a (pretty big) peek into our home
I know many of you have been asking for pictures and I honestly didn’t want to share until I had finished a lot, but let’s face it, that will take a few more weeks and months even! So I guess I will share as we go along and make our home ours.
First, I really have to share a bit about my first impression when seeing this duplex. :) Our friends (the Rowlans) called us to tell us there was a rent sign up across the street from their home. When we called to get more details, I was super discouraged to hear it was a “lower level” duplex (the duplex wasn’t the problem, the lower level was.) My fears were confirmed when we arrived and from the front, the bottom half of the “duplex” was actually the bottom level of a house. It looked like a basement home from the front and I immediately told Ted I couldn’t live here. (I really wasn’t being dramatic, we lived in a basement of a home for 2 years and it was dark and dreary and the thought of doing that again… yikes!) But we decided to go ahead with the tour. There was a sidewalk path to a fence entrance in the backyard and as we walked into the yard my skepticism began to melt away. First, there was a big privately fenced yard (that’s just ours!) Second, the duplex opened up into the backyard and I could see right away the living room had two large windows like any upper level home would. I knew it would already feel different from the basement home we once lived in. When we walked in I saw so much potential. I had to imagine it clean and set up the way we would want it because the previous tenants were messy college kids. We walked from room to room to find there were actually 3 bedrooms for the price of a two bedroom home! Score. And there was a really nice sized kitchen. The only downfall of the home was that the bathroom was small but besides that, we really saw potential in making this our little home for the next year. So we thought about it and decided to get it that same day. (This is a college town and places like this were rented in a heartbeat!)
Okay, so now for the “peek” into our slow transition into a hopeful home!
I am not showing you our front door until I do some major cleaning and a little bit of decorating. Don’t worry, I will do a before and after but for now, this is all you will see :) I absolutely love this covering over the back entrance though, can’t you just see the potential! Lights and hanging decor?!
A peek into the yard.
Our little bathroom which does have a toilet that you just can’t see :)
This room was supposed to be half Ted’s office/study space and half my craft space but when they moved his huge desk in, I realized how impossible that would be (more of that desk later, because it’s really MY fault he has such a huge desk! haha) All that to say, this is now just Ted’s study room/office which honestly is already proven to be a really good idea.
For now, this is our guest room/craft room. Thankfully it’s the largest room because I have a lot of craft things! The plan for this room was to paint it teal on one wall (which we did) and horizontally striped pale yellow on another wall but that didn’t work because of the texture of the wall. And then in the evening the pale yellow looks more like an icky green that we’re re-painting it … coral pink! Which makes me super excited.
Now for the kitchen tour. See our cute little pantry! Remember I thrifted that for a whopping $20! I need to work on it a bit but for now it’s being put to good use. The little wicker chest (thrifted years ago) is holding all of our towels since our little bathroom can’t hold them all. :)
The kitchen island cart you see ($5 at a garage sale!) will probably end up being a craft cart instead because I’ve already realized I’m not too sure I’ll use it for kitchen purposes as much as I could for craft ones.
Hints of black,white and …
…red accents.
And my favourite part; our newly painted teal wall.
Our hallway which, yes, has the washer and dryer in it. :) I’m making a curtain to hide those beasts!
Now onto our living room!
We painted a few walls teal and you might noticed we changed our colour scheme.
Ted wanted something a little less girly than teal and pink so we agreed on red which I now am loving! Plus I got to pick our the rug and it has a hint of pink in it :) A good compromise!
I love how it’s already coming together, just one week in! We have a lot to do still, like curtains and figuring out how to hang wall art on cement walls :) We still need to find an armouir so we can hide away our TV when we want to… a lot of work ahead!
For now his toys are in the living room too. The bookshelf and his books will stay but his organizer will be moved into the craft room when we get that area straightened out :)
The view as you walk into our front door. Um, you might have noticed I didn’t share a photo of our bedroom ;) That wasn’t an accident. It’s a mess of boxes and clothes! Sometime soon I will.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this home tour. I know my sweet mother-in-law (Hi, Anisa!!) will be excited to see photos of our little home and that some of our friends would as well. Thanks for checking it out, now come on by for real!!!
So stinking cute!!!!
it looks wonderful!
you could try 3m hooks on the walls… no holes and no sticky residue… just an idea! Can’t wait to see more!
Jami!! It is coming together so well!! I’m so excited for your family and your new hopeful home!! Love you!!
Oh my word! I love the teal and red, and that rug is awesome! It is looking great so far. I am so happy for you guys!
I LOVE THE colors…red and teal, GORGEOUS!! I have to know where you got that rug??? I LOVE IT!! I have ALL those colors in my house, it is perfect in your home!! I can’t wait to see the rest!! I love your BLOG!!!
Ali
my favorite color is red so your living room is so very exciting to me :D
it might be 3m, but we got a roll of this double sided spongy stuff that we could stick to the wall and it holds up to 5 lbs. or something (that’s so descriptive huh? lol) – which is what we used to hang up sarah’s wooden letters in her room :)
very cute…you’re going to have so much fun decorating!!
Jami, already your homes looks stunning! I can’t wait what it’ll look like when you’re done :)
Much love
Oh Jami I love it! I’m so happy for you :)
Jami, soooo cute!! I love it! I esp love the living room with the couches and the rug and the wall color (or colour :) How cheery!
beautiful! congrats girl!
xoxo
Oh Jami! Your hopeful home looks beautiful!!! I love all the color! I hope to one day see it in person! XOXO
This looks sooo great! I love your colors!!