This past fall/winter/spring I have been working hard to get our living room completed.  Although i don't think we are FULLY done with this room (i am eyeing a spot in the corner for i nice painting and side chair), but I have enjoyed focusing on getting one room DONE.  

First how about a few before photos from when we bought this house two years ago:

Basically in this room, we raised the ceiling, dry walled the walls, took out wet bar and book case, tore out floors and added hard wood flooring (was carpet), and painted the fireplace.   All this was done in the 6 weeks before we moved into the home.

This is what it looked like when we moved in July of 2012:

And here we are today:

I am so thrilled with how this room has progressed and transformed.  My interior designer really helped me to find the pieces, colors, textures, and patterns that are SO me.  I think that is the hardest part when pulling an entire room together.

We kept the same couch we have had for a few years.  Our kids are still young and i don't want to spend money on another couch that will gain more water stains!    We added a mix of pillows from West Elm (patterns) and World Market (solid).   The two rugs are both from Pottery Barn.  I love the look of the two rugs and how it really anchors the room.   The turquoise cabinet is the newest addition to the room- it's from Ballard.

One of my favorite spots in our house-- this is an old Japanese desk that Todd's grandparents owned.  We have it behind the couch along with a West Elm deer head and a chair from Ballard.   The combo of antique and modern is so fun.

Eventually I would love a custom window seat pillow for the bay window, but for now I added these pillows from Ikea which I just love.    The window treatments are by Calico Corner in Indianapolis, and the shades are by Lowe's.

Looking towards the front door you will see this bookcase that I found at HomeGoods.  It's filled with my scrapbooks albums + items from HomeGoods (need to find a third orange paperweight).  The lamps are from West Elm (love).

Thank you for swinging by our living room today!! 

Entry Way: Before and After

Welcome to our new (older home!!!)

I am excited to start showing you some before and after photos of this home we love.  (short story is that we purchased this older home 100 ft from where we were going to build.  Longer story is here :) There is something extra special about adding your own touch to an older home.

First, let's start with the entry way.

Walking through the front door you see the living room in front of you, and Todd's den is on the right.  When you walk into the hallway between the entry and living room there is a hallway to the left where the kids rooms and my scrap room is located.

---- B E F O R E  ----

This view above is looking at the entry after walking through the front door.  I took this photo after we gained possession of the house- the only thing we had done is take carpet out.

This view is looking at the entryway through todd's den.

--- A F T E R ----

We did three major things in the entryway-- First we took out the coat closet and widened the doorway into the living room.  This dramatically changed the entryway to have a much more open feel.

Second we added all new trim and wainscoting.  I am SO happy with the trim work that was done through our contractor.  It's just beautiful. (photo above was taken in todd's den looking into entry)

Third, we added wallpaper.  I love this geometric print.  Would somebody please make it into a patterned paper please?????

Things we kept the same in this room was the marble flooring and the funky fun light fixture!

I will soon place photos on the wall but for now I can't bear to put a hole in the wallpaper.  Just enjoying it plain and simple for now.

Finally, here's a side by side before and after:

Sources and info:

Trim Paint: Pure White by Sherwin Williams

Wallpaper: Designers Guild/ Zakhorov

Contractor: NorthRidge in Indianapolis
Interior Designer:  Designs by Chyrise

raise the roof

and just like that, the roof is raised.

It's amazing how much changes from day to day in the new (older) house, and especially in one week.

It's been a busy week with many meetings, decision making, and running over to the new place to check things out.  It's only about 8 miles away but due to traffic and road construction it's taking longer- around 20- 25 minutes each way.

It's all very exciting but I am not going to lie, I am tired.  It's a good tired, an excited tired... and a "hopefully our current house we are living in now will sell soon"- tired.  I never realized how much work a remodel is/was!!

The pool in the back yard (of the new house) is open and Todd and Jonah actually went swimming last weekend-- can you see the proud look on jonah's face below!?

The pool is a "Y" shape and we finally figured out how to get a cover to fit the odd shape so thankfully i won't have to go back on my anxiety meds (kidding! kind of).  We are looking forward to many summer days and evenings by the pool (want to come visit? please do! :)

Hope your Friday is lovely!

Work in Progress: Entry and Living Room

Renovations are well underway at our new (older) home.

Each and every day there is progress made-- and it's super exciting.   I think now is the time to show you a few "Before" and "In Progress" photos of the new (older) Hufford House.

Before:

In Progress:

Walking in from the front door there is a wonderful entry foyer.  To the right will be Todd's den and looking straight ahead is the living room.  As you can see we opened up the door way.  We lost a coat closet in the process but I LOVE the light that comes in from the bay window.   We plan to add wainscot along the bottom half of the wall.

The is currently looking into the entry from the living room.  We plan to keep the original entry flooring (which is currently covered for protection).

Before: 

Well, this is somewhat before.  We had already taken the carpet out here.  In the corner of this photo is (was) a bar with a faucet.

In Progress:

We are doing so much in the space.  The biggest change at the moment is the fact we are raising the ceiling to a cathedral.

Really excited for how this will look with over the bay window.

Hello there big beautiful attic.

We are also adding new hardwoods, cabinets on each side of the fireplace, new trim and drywall.

We are super happy with everything so far.   It's fun to see this come together piece by piece.

If you are in the Indy area, we definitely recommend NorthRidge Construction for your building projects and remodels.

More photos to comes soon!  Happy Friday!

Possession

A little over a week ago we gained possession of the new (older) home.

It was a super exciting day.  That night we went over to the house and had our first meal (take out) and shared a bottle of wine with friends and family who came by to see the house.

The previous homeowner's first name is Sterling, and she lived in this house for over 25 years.  She left us a beautiful flower arrangement and very kind note about how she is "happy that we see the house for what it is, and that we are building upon it and putting our own signature on it".    We thought it was only appropriate when I found "Sterling Vintners Collection" wine.  The perfect wine to toast to our new house.

Coincidentally, the very same time we were enjoying this first meal in our new house, we were also having our first showing at our current home.

I have to be honest, I am having a bit of a hard time with some of the responses from our showings.  I know it's the nature of the real estate business, but it's hard not to take SOME offense when someone concludes that a bathroom needs to be gutted, or updates are needed here, and they don't like this... after only being in my home for a few minutes.

It's funny how we can become so attached to our possessions, isn't it?  I am really working on not letting it get to me or to become discouraged with the processes.   It's been an interesting week adjusting to showings and feeling like we might need to clean up and leave our house at a moments notice.   We are definitely in a season of transition over here.  It's different, but it's still good.

We have big plans for this new house and I am really excited to begin sharing photos of these renovations on my blog.  However, I do want to be sensitive to the fact this was someone else's home before it was ours, and be respectful in that matter (just as i would hope someone would do the same for us:).

(this is part of the master bedroom)

So pardon our dust over the next six weeks or so, and I hope you enjoy seeing a bit of home renovation photos from time to time.

(go here to read more on the story and background of this new house)

Happy Monday!