Happy Anniversary...1 year of home ownership!! Before & Afters!!

1 year ago today, May 26th, 2010,  D and I closed on our first home!  I can't believe that it's been a whole year already!!!  We've already made a lot of memories in our home, had lots of visitors, and a couple of fun gatherings!  I guess what they say is right...Time flies by when you're having a good time!! 

We didn't actually move in until July 4th weekend, but the wait was well worth it!  In that time span we made a beauty shop into our HOME (I really wish I would've taken pictures with all of the salon stuff still in there)!!  There was a lot of sweat, blood, and tears that went into it.  During the week, we would work all day, and then go straight to the house working until 11pm most nights (some nights it was until the wee hours of the morning).   And on the weekends, that's all we did.  We did probably 90% of the work ourselves, with some help from family and friends along the way.  We had to hire a contractor in the beginning to knock down a couple columns and finish them out, and then hired a carpenter to install the carpet.

Here is what we all did to our home, along with some before and after shots (really long post, stay with me!):

Living Room/Dining Room-
*Knocked down 2 columns to make the living room bigger (aka so our huge couch would fit!)
*Tore down old tile ceiling (probably from the 60's) and put up a new dry wall ceiling, textured, and painted
*Replaced 1 old ceiling fan in the Living Room, and took down fluorescent lighting fixture in the Dining Room and installed a matching ceiling fan
*Painted all of the trim (it was a navy blue)
*Painted the wood paneling (including an accent wall!)
*Tore up laminate flooring, installed new pretty soft carpet
*Installed Crown Molding around ceiling (probably never again!)



Living Room - before
Notice the columns and flooring

Living Room - before
Her reception station was by the door



Dining Room - before (kind of)
Her hair stations were along the long wall



Living Room - after
Columns are gone, Trim is white, and no more laminate flooring

Living Room - after
No more Columns or Laminate Flooring...on looking Dining Room area



Living Room - after
Columns are gone, opened it up to 1 large room

Dining Room - after
This table is too big for the area, we know...we will be getting a new one soon!!

Guest Bedroom-
*Sanded and Painted wood paneling (hadn't ever been painted before)
*Textured ceiling and painted
*Painted small closet (it was ugly wood!)
*Tore up Berber carpet and installed new pretty soft carpet



Guest Bedroom - before
Used to be a tanning room with a paper mural on the walls
Notice Berber carpet



Guest Room - before
Ugly wood closet




Guest room - before



Guest room - after
No more Berber carpet, and painted paneling



Guest room - after
No more Ugly Wood Closet...Painted same color as accent wall



Guest room - after
Bernie had to sneak in the photo!



Guest room - after

 Our Bedroom-
*Repaired cracks in walls (mudded and sanded)
*Primed walls and ceiling with Kiltz Paint (walls were bright yellow, and ceiling was bright blue with clouds...tanning room!)
*Textured walls and ceiling
*Painted walls and ceiling (no more bright colors for that room!)
*Tore up Berber Carpet and installed new pretty soft carpet
*Replaced an old nasty ceiling fan with a new one
*Installed new window air conditioner



Our Bedroom - before
Used to be the other tanning room...yes, bright walls and cloud ceiling
And Berber carpet



Our Bedroom - before

Our Bedroom - before
Yep...pretty bright!



Our Bedroom - after
No more bright yellow walls or clouds on the ceiling!
No more Berber carpet




Our Bedroom - after




Our Bedroom - after
Look no more clouds and a new ceiling fan!

 Bathroom-
*Installed plumbing for shower head, and installed shower head
*Replaced faucet, and knobs to match shower head
*Installed matching medicine cabinet (matches the existing vanity)
*Textured walls and ceiling
*Painted walls and ceiling



Bathroom - before




Bathroom - before
Notice old medicine cabinet, probably from the 60's or 70's.




Bathroom - after
No pictures of the actual shower installed...sorry!




Bathroom - after
New Medicine Cabinet that matches vanity...and it's centered!




Bathroom - after
Just some cute decor!

 Kitchen-
*Tore down wall paper, just to find out how bad the plaster walls were
*Repaired cracks in walls (mudded and sanded...gotta love old plaster walls)
*Textured walls and painted
*Removed old free standing cabinets into the mud/pantry/laundry room to become our pantry
*Painted old stationary cabinets
*Tore off old laminate counter top, installed new counter top
*Installed new sink and faucet
*Installed new molding around ceiling (we damaged too much of the old stuff when we took it down)
*Purchased new Refrigerator and Stove



Kitchen - before
Notice old laminate counter top




Kitchen - before
These are the free standing cabinets that used to be in the kitchen
Notice the old laminate counter top and wallpaper




Kitchen - before
Empty wall with wallpaper




Kitchen - before




Kitchen - after
New counter top, new sink and faucet, new paint!




Kitchen - after
New Stove and Bakers Rack, new paint




Kitchen - after
New Refrigerator (on the empty wall)




Kitchen - after
Out little Bar!
No more wallpaper, textured walls, new paint!




Kitchen - after
New counter top, and new sink and faucet!

 Mud/Pantry/Laundry Room- (it was a nice color of paint already, didn't need any work) -no pictures, sorry!
*Installed free standing cabinet (with new counter top) for our pantry

So as you can tell from the list and pictures, we had a lot of work to do before we could move in!  There are still some other things we want to accomplish, but I'll save that for another post! 

Sorry the pictures aren't the best, but at least you've seen the before and afters!!! ;)


I'll be this up next week after we return home! 

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