This past fall we sold our precious Cherry St Cottage. As ready as I was for more space and a fresh start, I was pretty heartbroken to say goodbye to that tiny house. It had it's faults and was beginning to give me a few headaches (mostly related to living in it with kids) but it was our first home. It was where we first came home as husband and wife. We put lots of sweat equity into that home, making many, many mistakes along the way. We were such young, naive idiots. Hah. But it taught us a lot and turned into such a cozy little place for our growing family of four. Looking back I would do many things differently when it came to decorating and styling the home but that's what this new home is for - a chance to do it all again from the beginning.
Speaking of the beginning. We closed on the new home in mid-December, right before Christmas - eek - and haven't really done much except unpack the boxes and dream of all this home's potential. Before I get into what we want it to become, let me share what it looked like on closing day. Now mind you these are straight from my phone - no editing. Poor lighting or not you'll get the general idea.
Entry
Kitchen
Living/Dining
Family Room
Laundry Room & Guest Bathroom
Upstairs Hall & Master Bed/Bath
Bedroom #1 (Ella's Room)
(P.S. She is literally peeing on the floor in this photo. Talk about marking your territory. Oy.)
Bedroom #2 & #3
Hall Bathroom
For some reason I didn't take photos of the basement or backyard - boo. So here are some photos of the basement from our inspection when the previous owners were living there.
And a crappy backyard photo taken through the window, which is really a shame since the backyard is what completely sold us on this home. It is relatively huge compared to most in our town and the perfect space for playing and relaxing.
So there is a little tease of our home for those who have been asking. I will be back (promise) to share what it looks like now and what we hope to do with it in the future because I have ideas, lots of ideas. This time around though we want to take it slow an do it right the first time. For us that means living in this home awhile, seeing what works and what doesn't and most importantly saving up the financial resources we need so we can actually make the updates we are dreaming of. And can I just say that I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest. It wasn't around for most of our first home and so we went in struggling with inspiration and a cohesive vision and I love being able to explore my own likes and dislikes through the images on Pinterest. I am going in with a pretty good idea of the "style and feel" I want to create in this home but at the same time it is a slippery slope of being over exposed to big, expensive and in my case pretty unrealistic spaces. It's easy to get caught up in the updating and transforming - at least for me. So while I invite you to stick around and see what we make of this home, I caution you that it won't be Pinterest eye-candy. Just an every day, midwestern, hopefully cozy and inviting space that isn't too hard on the eyes. Either way, before and afters are always fun!
Be back soon.....
