On my to do list...eventually

I have recently gotten into a lot of blogs that share a lot of home improvement projects. While we're not really very handy, these blogs have made me want to be! I've got big plans for our little home but don't worry Blake, I'm in no rush!

We bought our house in Feb. 2010. It is very similar to our first home, except we liked the location much better. While both homes were about the same age, our new home needed much more updating. I'm pretty certain that our home was built to sell, so they did everything basic. A man lived her alone before we bought it, and we pretty much started with a blank slate because he did nothing to enhance the beauty of this house! I decided to post about things I would like to eventually do to our home to make more fit to our my tastes. I say my because I don't think it really matters to Blake...he would be fine with all white walls and very little decor!

When we bought our home, it was such a whirlwind weekend that I forgot to take before pictures. I stumbled upon these pictures on a real estate website recently (from the original posting) and copied them to my computer!

These are all the befores! I'll do a separate post later showing updates completed so far.

Plans/Visions

Front Exterior

Paint Shutters/Front Door Black: Completed Summer 2010

Replace light fixtures

Add landscaping under front window and around mailbox

Replace porch railing 

Back Exterior
Stain deck
Build patio under deck (We discussed this only once but I liked the idea)
I really just want the deck to be more inviting. I definitely have some ideas swirling in my head!

Living Room

Paint: Completed Feb 2010

Replace Carpet: Completed Feb 2011

Add window treatments: Completed April 2010

Update Entry Way light fixture: Completed March 2010

Update ceiling fan

Paint all trim white (this goes without saying for the whole house)

Dining Area

Paint: Completed Feb 2010

Add Blinds to Doors: Completed March 2010

Replace Carpet (By the way who puts carpet in a dining area?): Completed Feb. 2011

Change light fixture: Completed Feb. 2010

Kitchen

I will say that this is the one area of our house that we feel like we truly sacrificed when moving from our old house to our new house. I think our old kitchen was much prettier and overall I liked the layout much better. However, that's the only part of our first home that I miss. So as you can imagine, I have big plans here!

Paint: Completed Feb. 2010

Replace floors with ceramic tile

Paint Cabinets (I'm currently leaning towards a creamy distressed color)

Replace appliances with stainless steel ones (this won't happen any time soon)

Remove scalloped trim above window

Replace Counter Tops

Add mosaic tile backsplash 

Add hardware to cabinets

Replace ceiling fan

Family Room
This room has great potential but always seems to be our catch all. My biggest issue in this room is figuring out how to decorate our huge mantle (it's not too wide, it's just so deep). Any suggestions?

Paint: Completed March 2010
Replace Window Treatments: Completed March 2010

Replace carpet with Engineered Hardwood (our house is built on a concrete slab so we can't do solid hardwood in the basement)

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the bathrooms or bedrooms before. I would like to update my bathroom cabinets with some black paint and add the same hardware as the kitchen cabinets. We also need to tile our bathrooms. We have also replaced the lovely green blinds on almost all of the windows. I think it's so funny because our house was built in 2006. Were green window shades and blue counter tops even in style then? We have made a lot of progress in just a little over a year. I guess the thing about a house is, the work is never done!