THE KITCHEN | it's officially starting!

 Before we move in, we're taking care of a few things with the house, so we can just move in and not have to move around a dusty construction zone.  Not that we're doing that much, but nonetheless, it'll be nice to just move in and be done.

 First up - the kitchen.  Wonderful layout, gorgeous windows, and really nice walnut cabinets in great shape.  But that tiled counter.  That's just a big mess that - looks aside - I just can't live with.  It's not bad, but it's not working for us.

So here's a little [crudely] Photoshopped pic of what I'm thinking of!  A very pretty white quartz [with some grayish green undertones which works very well with the walnut], some pretty glass subway tile backsplash in a gray-green, and eventually I'd like to paint the ceiling white.  The wood is cool, yes, but we have it in the living room too that I won't touch, and in here it's been whitewashed.  Again, not bad, just not what I want in my sleek, gorgeous Mid Century home. [I have a feeling Brandon could care less about the ceiling, so that may be something that changes down the road, after the sting of new kitchen counters wears off]

A lot of people who see the house don't hate the tile near as much as I do.  But - looks aside - this tile has to go, because it has a few major issues.  Like this:

that grout crumbled when I just touched it.  Not the best for food prep...

[here are sample materials!  pretty tile on top of pretty quartz!]

And about a week ago, the demolition commenced!  I had to take out the current back splash so our quartz guy could get an accurate template.

For the most part, it came up really easily, except for a few spots:

right here, where the top of the tiles was caulked, as soon as it let go of the wall it ripped down the veneer on the bottom of the cabinet.  Craaaaaaap.  [I'll probably get new veneer, stain it as close as I can, and put new stuff up there.  I'll keep you posted!]

And here, under the microwave, it was a little tricky to get the tiles off, because they were glued on with liquid nails, instead of with traditional mastic.  [it could have been worse - they could have allll been glued on, and I would have cried a little.]

So here she is!  All naked up top:

As soon as the counters go in I'll tile the back splash [with the help of my mom and her tile saw] and we'll be moving in!

welcome to OUR HOUSE

Well, here we are.  The next chapter in our lives.  The chapter where we move into our dream house. 

Kinda surreal, really.  It all happened so, so fast!  No official plans to move.  Our current house isn't even on the market [yet].  But we saw a listing for our dream house, complete with gorgeous Mid Century Modern details, it's spacious, and - most of all - we can afford it. We're the third owners since it was built in 1968, and I'm thankful every day that most everything is original, but I can't wait to restore it to it's intended glory and make it a perfect blend of original details mixed with modern finishes and conveniences.

It's perfect for us, and we couldn't be more excited to get into it and make it ours!

So that's where this blog comes in.  First off, just to show off our amazing house to our friends and family who live in different towns that we will [I'm like the house's proud mom - "looook at my amaaazing house!!!"] and to show the various updates we'll do to spiff it up while I do my very best to make it as well-designed as possible.

First thing's first - the house tour!  It's kind of a mismatch of photos, all taken at various different times of day during different trips to the house, and some rooms don't even have photos yet [big oversight on my part, me being a photographer and all].  But you'll get the idea.  SO!  

THE HOUSE: 

[taken with my iphone while on the drive up to the house, so my car wouldn't cover up the entry]

 [clearly you can see the difference - sunny day for pic one, super cloudy day for pic 2.  oh well.]

 THE DOORS.  Be still my beating heart :)

Ready to be loved and restored to their once-beautiful finish. [oh, and the pink is going.  fast.]

 As soon as you come in the entry you're greeted by a wall of light at the other end of the house

[this pano also taken with my iphone the first day I viewed the house with our realtor]

 view of the front doors from the living room [obvi taken with my 'real' camera]

Wood!  Stone!  The original room divider that's STILL THERE!  And looking fantastic.  LOVE!

To the left of the living room pic you'll see a step up into this room, the dining room:

 And part of the wall of windows in the living room are a set of sliding doors to this amazing patio!  

Anyone want to come over for a BBQ?  It'll be a gorgeous one, to be sure.

 this pic doesn't show much other than snow and leaves, but it does kind of show that the patio extends the whoooole length of the house.

 And back inside, go up to the foyer and turn left and you're in this yet-to-be-named room:

 AGAIN with the wall o' windows.  Panes upon giant panes.  [hence the name, haha]

To the left is our kitchen, about 3x the size of my current kitchen [but so, so, so, so beige.  you'll notice a theme there...]

 BUT!  Big plans already in the works.  Stay tuned :)

[my mom & dad already gave us a housewarming gift!  notice the gorgeous Hans Wegner wishbone chair in the desk nook, tags still on.  So in love with it!] [aaand that chandelier.  Gots. To. Go.]

 Just off the kitchen in the yet-to-be-named room, another stone fireplace, and HUGE built-ins:

 Since this is the photo that best describes the color of the paneling, I may as well mention it here.  It's ALL staying.  It's a gorgeous warm shade of walnut, and [I love this little factoid] all of it was harvested from the property the house is built on.  Being a small town, and the fact that we're the third owners, I know a woman that grew up in this house and she confirmed that fact for me.  Her dad harvested all of the wood for the walls.

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 love love love the hearth that extends the length of the wall!

 THEN - continue down the hall [from the doorway to the left of the built-ins that I conveniently forgot to include in the pic] and you'll come across my GIANT laundry room.

 IT. HAS. A. SINK.  And cabinets.  [pretty sure the same amount of cabinets in my current kitchen]

And just another door down is the door to our basement:

 Which I was very excited to see on our first viewing of the house.  I couldn't tell from the listing if it had a basement, and I didn't really like the idea of not having one [tornado country and all] but IT DOES.  And it, too, has a fireplace. 
So go back upstairs, back through to the foyer, and down the hallway [it's an L-shaped house and I can't figure out the best 'house tour' plan for photos yet...] and you'll come to the hall bathroom.  The gigantic [and very, very beige] bathroom:

 [that's my mom reflected in the mirror]

And continue down the hall, past the 3 bedrooms that I didn't get photos of [yet], into the Master Bedroom that I didn't get photos of [oops] and into the [giant, beige] Master Bath:

 AND, through the door on the right, to my very own giant cedar-lined closet:

And that's it for now!  I'm doing some painting next week, and more stuff is happening, so stay tuned!

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Another little note about the house:  The man who built it was an Angus farmer who owned acres upon acres of farm [we didn't get that much with the house.  besides, what the heck would I do with a ton of land?  other than fill it up with adorable goats that would have to have heated houses].  So he had this little statue of an Angus bull.  He stayed with the previous owner, and now we have him. I'll have to come up with an appropriate name for him...