Before & After

This one is for my HGTV lovers...

Personally I am obsessed with house hunting. I love looking at houses for sale online, in person, on TV whatever I can get. Buying one with a looming deadline (Kindergarten registration) is not nearly as fun especially when you live 5 hours away. After months of online stalking and our home-buying assistant Judy (and sometimes John) attending open houses and appointments we landed on this house in Mount Lebanon, PA. It felt right somehow despite the insanely sloped driveway and overgrown, steep backyard. It's an older split level house that was 'flipped' 3 years ago before the previous buyer purchased it. Thankfully for us the updated kitchen/living room floorplan is exactly what we wanted and there are two great decks overlooking a wooded backyard not to mention the school district is top notch and my commute is great. Since the work seems to have been done quickly there is still plenty of work to be done and/or corrected. Lucky for me I have an amazingly talented husband and father who can literally tackle ANY project. Lucky for them, I'm really good at finding projects to do :)

Jace has done an insane amount of work in a short period of time. After just 6 weeks it feels more like home than even our last house. Things that pictures can never explain (garbage disposal installation, painting, ceiling fan installations, shelf installation, faucet installation, cabinet installation, making room for a bigger new refrigerator and a billion other little things) and things that are visible, awesome and make life easier (or prettier) for all of us. 

First up, the silly off-white shutters.Two easy coats of daddy & me painting (John and Meg that is) freshened up the front of the house for less than $25. Stupid maybe, but it made me feel instantly better about the purchase ;)

Next the bathroom, I can't even explain the silliness of this bathroom. This space used to be a small master bathroom and hall bathroom. It was expanded and made into a single larger jack n jill style bathroom , however, the outlet near the toilet was not convenient to the mirror 6 feet away and no effort was made to make this a really functional space. Not to mention a sink that you could not even keep toothbrushes on (and we have FIVE, so this was an issue). We lived with this for about 2 weeks and even Jace was ready to tackle the project! Here are some before and after pics of my new favorite room of the house ;) Enjoy

BEFORE

(silly small sink, no outlet near the sink, terrible overhead lighting and insane bright green paint)

AFTER

(amazing new vanity, cabinet and mirror. new outlet next to sink, new bright light and a fresh coat of calming blue)

I will definitely post more before and after pics, especially the girl's room which is a pottery barn explosion of cuteness, it's just also an explosion of 300 stuffed animals and toys I've had trouble snapping good pics :-)

See, 2 posts in one week. It's a PBR. Enjoy!