New Home: Our Take on it

I wish these photos showed a clean, pristine, toy and clutter free home... but that is not realistic, is it? At least not during the day when the lighting is good... :)

Our blue and cream living room: we took down the red and ivy valances over the two windows and repurposed them in the laundry room, added curtains, put together 2 bookshelves and a tv stand for our 10 dollar HUGE and heavy first tv bought from friends 

the perma-baby gate is wonderful, definitely beats taking it down and putting it up every time we need to go downstairs. As this photo sort of shows, we have a split level.

The laundry room. Glamorous, no? We loved the built in shoe shelf. The bench for the kiddos is actually the red/ivy padded valances from the living room. Eric used them to construct a simple place for Gwen to put on shoes. The baskets are dollar store. The whole project only 4 dollars.

These storage shelves were already there, but we wanted more shelves for our mason jars. So Eric added more. And he did a better job than what was already there. LOVE the deep storage for pantry foods!

half bath downstairs

downstairs playroom. Gwen finally has her dress up area that she's been wanting. The new fishtank stand is from some good friends of ours that were moving and couldn't fit it. It is a NICE piece of furniture and the kids like hiding their toys in the spaces too.

The listing pictures didn't really show this wonderful wood-burning hearth. to the right of the hearth is our computer desk and my sewing/craft station. Not pictured because they are honestly TOO messy to immortalize online.

The outside. We painted the shutters blue to match the door. The previous owners left the paint, so the project was free. Just time consuming. 

A terrible picture of the fragrant butterfly bush on the south side of the deck. It shelters the roots of a beautiful light purple clematis.

The landscaping. The previous owner was an avid gardener... we are doing our best to not kill everything! I've had to do some research just to figure out what everything in our yard was! I still don't feel like I know what i'm doing in caring for all those plants. Our veggie plants are interspersed in there, but still small in these pics.

Eric built this compost bin next to our wood pile. LOVE it!

The rest of the house is either not that different (the kitchen and dining) or too messy right now to photograph (Gwen and Caroline's room). We still have an elk taxidermy to hang, probably above our tv, paintings of mine to finish and put up in the living room and dining room, and photos to hang along the stairs. But you know, even without those finishing touches, this feels like home. :)