House Photos

As promised, here are some photos of the new house with commentary.  I really wish I had taken more before and after photos but I was so busy it never occurred to me.  Until now, when it's too late...

But first, I have to say that I am feeling great today.  I finally went back to the gym and it was wonderful  Except my new gym doesn't have all the equipment I like.  And they also have a version of something that I love, but I refused to go near this version.  I found a pic of it online and you can guess why:

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you "The Butt Blaster" The one at my gym was even older, the writing larger and in bright purple...  I'm not working out on something with the words "Butt Blaster" in large cursive font.  Luckily the gym is scheduled for a renovation starting 3/1 

Now on to the house pics!  I will start on the bottom floor, we have a small basement area with a separate office and full bath.  It is affectionately called "the man cave" even though I hang out here just as much.

This is the view as you come down the stairs.  It's a great movie room--and the leather couch has 2 reclining seats.  the most stylish?  No.  But so comfortable! And really not bad looking. 

The bar area.  I added mirrors to the back of these shelves and repurposed that bar cart.  It used to be white, so I painted it chocolate brown and then Thomas and I placed some cool coasters we got at local bars on it and topped it with custom cut glass.

On the main level.  A lot of my furniture here.  We got rid of the more girly blue and opted for a terra-cotta accent color. 

A view of the chair and the front door off to the left. 

A really cool hand watercolored engraving we got called "Washington from Arlington Heights" 

A view of the dining/kitchen area.  That orange wall used to be a kinda gross sea foam green.  The color looks redder in this pic than it really is. 

Our dining table--I love the legs!  We have a very small dining area and this table was the perfect solution.  It folds up really narrow but also folds out to a normal size that can seat 6 or maybe even more.  We bought nice quality wood and leather folding chairs that are stored in a closet upstairs for extra seating. 

The beautiful kitchen.  This is what made me fall in love with this house.  The breakfast bar is a unique feature in these models, and it is awesome.  The kitchen was renovated October 2010, so it's brand new. 

The back patio... It's a mess.  We love our fire pit and grill which are used often.  We have big plans for renovating this once we save $$ so stay tuned!  

The really cool pendant light upstairs that I hung myself :)   Was one of those blah builder basic lamps

The bedroom.  These walls were the same green as the kitchen--they loved sea foam.   I repainted it this luxurious royal blue.  It is so relaxing and royal 

And I love the way white furniture looks against it! 

And this... is my room.  My office, where I am sitting right now.  I got this amazing wallpaper with different European landmarks in a 1960s style.  it has cherry red accents as well.  I painted the walls in here this elegant grey and Thomas' dad helped me hang the chandelier (it was after watching him do this one that I was able to do the one in the hallway). The futon is queen size an perfect for overnight guests and also perfect for relaxing on while grading or reading. 

My desk area.  I got this cherry red desk that matches the accents in the wallpaper.  It is also narrow (this is a TINY room).  And I finally bought a Mac.  I am 100% Apple now and loving it. 

So that's my house!  I love it, but of course still have lots of decor plans.  It's been a lot of fun putting this all together, though I will say that with a house built in the 1940s, "simple" projects encounter strange roadblocks along the way.