It's Great To Be Home

Before & After: The Exterior

October 17, 2011 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 30 Comments

Well hello there, peeps & peepettes! I know it’s been awhile, thanks for hanging in there! I don’t have any fabulous explanation for my absence, other than that a little break felt nice. :)

This is the final stop on our before and after tour of our third flip – the exterior!!

Here’s the professional “after” shot that went in the listing . . .

( Courtesy of Lance Hames Photography )

. . . as compared to what this little ol’ house looked like when we bought it back in June:

Yikes, right? The exterior got a full facelift, including a new roof, new windows, a serious tree-trimming, a new front door, a tiled front porch, new exterior lighting, a paint job, and some new sod and landscaping. All of it was in dire need, if you ask me!

Here’s the front of the house from another angle – not as dramatic-looking as the professional shot, but this is what you get when I’m behind the camera. :)

And a similar angle, pre-spruce-up. (Sorry for the spots, not sure what was going on with my camera).

And last but not least, the covered patio that leads to the backyard:

( Courtesy of Lance Hames Photography )

Prettier than it was before, no?

The new windows, lighting, French doors and paint job really freshened things up, and we used the patio furniture from our own patio to sort of “set the stage” for some serious porch relaxation.

I might have some flip updates for you guys in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

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Before & After: The Family Room

August 19, 2011 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 29 Comments

Alright guys and gals, now that you’ve seen the befores and afters from the kitchen and dining room it’s time to scope out the family room!

For all you brown paint haters out there, let me warn you – there is more of the same brown paint in this room, so brace yourselves. :)

( Courtesy of Lance Hames Photography )

Here’s how the family room looked 2.5 months ago . . .

. . . and here’s how it looks now:

We kept the paneling for budget reasons and I’m actually really thrilled with how it turned out after some fresh paint!

I personally really like the beams, but they were a little lacking in their medium-tone stain and that fan wasn’t helping matters . . .

. . . so we darkened the beams with brown paint (!) and brightened up the space with some recessed lighting.

( Courtesy of Lance Hames Photography )

We also liked the brick fireplace and the set of French doors, so we kept those . . .

. . . but we installed new windows because the old aluminum ones left a little something to be desired.

Hardwood floors instantly added some much-needed pizazz.

( Courtesy of Lance Hames Photography )

There were bifold doors on the doorway to the hall as well as to the entryway, so we removed those to make the room feel a little more updated.

Also, do you see those scallops on the built-in bookcases above? Those suckers had to go.

We used the same staging furniture throughout the house that we bought for our last flip – luckily everything fit into this home perfectly!

( Courtesy of Lance Hames Photography )

That’s it! This is a giant room – I can imagine the new owners having lots of fun movie nights and having friends over. Can you?

P.S. You can see more “before” photos of this flip here.

All photographs taken by me, unless indicated as “Courtesy of Lance Hames Photography.”

Before & After: The Kitchen & Dining Room

August 17, 2011 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 37 Comments

I’m so glad you guys like the way the flip turned out! It’s so much fun to see all of our hard work pay off – actually, I guess it hasn’t really paid off since we still own it, but you know what I mean. :)

I thought we’d start this little before and after tour with the kitchen and dining room, since the kitchen was by far the most heinous part of the house when we bought it back in the beginning of June.

Not only was it not my cup of tea (pea green laminate counters, anyone?) but it was hugely lacking in functionality with a distracting and view-blocking range hood and an awkward angled peninsula.

Remember?

Well, we tackled those challenges with a switched up floor plan – and here’s how it looks now!

( Courtesy of Lance Hames Photography )

In addition to improving functionality, our goal was to lighten and brighten this kitchen and give it a classic feel that will stand the test of time.

See what I mean about that crazy range hood? Not only could you hit your head on it but it was blocking all the natural light from the window (as well as obstructing the sight lines throughout the kitchen).

By the way – see those leaded glass panels in the built-in hutch and on either side of the kitchen window? My mom made those! She’s the coolest mom ever (and I’m not just saying that so she’ll keep outfitting our flips with awesome panels).

( Courtesy of Lance Hames Photography )

As you can see, we moved the fridge over to the other side of the room so that we could fit bar stools at the island.

( Courtesy of Lance Hames Photography )

This was our first time using carrera marble counters instead of granite, and I’m totally sold. Love it!

( Courtesy of Lance Hames Photography )

This is where I became a little obsessed with photographing the tile and flowers. My apologies.

We also moved the door a few feet down to the left so that we could have an uninterrupted L-shaped counter rather than having the range shoved in the corner.

I will definitely be using this herringbone pattern and gray grout again! I kinda love it.

There’s that crazy peninsula I was telling you about – isn’t it better with it gone?

( Courtesy of Lance Hames Photography )

The built-ins look so much better after a coat of dark brown paint and new cabinet fronts (those swoopy details were pretty dated). And another shout out for my mom’s handiwork!

( Courtesy of Lance Hames Photography )

Even though it’s not a true “open kitchen,” I think that the connection between the kitchen, dining and family room will work really great for the new family that buys this house.

( I wasn’t going to post a photo with all of the previous owner’s stuff in the house but this was the only “before” photo I had going this direction. Please excuse all of the moving day craziness. )