House Tour - Lower Level

Our basement is enormous. It is really a continuation of the house. It has another den (the man cave), a large bedroom with our only walk-in closet, and full bathroom.

So without further ado, welcome to the man cave.

I searched and searched for that burnt orange chevron fabric. It only existed in my head (which happens often) until I stumbled upon this post at Living Life Out Loud.
Thanks again, Courtney, for sending me in the right direction to get my hands on that fabric!

close up of the hunting pictures

...And into the downstairs guest bedroom

 We use part of the bedroom as an office...

...which needs some organizing.

Bathroom through that door... you can see the dropcloths, more later!

Oh, and here are the stairs that lead from the kitchen down to the man cave.

Ending at the beginning. Adios.

House Tour - Bedrooms

Welcome overnight guests! At least, that's what I hope these rooms say.

Again, I wish I had better "before pics!" But, we'll just take a peak at a few updates and what they look like now.

The biggest thing upstairs was the floor. The three upstairs bedrooms had carpet when Frank moved in. Right before I moved in we decided to see if they had hardwoods underneath and we had a big hunch that they did.

This room was originally a nursery and I can't remember what color it was. 

The other guest room was bright green with a fairy & flower mural!

front guest room, painted Swiss Coffee by Behr

Yay, hardwoods!

We pulled up all the carpet, and about a million staples. Then our joy quickly diminished when we realized that 53 years of wear and tear had taken its toll on the floors. The rug pad had literally disintegrated into the wood and stained it.

This doesn't even do it justice, and was after all our best attempts to clean it. 

We knew some things are better left to the professionals, and refinishing floors is one of them. 

after sanding, selecting a stain color (we went with the right)

ahhhh, happiness!

Here is what the master bedroom looked like after hardwoods and pre-"me"

Okay, well I did do the curtains. 

But, here it is today

It looks like the carpet is back, but its actually a great area rug

This is one of the only rooms that we kept the previous owner's color on the walls. 

Close up of our "nook"

Hallway that connects the bedrooms to the den

This wall has our favorite cards and mementos framed. We cherish these items.

Walking into the front guest bedroom

I shamelessly "stole" this color from a friend.

paint color: Light French Gray by Behr

We do have one other bedroom on the upstairs level. But, I get ready in there, and it is often where things land before they find a real home. That said, the room isn't quite ready for its debut. Maybe later!

House Tour - Bathrooms

Not the most exciting topic... but it is what it is.

Our bathrooms are lovely. Original tile, and it is in great shape. I am just not so sure about the original owners' color selections.

Our upstairs guest bath (or "powder room" if you will...)
BEFORE (kinda..... again, sort of a "mid")

Red-brick-brown tile up to your eyeballs? Check!

(Excuse the "roommate era" bathroom picture. Its the only one I'll show, and trust me: you'd be scarred for life to see the other views).

Yellow tub? Peach floor tile? Check, check!!

What modern couple doesn't dream about a brown/yellow/peach design scheme?! We decided to do a little work on it anyway... it started with removing the rusty medicine cabinet. We had good intentions to replace it, but it wasn't until it was removed and happily residing in ReStore when we realized it wasn't 1956 and they didn't make them that size anymore (well, that size AND within our budget).

Raising the light fixture, removing the medicine cabinet, and Frank's favorite, "fixing nail pops."

Much better.

Look how different Benjamin Moore's Vale Mist looks in the above photo and this one

As you walk in

a true peek at the wall color here

Its not a five star resort spa, but she'll do.

...And the downstairs guest bath is under construction (I use that word loosely.... we're only painting). Imagine the upstairs bath minus the wall tile. I'll post pictures when we're finished.

Onto the master bath....

If you haven't already noticed, our bathrooms are "space challenged." 

It's very hard to get good pictures.

Close up of the tile

Green was the theme for the original owners!

Before and After

We have located some "before" pictures!!!

Thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law, we have a few pictures of the house as it looked during the roommate days. Are you ready?!

Dining Room BEFORE

Original wall color - dark beige

Dining Room AFTER

This is so fun!

Den BEFORE

(Decorated for a tacky Christmas party)

Den AFTER

You can see the mantle in the mirror's reflection, and the kitchen through the doorway on the right

Another view of the den BEFORE

and AFTER!

Now you can see how far we've come! Thanks again, Kim!!!

House Tour - Den & Dining

The inside of our house has evolved quite a bit over the past couple years. It definitely looks very different now than it did when Frank had three roommates (as you can imagine). 

I'm trying so hard to locate "before" pictures of the house... they are on Frank's dead hard drive. We're trying to recover them as we speak I write. As for the new pictures, I apologize. They're either overexposed or too dark/unfocused. I just cannot figure out my little point and shoot (read: I am not patient enough. After a long day with 25 ten-year-olds, lack of patience should not be too shocking). I promise to figure it out over the summer. 47 days!!! But, who's counting? 


Back to the den...
The walls were a dark taupe... but thanks to a visit from Mom last summer, the den and dining room are now gorgeous gray, Agreeable Gray by Sherwin Williams, which happens to also be her kitchen color:

(Thanks, Patti!)

Isn't it agreeable?




This is one of the only "before" pictures I can find- and it really is more of a "mid."

Yep- that couch has cup holders.

We added the wooden roman shades and drapes. 

Mr. Wiggles used to reside above the fireplace until he migrated to the man cave. And, if you're keeping count, you are correct: 3 couches in the den. What can I say, 4 men, 3 couches... that math works?

Here is the den today...

Welcome...

I'm still trying to figure out what I like on the mantle...

UPDATE: check out the new mantle here!

Our dining room is attached to our den. Frank really wanted an open floor plan when he was house hunting (a rarity in this area). It definitely opens the house up.

We added prints from a great Charleston photographer. Pillows by me (with the exception of the solid blue- they are courtesy of tarjay). 

do you like how I tried to hide the vent with a glass bottle?

Now onto the dining room....

The dining room has had a few transformations as well. Most recently, we got thess gorgeous dining room table chairs and china cabinet from Frank's parents. It originally belonged to his great-grandmother. I am in love!

Notice we have different fabrics on the chairs above and the chairs below. I recently recovered them all a lovely yellow print from King Cotton (more on that later). We also got a gorgeous, jute rug from the Pottery Barn Outlet.

As you move into the dining room from the den

close up of the animal prints 

This was the table all set for Thanksgiving (pre- chair makeover).

phew, that was a long post. Happy Thursday!