New House Pics (Part 3)

Okay friends, I finally got my act together and finished up taking pictures of our new house. Let me tell ya, this is NOT an easy house to photograph. Funky angles, small spaces, big windows...pretty sure I'm going to have to learn more about my camera if I'm going to keep this blogging thing up!

On to the important stuff...

 We're eagerly anticipating the first cool evening that calls for s'mores in the outdoor fireplace. See the cables and empty mount?...that's one of the televisions that was stolen before we moved in. :(

Across the porch is the "spool." Apparently that's what you call an oversized spa and undersized pool. We're new to this realm so our spool has a nice green tone that shouldn't be there. Yikes! Needless to say we haven't been enjoying this feature yet. Pool school here we come. Did you even know there's such a thing?

 Welcome to our master bedroom, aka, the green box. Have I ever mentioned that ceilings painted the same color as the walls is one of my pet peeves? I can't wait to slap some white paint overhead.

Speaking of overhead, let's take a second to admire the beautiful ceiling fan. Luckily, it's so hot that this baby is running 24/7 which means I don't have to focus on those ginormous blades. My parents will be acquiring this bad boy as soon as we buy a replacement. I'm finding as people come over, you either love this fan or you hate it. Guess which side I'm on?!

Brace yourself for the master bathroom. It's big, has cool angled ceilings and, well yeah, that's about it. The door on the right is hiding the toilet and tiny shower. I'm still scratching my head wondering why, in a space this large, must the shower be so little (and have a gold surround).

I'm thinking Laura Ashley meets Little House on the Prairie. Anyone else get that feeling?

Floral wallpaper's making a comeback, right? ;)

 Another long, narrow room that's hard to photograph, aka the guest bedroom. This room makes me sad. Seeing the "stuff" without the amazing wall of shelves we built just isn't right.

I'm convinced the previous owners had a wine fetish. That's a LOT of wine storage, my friends. And, be sure to take note of the wine bottle light switch cover in the left side of the picture. This is a bizarre, triangular space that currently houses our dogs' kennels, but will one day become a true closet. Right now there isn't a door. Immediately upon walking into the room, this smacks you in the face. 

This room has loads of decorating potential, but currently serves as the "catch all" room.

Ready for some more wallpaper? Here's the kiddos' bathroom. Really wish it had two sinks, there's definitely enough space.

Nothing more to say except...dated!

Loads of lights...ugly lights...10 to be exact.

I've relinquished control and allowed encouraged Bryn to decorate her own room. Remember, it's upstairs and nobody sees it, which will help you understand this next picture. 

 Taped posters of a boy band! Oh, to be a tween again. We'll get serious about her room once we've got this out of our system. But, she LOVES it and that's what really matters.

 We found giant canvases on sale at Michaels and she uses one of them for "Autographs" of anyone who stops by and the other acts as a giant doodle pad for "Drawings."

She has a fun, little window seat that overlooks the pond. How'd she get so lucky?!

Poor Reed got the raw end of the deal and his room is about the size of Bryn's closet. He said he's okay with this because he claims the pond as his room. ha!

I left it up to John and Reed to hang/arrange Reed's room and this is what they came up with. A little off balance, but the two of them were pretty pleased with themselves when they were finished. ;)

 Last, but not least, is the detached garage. It has a hidden surprise up top!

The deck is built around the tree. Love that!

 Welcome to the Man Cave.

 A place to play a few games, as well as watch a few games.

 Wine fridge...remember, wine fetish?

They also left this! My kids have had a blast seeing how we played games back in the day. Frogger, anyone?

Whew, that about wraps things up. Now, if I could just slow down my brain enough to figure out which space to tackle first.

New House Pics (Part 1)

Holy smokes, life's been anything but interesting around here lately, friends! For those of you following along, we finally closed on our house then moved in only to find out our air conditioner didn't work. Let me tell ya, unpacking boxes in an non-air conditioned house in the middle of July in Texas is NOT a good combo. Fortunately, our 5 days without air happened to be overcast and unseasonable cool. Thank you, God!

Then, we found out the house was burglarized before we moved in and the sellers' agents lied to our face about the situation. What'd they take? The 3 televisions and outdoor furniture the sellers were leaving us. We reached a settlement and the agent's broker came over to apologize to me in person. Glad that's behind us.

Onto the good stuff...ready to see the house? Well, I decided you need to see the exterior first so you'll know why we bought the house. The lot sold us!

This is technically our backyard. The house is oriented "backwards" on the lot so this view is enjoyed from our back porch instead of the front door. It's really confusing to people when they first come over because they feel like they're driving to the back of the house.

There are lots of cute little seating areas. Love this bench but it's not too comfy. Looking forward to adding some color in the planters to break up all the green.

Also, as you walk around the pond there are interesting finds at each turn. Check out these roots!

We have a duck! I named her Sally. I tell her every morning as I'm feeding her, that she needs to find a husband and make us some ducklings. ;)

Think Reed's enjoying this little area? He may or may not wake up and go directly to this spot in his undies and start fishing. Priceless!

The entrance faces the back of the lot. I'm guessing the previous owners chose paint colors that would enable the house to blend in with the surroundings. I think they missed the mark a little bit but that's an easy fix.

Think these doors will stay this color? I'm up for suggestions, no decisions have been made just yet. The inside of the doors are already painted white.

Okay, now for a few shots of the inside. Feast your eyes on our dining room. The only thing that's staying in this room is our awesome new table. I'm still deciding on chairs. They definitely need to be low profile and unassuming so the gorgeous live edge on the table can become the star of this room.

What's that...missing wallpaper? Yes, that happened the very first day we moved in. I couldn't wait to get this stuff off the wall. Bye, bye Tommy Bahama palm trees.

Next thing to be removed...heavy, very dated drapery. I didn't even get a shot of the long panels that adorned each side, but you can use your imagination.

Honestly, I don't even have a plan for this space yet. I simply needed to remove things so my brain could start with a blank slate. Now the fun begins!

More pics to come, friends.