It's been a while

So it's been a good 9 months since I posted last.  The reason simply being that I am not a blogger.  And the camera went missing.  And we remodeled a house.  And I have three kids under 4.  And. and. and. But, I finally got the kids off to Moms and Kids (heavenly!) for three hours, found an old not so great camera, and took some photos.  I am simply posting photos because I could not have finished this project without many hours looking at the homes of others.  What color white? What stain for the floors? Carpet or no carpet? The list goes on. By no means is the house perfect, or just right, or even finished - but it was fun to do and fun to see all that is out there on the internets.   So, here she is..

Front door has a few inches under it because we tore out about 6 layers of floors to get to the original 1840's pine boards.

Formal living room right off the entry.  My least favorite room. Don't think painting the mantle black was the best choice.  So goth.  It will get there, one day.  PS.  just about all of my "stuff" comes from treasure hunting (thrift stores, garage sales, craigslisting) with my kids or my mom.  That's def the fun part.

Behind the living room is the wet bar.  I wish I had before pics.  Somewhere.

Then on to my kitchen.  I love this little kitchen. It's all ikea.  9 foot island in the middle and no upper cabinets.  I tried to copy cat this kitchen and this one a little bit too. Those sconces are from Urban Outfitters.  The brass sconces I wanted were uber expensive and would not have passed budget inspection. These do the trick, but can only withstand like a 2 watt bulb so they aren't all that functional. Oh well, who needs function in a kitchen?

No I don't mind not having upper cabinets.  I keep my every day stuff right on these shelves and it is pretty easy to keep clean.  Of course sippy cups and ugly stuff goes below.

All of the bathrooms got the same treatment.  Home Depot stock 3 x 6 marble tiles laid herringbone.  We laid that heat mat heating under the tile and man is it nice.

This is where the small people in the house are supposed to spend hours a day creating beautiful things.  It was where the washer and dryer were, so when we moved that upstairs, I put in an 8 ft counter 24" high for them.  It does help with hand washing.  But, they still prefer to play under my feet and color on the walls.

Moving out of the kitchen, you hit the dining room and the "grown up" part of the family room.  I love how the dining room and the kitchen open to each other, and how I can't see the kitchen from where I sit and read and drink wine.  I am not an "open floorplan" person.  I think what happens in the kitchen should stay in the kitchen.  Who wants to see dishes from the couch.  Not I!

This is the "kid end" of the family room.  It is a 35 foot long room, but only 14 ft wide.  Talk about awkward.  Plus, its the main thruway in the house.  So, basically, its a super long wide hallway that happens to be where we spend 99.99% of our time.

This is the "playroom."  Originally I had a whole room dedicated to toys and kids.  Problem?  They would not stay in there.  They kept escaping.  So, nixed the playroom, and just dedicated this area of the family room to their toys, the TV, books, kid stuff.  I put sneaky little camera there on the orange table (can you see it at the corner of the TV?) so I can watch them while I am in the kitchen.  Big Brother.

This might be my favorite part of the house.  It is our back entry hall.  We come in this door from the driveway and it takes you to the family room or to the backyard.  This hall is a landing zone for coats, jackets, snow gear, etc.  It has a big mud closet on the right so we never have to leave anything out. When we ever do leave this place,  I will miss this hall most of all.

So that's its.  The downstairs. And one of a room upstairs. 

PS.  The entire house is painted Benjamin Moore Simply White.  Walls are matte, trim is semi gloss.  Doors and anything else black is painted Onyx by Benjamin Moore. I only point this out because I might have spent just a few nights looking online for photos of white walls.  Anyway, Simply White. 

PPS. Could not have done it without the help of these three clowns

 Found some before pics.. can you match them up to the after?