Before

Before you look at the "before" pictures of the inside of our new house, take a deep breath - there are a lot of pictures... there is a lot of work to do... and it's all going to be so fun!

***pictures I didn't get - but will - are the pictures of the bathrooms. The upstairs is not too bad, the downstairs needs a lot more work. So the bathroom downstairs is the worst room in the house probably - it will be gutted because of the effects of a broken pipe over the winter (and because it's hideously ugly).

The entry way - needs paint and in the future maybe different flooring - right now what's in there is something I could totally live with for awhile. It's rather new looking linoleum.

The living room.... paint and flooring, picture window needs reset - especially notice the wood burning fireplace, the goo-gob hugeness of the room, and my favorite - the beams on the ceiling.

The book nook - a cute, yet odd little corner that is right off of the living room - perfect size for some shelves, books, lounging furniture and it screams coziness... needs paint and flooring...

The school room - you guessed it... paint and flooring

and it has beamed ceilings too! I really don't know what this room originally was or what it's true purpose is to be, but we can totally do school right here in the lovely room with natural light and it's such a nice size!

The eat-in kitchen - definitely needs a fridge, then the paint and maybe flooring as well... maybe keeping the linoleum that's in the kitchen area already, but must, must, MUST take the carpeting out of the eating area - I mean good grief we have 4 children!!! On the "hope to" list is converting the stove to gas (which would mean a new stove...) and then new cabinets too. I love the look of the ones in there, but they are narrow and awkward the more I look at them - could definitely live with it, but if we can afford to change it then presto chango!

Moving on to the downstairs... this is the "sun room" - it's a beautiful room - it's kind of half octagonal (is that a word?? it is now) and the windows look out to the pond - we are thinking of walling in one of the outside doors (it has two and they aren't pictured) and insulating it and making it into a guest bedroom (so come on over!)... and yes, paint and flooring is a must as well, plus fixing the broken windows.

The downstairs family room - yes that's fireplace #2 you see... and yes, it has shelving on each side of the fireplace... paint and flooring.

The downstairs kitchen - I didn't get a good shot inside of it 'cause, well, I don't know why - just visualize dirty, old, yucky. If I get my changes in the upstairs kitchen, the cabinets and stove from upstairs will come down here - and yep, paint and flooring.

Now back outside - remember the pond? Well this is what is beyond the pond. More woods and a ravine that I believe is our property line and it fills with water after rain and has frogs and lots of adventure to the delight of my boys. The first shots are taken rather close to the pond and then I moved in to give you a closer look at the ravine - you really can't see the forest for all the trees - sorry just couldn't resist saying that.

I know the work here all hinges upon your perspective... it's a lot to us because we don't do home improvement projects - we just never had a reason to learn... until now! So it's a matter of finding what we want, where we want what we want where and when. Luckily we have some smart construction guys in our church family - already had the "church" window guy come out for estimates. Will meet with a flooring guy from church tomorrow. I even know a paint salesmen. I just need to gather my research, ask around for good home improvement instructors, learn how to take out my aggressions on a downstairs bathroom demo project and hopefully not have to spend too much $$. I can paint, I can be reasonable with purchases and I am willing to learn how to do stuff on my own if someone is patient enough to teach me and help us out. So we'll see how it all works out.

The great news? The structural engineer says that the foundation is solid - it's just settled... and settling happens with every house - so if we can live with a few cracks and sloping corners he says there is no need to pour money into the foundation (like that, pour money...into the foundation... hahahaha, ok, I'll stop.) So we are hoping that good news continues and what it will take to make this house a comfortable home is a lot less than we anticipate!