can see swirls but only if you catch it at the right angle.
You can see this needs a lot of work, and considering its going to be
our bedroom, it's the least of my worries because it's only us who see it!
We like battleship grey (standing joke in our house because hubs served in the Navy. In a grey submarine.) and it's nice to be able to add colour with other things.
I love turquoise, and this pastel-mint colour is adorable.
It's not too bright for a bedroom, I don't think!
SPARE ROOM NO. 1
Spare room no. 1 is the smallest of the two extra bedrooms.
It fits a single bed, chest of drawers, chair and bedside table nicely.
Its also really light. This was my room as a kid when I slept over and it's cosy.
This is going to be the baby's room (when we have one!).
Ideas for this room depend on what gender baby we have.
If we decide not to find out, we quite like a generic unisex hot-air balloon theme.
I love this, and Woodys promised to try and make it :)
For a boy, we'd like this colour scheme, and an underwater/yellow submarine theme. Although this could all change!
Boy or girl, we want a vinyl decal tree with bookshelf branches.
Colours would be determined by gender, of course.
And for a little girls room? Something pretty and feminine.
This is so cute.
My nursery ideas are endless, so it'll be interesting to see whether we keep
to these plans or not!
BATHROOM
The bathroom. One room we will want to do up because for starters, there is no shower and we're big shower people!
The wallpaper is cherry print and the bathroom set although still in good condition is about 50 years old!
We want a new bath with a wooden surround built around it. Only a cheap bathroom set would be fine. My parents bath is lush and I'd like that one really but we are more shower people than bath people so it'd be a bit of a waste to fork out for a big bath.
SPARE ROOM NO. 2
Spare room no. 2 is the bigger room. I need another photo really because it doesnt look big here. On the left out of frame there's another alcove with another wardrobe in it, and the wall opposite the window has a huge chest of drawers down it. If we were to remove the double bed and turn this into a kids room, it'd be really great because we could probably fit in bunk beds/ a cabin bed to minimise space and then have a book nook in an alcove or even a reading teepee :) The colour isn't great and would definitely need repainting.
KITCHEN
I dont have any photos of the kitchen yet but I'll get some.
OUTSIDE/GARDEN
The garden is adorable. It's hard to explain, but basically, looking at this photo...I'm stoody by the house. There is patio down where I am which is very large. On the right is the step down to the garage and driveway. At the top of that grass, is a flower bed, then more grass behind going back to that wall. On the right at the top of the path behind the garage which is on the right is another bit of patio.
Here is the view looking down from the top bit of grass,
so we'd probably get rid of that flower bed and just elongate the grassed area so our future kids can play on it easier.
This is like the top photo but you can see the garage and the size of the patio at the bottom a little easier. There are double doors from the dining room so you can enjoy it even when you're sat inside. :) Outdoor plans include a firepit and decking furniture set on the top patio, vegetable patch at the top above the flower bed, and the marbled fence I keep pinning about. I tried my luck at getting a trampoline but I failed miserably :P
So that's our little future home!
As you can see there's a lot of work to be done, but the main thing is that it's livable. We can decorate as and when we can afford to, bit by bit.
Check out my home sweet home board on Pinterest and my loves on Etsy to see some of the ideas we'd like to put into place...
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