A Diamond in the Rough

I look at these photo's, and I am SO excited at the all the POTENTIAL I see here!!  Yes, I'm down a room (or two, since I don't have a dedicated office now) but I've increased my space, and I think this floor plan and layout are much more open and family friendly.

For example, I love the high ceilings here and in the master bedroom.  Right now our family room always feels stuffy and hot.  We have a high ceiling, and a good ceiling fan, but because the room is attached to the kitchen, the walls really retain the heat.  Also, it is the room that gets full afternoon sun.  Great for winter, when you need the extra bit of sun to warm up the room.  Not so great in the summer, when you bake alive if you don't have the blinds and curtains drawn.  Because of the sun room attached to the side of the house, this room doesn't get a lot of direct sunlight.  And I am really good with that!

    Speaking of sun rooms, here it is.  I love that there is real tile flooring.  Right now this is just a screened in room.  Great for keeping bugs out for dinners on the patio.  Not so great for keeping the elements out.  I think we're going to put plexi glass up in the winter so we can still enjoy the space year round.

 Ah, the kitchen. 

 This is probably my favorite room in the house.  Yes, really.  I'm going from a cramped, galley style (actually, I like a galley style, I just don't like THIS particular kitchen) to a very well functioning L shaped kitchen!  I'm going to buy a small bistro set so I can have coffee and read my newspaper in here.  I'm going to be able to put all of my rooster stuff back in here.  The kitchen is really the heart of my home.  And the counter space!!  Enough said.

 OK, I don't gain much space in the master bedroom per say, but I still like it better.  It's downstairs, off of the family room.  It has vaulted ceilings and a ceiling fan, so hopefully I'll sleep much cooler!  I'm not sure about the tiled floors.  I think I'm going to be investing in a large area rug, but I can deal with that.  The closet is HUGE, so that's a definite plus.

 But the bathroom.  Ahh, the bathroom, that's what really works for me here in the master bedroom!  First of all, the light from the vanity will no longer be shining in my eyes in the morning since my bed will no longer face the sink.  YEAH!!!  And then there's the tub.  The jacuzzi, jetted tub.  LOVE it.  Dual vanities, also a plus. 

 There's a glass block shower to the left of the vanity.  Not so exciting for me, but I like separate tub and showers.  The toilet faces the shower.  A little odd, but while there is no door, it does have it's own small enclave, and I can't see it from the tub, so I can live with it.  It's such a spacious bathroom size wise!

 The entryway from the inside.  I love how much natural light there is.  I just had the power turned on Friday, so I haven't seen it with the lights on yet, but I'm sure the entry way light will look pretty too.  Because I'm a girl, and it's all about the pretty factor for me!

The view from the family room.  This is where you can see where my dining room and desk area will be.  The dining room does not have vaulted ceilings, but I'm good with that.  The space is open enough that even with my small hutch and the desk, it shouldn't feel cramped.  And the dining room table with have a nice separation of space for the two rooms, without closing it off.  To the right is the staircase for upstairs, a powder room, and the laundry room.  Nothing spectacular, so no photo's of that.  When the space is all decorated, THEN I might add a few photo's of those areas, lol. 

An Office Desk

So the move is scheduled for this week.  As with any move, I'm also purging 'stuff' that hasn't been used since the last move (a clear indication that I move too much!!) or won't work in the new home.  

Take for example, my computer work space.  It has evolved with each home we've lived in.  When we bought our first home, it was a beautiful, oak, L-shaped desk. It held the BIG monitor, had a cabinet for the CPU, space for the printer, and best of all WORK space.  But then we moved out of that home to a smaller home.  That big desk had no place, so we sold it, and I bought a computer cabinet to put everything in.  It worked great in our subsequent homes.  Except it's still really designed for the old style, monster monitors.  And really, it has seen better days.  It also, most definitely, does not work in my new home.

So this is what I have paired down to.  It's so cute.  It's so...LITTLE!  It will work perfect with  my flat screen monitor.  That little drawer in the front? No, that's a keyboard tray!  Since I will no longer have a dedicated office (yes, it was a give and take when it came to choosing a home this go around) I needed something that will not get cluttered - aka, something that doesn't have a lot space for everyone to dump on!  But it does have a nice space to store a note pad and pen out of site, something I always need.  And it matches the filing cabinet that I already own (and need to better organize since right now it's filled with JUNK, ugh!).  I really try to work with what I have, so it's definitely a bonus.

I'm still looking at some more storage organization options, but I'm not sure what the best choice is going to be.  Since the new home is a 2-story, we have a nice storage space under the stairs.  Most likely it will hold my Christmas stuff (yes, I'm already contemplating decorating the house for Christmas...) but I'm also thinking it will hold my sewing stuff for easier access.  We shall see!

Is on the move!

That's about the point that I'm at right now.  As you saw from the last photo's, I finally got my red door.  And I got to enjoy for a solid week.  And then my landlords informed me they are moving back to the US.  Into MY home.  And by the way, I'll be moving...again...

Not to worry though!  This simply means more decorating dust as I move our family into a new (and bigger!!) home within the next 3 weeks.  We're just waiting to hear on the final approval (should be later this week) and then it's on to the next project!  Most likely, not a red door but at least I can say I've had one now!

How about a teaser of the potential house?!

Yeah, I'm really thinking I have a lot to work with here!!

The Red Door

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted a red front door.  I don't know why.  I think I saw one on HGTV years  ago, before it was the trend, and fell in love.  It just seems so...inviting!  Usually with rental homes, painting the front door isn't an option.  It's definitely a statement.  But my landlords at this home have given me free range to paint to my hearts content.  And so here it is, my red door!!  The color is called Red Velvet.  Tell me that's not the most perfect color name?!

We also decided to do some minor landscaping this long holiday weekend.  We had a yucca plant in our front yard and with the freeze this past spring, it died.  It was very unattractive when you pulled up to the house.  While buying my paint at Home Depot this weekend, I spotted a man with a cart full of beautiful flowers.  It reminded me of the ugly dead plant in my front yard, so I dragged persuaded my husband to go back and take a look with me.  We came across these to plants that I thought would add a nice pop of color to my very vanilla and tan colored home!