The Taynors

The Taynors

Friday, May 8, 2015

Home Improvements

We have been in the house now for just over 5 months, and its slowly starting to feel a little bit more like home.  I frequently take a step back and appreciate everything we have - if you asked me 6 years ago when we got married what my goals and dreams where, I would have said to have a couple of kids and move into a big house in a beautiful neighborhood.  Well, it has happened.  I can easily get caught up in the house to-do list and impatient to do projects in every single room, but the bottom line is my dreams have been coming true one step at a time.  When I look at it that way, suddenly the living room furniture doesn't seem so important.

But for the sake of blogging, talking about what we have already done to the house and what our future plans are is way more fun!

Since we moved in, we haven't done any major products or reno, its been all about the small details.

Let's start with the half bathroom.  We did this before moving in, but we have added some of the little decor touches. Mike did all the work himself with a little bit of help from our father's.  I absolutely love the floor we picked.  Its the tile that looks like wood.  Its easy to clean, looks great, and is different than regular bathroom tile.  It's pretty much done, the only thing on my wish list to still do is add crown molding one day.  We have very high ceilings, so the big moldings would look great.  I posted about this bathroom back when we moved in, but here is a reminder.

Before:


After:


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 We choose to do carpet on the stairs, the second floor, and the family room.  I personally find carpet on the second floor much easier to clean, and with young kids we are always playing on the floor so its a little more cozy.  We picked a neutral grayish color to do throughout the carpet space.  You can see below its a huge improvement over the green color that was in our master bedroom (or blue from Ryan's room, brown in the hallways, pink in the guest room, etc).

New:

 Old:



 Our master bedroom we haven't done much with.  It doesn't make sense to put money into it now when we know we want to do a total redo in the next few years.  The one thing we couldn't live with though was the carpet in the bathroom, so we tore that up and luckily the tiles under the carpet where in good shape.  It was a hard process to get all the glue off the floor, but along with some fresh paint it makes such a big difference in the room.  We did the same thing in the boys bathroom.  Other than that, we are leaving it be for now until we can do the remodel we want!

Before:

After: 

Patrick's room was a pretty easy fix.  The new carpets, fresh paint, curtains, decor from his old room.  It felt pretty much like his room right away.  The only thing I have left to change in his room is the fan.  It works for now, but I would like to update it eventually.

Before:




 After: 




 Ryan's room is more of the same.  Fresh carpets, paint, and the stuff from his old room.  I added a few new things like his new beanbag chair and book shelf since he has more room here, but no major work.

Before: 


After: 





The boys bathroom is similar to ours.  The gross carpets needed to come up immediately.  Then I added some color with fun kids bathroom stuff.  But really I didn't want to put a lot of work or money into it until we made plans for the future.  It works perfectly for now, so it is not on the top of my priority list.  The only thing I have added since taking these pictures are canvas's on the wall.  I have one of each boy as babies in their hooded towels fresh out of the bath.  I did them in black and white.  They came out really cute.   Curtains, a new light fixture, and colorful bathroom prints for the walls are still on the current to -do list.


Before:


After: 


Next we are onto the master bedroom.  The before pictures show you that it does not look at all like a master bedroom.  We haven't done much here except the paint and carpet like everywhere else.  But just adding our furniture and some curtains made a huge difference.  In our room I know exactly what I want to add, its just a matter of finding it and making a purchase.  I want a very big floor length rustic mirror for between the bathroom and closet doors, I want a new fan/light fixture, I want a wood sign that has our wedding lyrics on it, and I want a sepia colored print for between the two windows.  Since no one is really in our bedroom, those wish list items keep getting pushed down the list.  At least I know what I want.

Before:



After:



Last room of this post is the guest bedroom.  Its pretty basic, but we are doing a good job of keeping is as a usable guest bedroom and not letting it become a junk room.  So far we have had overnight guests twice and we have my inlaws staying this weekend.  Its simple.  I want to add nice curtains, side tables, a new fan... but again they are little things we can add as we go.  There is no real rush other than my OCD to have things finished.


Before:


After:



Clearly, we have spent a lot of time upstairs.  I think the made reason for that is because the projects upstairs were quick and easy fixes.  Little things we have added slowly.  We didn't need to do any total renovations that are super expensive.  We will eventually renovate both bathrooms, but the function is fine for now.  Downstairs is another story.

I have a list of things I want to do throughout the house.  I want to update every light fixture in every room.  I would love to change the hardware on every door so it matches and is updated.  It would look awesome to have more crown molding and bigger baseboard molding.  But all of these fixes don't really serve a purpose other than looks and can be very expensive... so for now I need to be patient.

Then we have the BIG project wish list:

Hardwood floors throughout the first floor
Living room built in cabinets, shelves and desk area
Kitchen remodel cabinets/counters
Finish the basement

Then the outside of the house is a whole different level of work.  We love the space... but it needs a lot of TLC.  Front landscaping, seeding, retaining walls, new patio space, power washing, fix the swing set, start out own garden.  I think I will leave the yard for its very own post. 


But the bottom line, we are lucky to have this long wish list.  Every time I pull in the neighborhood, I get excited about living here.  Now that the weather is nice, I look forward to walking around and meeting more families that live here.  I feel very blessed to call this our new home!

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