Oh happy day!

When Kap and I first started looking at this house we knew we wouldn't get it. The neighborhood was out of our price range. It was much bigger than the houses in our price range and had been built custom in an older established neighborhood. We would bring our parents and friends over and crawl in the window and I would decorate the rooms, I knew I would never own, in my head. At the time there were two extra rooms, an office and guest room ( Now if you come to visit you are sleeping in a childs room and the office took up the dining room.) I have poured over decorating magazines since we got married. I have loved looking at them and dreaming. I digress- we got the house- After a year of looking we got the house in foreclosure in a neighborhood we couldn't afford for a price we could. It is still the cheapest selling price I've heard of in this neighborhood. So I began to decorate those rooms I had decorated in my head. We were on a budget so I did the best I could. We always have loved our house! I had, however, from the moment we moved in, an image in my mind of what it could be. If you had asked me 7 years ago when we moved in, I would have told you, and did tell most of you, that I wanted the panneling painted white (sorry guys) and a white kitchen. I have collected a TON of magazines over the years and turned down the corners of countless pages- always planning and imagining. When I bought furniture through the years, it was our eventual house not our current that I thought of i.e.- lots of brown furniture in a brown living room. I am happy- delighted really- and greatfull to say that we now have the house I had envisioned for so many years! There are a few things left to finish up (we are having tables built and need to buy a few light fixtures, etc) but now when I am in the checkout line and looking at decore magazines, I am struck that for the first time since I have been in a house or apartment of my own, I don't need them! It's done! As a reward for listening to me rambell I have posted some before and afters. The before pic.s are hideous because they are "in process," but it helps make the point. Enjoy!

Yes, our kids played in this mess- but blocks surely are appropriate at this stage.Did I stage these photos, you ask? If you call running to the backyard to snap greenery for the coffee table and the like staging then yes :)


I love that with a white backdrop, whatever arrangement I put on the island decorates the whole area. It was hydrangeas in the summer.

You cannot believe how happy I was when I found the red and white bowls in the left upper cabinet. I swear I had all of these details pictured before I found them.

When I moved in (like that night) my mom and I began painting the brown kit. cabinets white. I will NEVER do that myself again. The pic. below is always what I was envisioning.
I love our concrete counters and they were very affordable.
A glimpse of the office through the kit. I assure you I will have more for you soon!