Sunday, April 8, 2012

1.5 Stories, 3 Bedrooms, 1 Full Bath...and a Whole Lot of Work

My goal is to post twice a week. It is thirty minutes to twelve on Saturday night. Let's do this. ;)


I know that you all want to hear about this little beauty, and it is my desire to please you. 

It wasn't too long after Dan and I got engaged that we started house hunting.  We are blessed to have here in Sturgis three of life's necessities:
 family, fellowship, and funds.  My parents live here in Sturgis; Dan's are only just over an hour away. We have the privilege of worshiping and serving at the ever-so-doctrinally-sound Fish Lake Bible Church. Dan has a great job that he enjoys...and there is work for me to do as well. :) As I mentioned in the launch post, some of my favorite friendships are long-distance...but three out of four isn't bad.

Those big three essentials being noted...we realized we could probably plant ourselves in Sturgis for a number of years and be absolutely content about it.

And so then we found our house.

(Okay, so there was a little more to it than that...we probably visited around 15-20 houses over the space of a few months...but for the sake of the story let's just pretend like it was 1.2.3. Okay?)

It is a lovely little thing, with lots and lots of...character. The hardwood floors, chimney, and finished attic were immediate drawing factors for me, and when I saw the perfect summer entertainment backyard through the 3-season room off of the master...you could say my heart was set.

Doesn't that description sound nice? It does. All of those things are true about the house. All of those features exist. But they're all in rather...rough shape. We bought ourselves a project house. Oh yeah. And what is a project house without "Before" pictures? I'll tell you. It's a fish story. Without the before pictures, no one will believe it was in as rough a shape as it truly was, just like no one believes that a 30lb bass bit off your pinky.

And because I want everyone to believe me when I show them my stubby pinky...I give you some of my favorites from our little abode's "Before" shoot.


That's our front door, and the windows that look out on our porch.  The "Mango Tango" (my name for the color) on the ceiling and trim was...uh...not exactly a "draw" when we were house hunting, but it certainly stood out in my mind. There was no forgetting that house after we'd left it. 


We have a fireplace! With a mango tango orange mantle!! This was a definite plus in my book, as I LOVE to cozy up to a fire. Super excited to get some redecorating in the front room. Actually...I'm super excited to get redecorating done everywhere. The next few pictures might help you understand why. 


In case I wasn't clear before..I'm not so much a fan of the orange. I wouldn't think that anything could be any less subtle than that Tango Mango...and that's when I remember the chandelier. I hear that it's cool, real crystal and all...but not my style. If you're interested, look for it on Ebay and/or craigslist soon!



These pictures just plain old crack me up. I'm not sure what was going on with the old owners...but it looks like they just got exhausted in the middle of their projects and thus gave up. I mean look at that window frame. The paint was literally left to drip down the rest of it's unpainted pane.

And the corner of the front room...why didn't it deserve to be stained with the rest of the room?


And yes. That is the same tile on the floor and the walls. Efficient. You only have to make one decorating decision for 75% of the room.



And then of course there's the kitchen. Rough stain job, on cabinets that didn't match. And can you make out the brown-orange sink under the window? Fun. Gotta go. Love that natural light, though! Yes, there are things that I love about this house. Check it:



Um, ignore the fact the old toilet is in the yard, and allow me to say that I love love love our backyard. And now that it's spring, guess what I found out? We have beautiful blooming trees! Will post later. :)



This gorgeous three-season room is off of the master bedroom on the first level. They're the windows you can see on the right side of the house in the pic of the backyard. I love this room. There is so much natural light in this room, in this whole house really, it's rather fantastic. 



And finally, for those of you who don't know what a .5 story is, behold. A finished attic. With two slanty-ceilinged* (englishmajored**) bedrooms, and a nice big landing space around the very wide staircase. Love it. Room to grow.

Well, that's it, the official "Before" pictures of our new casa. We've already gotten a lot of work done, so you'll get more details on the changes that are happening.

It's 12:03 and time to wrap up this post. Thanks for checking it out, let me know what you think!



*ceilinged: to have placed a ceiling on a room in the past
**englishmajored: expression of the right I feel I have as an avid reader and English major to make up words to accomplish my own purposes.


8 comments:

  1. I look forward to the after pics. That will mean we are finished with the work.

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  2. HAHA o my goodness...I'm in love with these picture captions! I love the house too..... you are going to make it look awesome for sure!! GOOD LUCK!!!! So excited for you guys

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    1. Ahh thanks Krista!! Can't wait to show it off when it's done!

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  3. ok i kinda love the cabinets you hated on. i mean i am sure its worse than it looks with the sink in clear view but do me a favor dont make your house too awesome. kids need to grow up in a not perfect environment. i mean your house is gonna be super cool but if you take away all the weird and i feel like im walking into an IKEA display... not gonna lie i'll be a little sad on the inside. i mean i'll say to myself,"self, your sister is super hip and probably a pintrist user" (got to give credit where credit is due) but it'll feel less homey for me when i come to live in your slanty-ceilinged attic. i think a little bit of terrible why the heck is this like this hommieness is crucial in midwest homes... maybe you can just leave the toliet out back... that would make me feel better.

    i actually love the blue window frame, yes funny mental image of the exausted redisigner but i love the picture.... i probably would want to live with it but it has potential for great artsy pictures

    also pumped for you about the sun room and the fire place. kinda also like the funky wall color of the sun room =]

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    1. Don't worry Jo, we might be remodeling, but we're still gonna fill this baby with all sorts of oddly mismatched secondhand furniture. It will still be quirky and uncool.

      Do you want to live on the blue side of the attic, or the pink side? I'm thinking the other side is going to be an office...

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  4. I love you. I love that reading your posts is like a way to hear your voice for me because I can seriously hear you saying everything. I am so excited for you and happy for this new chapter in life.

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  5. A major consideration to take into account when choosing bedroom furniture that will be as comfortable as possible is the size of the bed and the size of the mattress. free hdb contractor - www.3dinnovations.com.sg

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