House Plans

Now that everything is official, we can share our grand plans for the house. The pics are from the listing and don't do the house justice. The previous owners really liked antique furniture and had a LOT of it in every room. It was hard to see passed the huge pieces but something about the house just felt right for us. Hopefully when we see it empty today we will have that same feeling.

The things we are most excited about that we have never had before are: A master bathroom, we have never had our own bathroom and are really looking forward to having a grownup space with fancy towels that we don't have to worry about. Natural gas, the heating, stove and fireplace are all on gas which is just fantastic for us. We've always had electric or oil heat and are really looking forward to the efficiency of natural gas. Plus I can't wait to see what Pat whips up on a gas range. It's a fixer, but only cosmetically. The roof, furnace and water heater are all new so we just have to update it to fit our lifestyle. We love the layout so luckily no walls need to come down or anything. But the kitchen and bathrooms will need complete overhauls at some point. We are going to take our time though as we plan on being here a while. Hot tub, seriously it has a hot tub! Oh and did I mention it sits on almost an acre with green belts surrounding it so it actually feels like 3+ acres? It's like living in a park. 

Ok back to our plans.

 Exterior: In desperate need of a good cleaning and a paint job. There is cracked paint and algae growing on the house! That project is definitely happening this Summer. We're leaning more towards the blue/gray/green color family and although Pat and I have agreed on all the interior colors, the exterior seems to be a hot topic for us. Pat is leaning more towards light colors and I want dark...we will have to see where we end up! Yard wise, we want to clear out some of the garden space (don't worry, there is plenty) to make more lawn. Right now there are a lot of large rhododendron bushes (which I hate by the way, sorry state of Washington) that can either be moved to other parts of the property or given away. There is amazing potential for a huge play area for the boys, which is just what my wild boys need.

 Kids bathroom: 80s wallpaper coming down, hopefully easily and painted a blueish gray color. It will be all boy that's for sure! We would also like to stain the cabinet a dark color (to hide smudges) and replace the counter top, vinyl flooring and upgrade the light, mirror and faucet.

 Living room: luckily only one small accent wall is wallpapered in this room so we will remove that and paint it a light airy blue.For now we want to white wash the brick fireplace and eventually beef it up by taking it all the way up the wall and adding a beefier mantel. We also want to build a bay window bench with some storage.

 Another view of the living room. The ceilings are pretty high so we are bringing in painters to do the ceilings throughout the house and as many other rooms as we can afford.

 Kitchen: Oh the kitchen! We want to paint the oak cabinets white, burn those mauve laminate counter tops and them replace with some type of stone, take down the cabinets over the island and replace all the appliances. Oh and that tile floor...it has to go too! We would like to redo the floors throughout the entire house so it's all cohesive (right now there is cheap 90s laminate, white carpet in the kids rooms, and 3 different types of vinyl flooring in the bathrooms). The previous owners are taking the fridge and the washer and dryer so we get to upgrade those right away.

Master Bedroom: Paint it a dark, warm gray. I'm actually making this room a top priority as we have never had a put together master bedroom. It just ends up being a catch all for junk we can't find space for in other rooms. Hopefully that won't be a problem in this house.

 Guest Bathroom: Pinterest has convinced me that small guest bathrooms need to have a wow factor, so this room is going dark. Hopefully it won't turn into a cave! We would like to do floating shelves above the toilet and either change out the mirror or at least frame it so it's not so boring. This bathroom is right off the kitchen so it shares that same awful tile...it has to go! In the meantime, I'm going to try to clean the grout or possibly re grout with something lighter so it's not so terrible.

Dining room: They are using it as an office but it will go back to a formal living room. It shares a wall with the living room so it will be the same light airy blue. Eventually I'd love to find a modern wallpaper to put on the back wall, just to separate the spaces a little.

Until then, this is my reality. STILL picking paint colors! I have been cursed with indecisiveness. Luckily I have a bag full of paint samples that I can't wait to get up on the walls so I can put these paint chips away! The painters (a professional painter and Pat assisting to save $$) are starting on Friday so I better make these decisions fast! SO MUCH PRESSURE!

I will try to get pictures of the other rooms when we are there today. We finally get the keys and get to see it empty...it's going to feel like a mansion!