BrittanyMakes

If a blog post was worthy of a million exclamation points, this would be it!  We bought a house and I am SO EXCITED!!!

This home purchase has been so surreal, like, pinch my arm until it bleeds surreal.  No, we didn’t purchase an exquisite chateau or a 10K sqft home we built from scratch, we purchased a home that is perfect for our growing family of almost 3.  It’s a 2 bed 2 bath cute little ranch style home in an amazing neighborhood.  The lot is HUGE, and when the time is right we will expand the house by adding a master suite etc.  The backyard is simple, no mistakes were made from the prior owners that we’d have to fix.  Everything in this home is perfectly pleasant.

Now, that doesn’t mean we don’t want to change a few things here and there.  I mean, I am me for crying out loud, and some things just need to be tweaked to your liking… like the kitchen, the living room, the floors, the wall color, the window treatments, etc.  Let’s get to the pics, shall we? Warning: there’s a lot of beige.

As you walk in through the front door, immediately on your right is the living room.  Super pleasant, clean, unobtrusive…  except for the carpet and beige walls, but the carpet is new and plush and the walls are skim coated and matte, just the way I like my walls :) The best part about this space is the fireplace.  We’ve never had our own fireplace, and my man LOVES fireplaces and anything that has to do with winter and cozy Christmas cheer.

Exiting out the door by the fireplace, you enter the dining space.  The space is open and the perfect size for a 6-8 person dining table.  My only complaint is the linoleum floors, but that can be updated super easily.  Oh, and the floor vents, not used to vents in the floor but I guess they’ll do.  I tend to prefer them when they’re on the ceiling, but I’m probably just being nit-picky.

A fun addition to this house is the cute little sun room attached to the dining space. The windows are attached by latch locks, which we can unlock and remove completely to make this space open and breezy.  I love the painted floor! It just needs to be in a different color…

Walking back through the dining space, you enter the kitchen.  Thank goodness the previous owners painted the cabinets white, it definitely helps make this narrow space feel bigger than it is.  The short counter on the right is kind of odd.  We have plans to open up and restructure the kitchen… budget permitting of course.

Down the hall from the kitchen, you reach the main bathroom.  It’s the only room in the entire house painted white, and it feels like a retreat every time I enter this room! The shower, counter, and hardware are all dated, but the tiled floor is brand new and I actually like it just fine.  If I were to make any changes it would be to upgrade the shower and the counter/sink area, although we’re in no rush to make any changes in here.

At the end of the hall is the nursery.  Actually, both bedrooms are almost identical in size and shape, so these pictures might look like the same room.  We chose the room that faces the back of the house for the nursery, and the front room for the master.

I usually don’t care for ceiling fans, but boy, I’ve never had one to call my own and I have to say I’m actually loving it! We technically live in a micro-climate in the East Bay behind the Berkeley hills, it gets super hot and I’m starting to see the value of a ceiling fan now that we have one in our bedroom, especially compared to the cost of air conditioning.  I would love to replace it with this beauty some day, until then I’ll just embrace it’s current ugliness for the satisfaction it provides me.

Both closets, in the nursery and in the master, look like this.  Standard bi-fold doors, nothing terrible.  I’m just so happy they aren’t mirrored dual sliders, I can’t stand sliding doors, I want to see my WHOLE closet please! Thicken up that molding and replace the hardware with something deco & brass and these doors will sing.

So there ya go! The quick tour of our new home! I’m putting together a list of tweaks and changes we’d like to make over the course of time so I’ll share that soon.  Some changes will definitely be dependent on budget, others will be quick and easy, like paint! Most importantly, I’m just so happy to have a place to put our baby.  I was really worried there for a minute…

Our house has been renovated… Get caught up on the remodel!

• We’re finally remodeling our kitchen & living room!
• The wall is gone and the beam is in!
• The kitchen take-down
• 5 kitchens influencing our design
• Countertops & 3D rendering of our plans
• Walls are up, floors are bare
• Cabinets installed!
• Painted cabinet drama
• Kitchen (pre flooring)
• Why wood tile