Big News!

So I know I have talked about how crazy busy we are and how so many things are happening right now and then I haven't said anything since!  Well, I now have a few seconds to share!

First, and most importantly! We're having ANOTHER baby!  We're so excited to welcome a new little one to our home at the end of September- pretty much exactly two years after we welcomed Emme!  We are thrilled and nervous and excited.  We find out what it is on the 16th of this month so we will keep you posted!

Second, we bought a house!  Crazy- I know.  Its still kinda sinking in that this place is actually ours and not just a place we call home.  Family has been asking for pictures and I have not had the time/desire to go around and shoot the whole house.  It seemed like a task that would take forever- I just did it and it took about 30 minutes- and now I'm mad that I didn't do it earlier!

So here's a little tour for you!

We debated between going a little further from the city and getting a newer "cookie cutter" type home but when it came down to it, we couldn't bring ourselves to sign up for such a long commute.  We still have no idea if we made the right choice or not- but here we are living in an almost 60 year old house.

We think we will like it overall but I feel like we are constantly holding our breaths that something really big doesn't go wrong!  We're hoping that feeling will fade as we live in it longer :)

Here's the front of the house.We took this while we were looking at the place so the leaves on those tress are in now and look much prettier.  We scored big with the brand new roof that was put on just as we were negotiating.  But, it needs to be washed and we recently found out that there was ivy growing up the side of the house.  It didn't damage the brickwork (thank heavens!) but there are TONS of little ivy feet all over one wall.  We hear they are killer to get off and might even require a small blow torch.  Its going to be an epic project to say the least.  The place also needs a good washing- which is on the to do list!
Eventually, we want to landscape the place to make it look pretty and give it some more curb appeal.  We also want to get a new front door (suggestions of colors welcome!).  Other things on the list: get the flag pole in working order, move the mailbox and remove that weird railing by it, remove and replace the railing along the door, replace the gutters.  These are all wishlists tasks but hopefully we will get to the majority of them someday.  

There's the front door right there. We love love love all the natural light the place has (this window is 123 inches long!)- for everyday purposes but all- and maybe more importantly- for the awesome light we will have for pictures!

Every single window upstairs was bare and had no blinds!  We measured them and all but ONE (out of EIGHT) were a width larger than offered at Lowes or Home Depot!  Every. Single. One.  So, we went online and found ourselves at blinds.com.  We were hesitant to order them because they were significantly less expensive (still a fortune but more like a small fortune) but when we saw them in real life at Kenton's brother's house- we were impressed!  They are shipping out on Wednesday and take 6-10 days to get here.  Hopefully we will have them soon!

This is a picture of the front room/formal living room.

We plan to pot those plants gifted to us by Kenton's boss/our friend.  They make the room feel a little more homey and we love it!  Hopefully we can keep them alive!

We plan to do something with that fireplace one day.  And those decorations aren't staying around.  In true Kenton fashion, the cameras were one of the first things he unpacked and put up- such a nerd, but a nerd I love!

The formal living room runs into the dinning area.  Pretty simple.  Its bigger than we thought it was when looking at it which was nice.  We even had to put a leaf in our table to make it fill the space a little bit.  One day we might switch out the table for something more our style.  I really want a cool light for above the table.  Other than that- I think we plan to keep this area pretty simple. 

The dinning area flows into the kitchen.  I wasn't sure I would love love love this kitchen.  We knew we were buying an old house and they usually don't have big kitchens so we figured at least this was new with nice counter tops and back splash.  But, pleasantly, its a lot bigger than it looks.  The cabinets on the upper left are totally empty- because we don't have anything to put in them!  I don't know how I will love it over time- but right now, its pretty much a dream.

The closet you see in the back is a pantry.  We've never had one and I don't know if I will ever go back- man alive those things are useful!  

I plan to get a rug for the floor (my prego back issues don't really like the hard tile).  Eventually I want to replace that cupboard above the fridge with a cupboard that is longer- the big gap bugs!  I also wanted a fridge that was black on the side because all the other appliances are a black/stainless combo BUT any fridge worth getting has grey sides- why int he world?  Anyways- contemplating getting some appliance paint and painting it black- opinions welcome.

From the kitchen/formal living room, there is a hallway that leads back to the guest bath, the nursery, our bedroom and THREE closets (which are also pretty much empty because we don't know what to do with all this space yet!)

Here's the nursery.  Pretty simple right now.  As soon as we find out what we are having, I am going to decorate the place- and I am pretty darn excited about it!  At the moment, Emme sleeps in here.  She will pry sleep in here until the baby moves out of our room.  Once she does, she will move downstairs and share a room with Afton.

The second biggest window in the house.  This is our temporary solution for blinds at the moment.  I HATE that its all or nothing right now- but soon enough we will have some blinds- soon enough!

Our room.  Wow, I didn't realize our bed was so pathetic looking!  So this apparently was two rooms they combined to make one.  We can't figure out how they did it because there isnt a door that would lead to one of the rooms- but whatever- we like a big room.  This angle is if I stand at one end of the long skinny room.

And this angle is from the other end.  Check out those florescent lights!  Ew huh!  Our Realtor, my awesome cousin, pointed out that they would make for good mood lighting.  I think we'll pass and eventually get rid of them.

We love the double closets in here.  We have always had a difference of opinions as to how a closet should be organized so its nice to have our own.  That way no one is annoyed.

Eventually, we want to make this into one half bedroom one half office.  Get a "real" bed and so better bedding, hand some pictures, get rid of those lights, paint, etc, etc.  This list goes on and on.

There is a teeny tiny master bath just off the bedroom.  And I mean tiny.  A vanity, a toilet and a single shower- and that is literally ALL that fits in there.  But, most the houses we looked at didn't even have a master bath so we feel lucky to have this little hole.  Right away we need to hand a hand towel thingy and some towel hooks.  Eventually we want to add a medicine cabinet type thing above the sink for more storage in our tiny area.  I would also like to replace the knobs in the shower seeing as how Kenton and I have both almost seared off our skin with hot water- its a little special.    

And here's the guest bath.  We have a rug coming that I am excited about.  We need to hang some pictures and eventually I would like to put in a "real" mirror.

Onto the downstairs:

There's a long hall that leads to Afton's room, the playroom, the laundry room and the third bath.

Here's Afton's room.  Its pretty basic and on the small side for sure.  Eventually we will put Emme in here and get some bunk beds- Afton's pretty excited about that.  It also needs a new ceiling which will be a DIY project- its one of the only rooms with old ceilings- lame.  We will also paint and decorate- of course!  Afton keeps saying it should be pink- hopefully we can find something that makes us both happy.

This is our toy room.  Technically its a bedroom but with that wall of closets- I can't pass up this playroom gold mine.  Its small like all the downstairs rooms but I LOVE that our toys aren't all over the house.  One of these days we will organize it and get some inspiring kid art.

This is the laundry room?  haha.  Its more like a laundry closet- but it works for us.  It has shelves off to the side of it and a big tile area in front for all our "waiting" laundry- please tell me you have piles of waiting laundry too!  One day we will upgrade our washer and dryer.  We also want to replace the ceiling in here like we plan to do in Afton's room.

This is the third bath.  There is a toilet on the other side.  Its pretty basic.  We have a hand towel thingy to hang as well as a shower curtain.  Eventually we will decorate it and all.

And some rooms remind us that we live in a VERY old house.  This is the "work room"- which will be a storage room for us.  See that box in the bottom left corner?  Yep, that's our storage so far :)

If you go down the hall the other way, you find the guest room, the family room and the media area.

Isn't that fireplace just BEAUTIFUL!  We plan to do something with it.  There have been talks to cementing over the, cementing over the brick and adding stone veneer, just getting rid of the whole thing and sheet rocking over it- who knows but we plan to do something.  In the meantime- Kenton put some more cameras up- of course!

Here's the guest room.  Its pretty much the storage room until we go through all those boxes and decide where everything should go.

This room needs a closet to be "technically" considered a bedroom.  We plan to put one in once we've had enough children to really need it- so not for a few years at least.  But before then we plan to move the double in Afton's room into here once we get bunk beds and create a welcoming space for our guests- and my treadmill of course.

Here is the media area.  A little corner tucked away with our couches and tv.  We LOVE LOVE LOVE this space and use it often- can you see the blanket on the floor and the tv turned on?  I love that we don't have to have it clean all of the time- a small luxury you just don't have when living in an apartment.

There is also this dungeon called a cold storage room.  I am told this will be awesome to store our food storage in.  Its empty right now because Kenton needs to clean out all the cob webs before I will step foot in there.  Seriously, it was hard for me to even go in there to take this picture!

The outside needs a TON of work.  Its where we will be spending many days trying to make is usable and hopefully pretty.  In the middle of the yard there is this hideous thing.  Verdict is still out as to what we will do with the thing.  I want to tear it out but Kenton wants to repair it- we'll see who wins!  It does have lights and is solidly built so it might work to repair- but at the moment it is so hideous I can't see myself ever liking it.  There is a basketball hoop- facing grass!  Its gone for sure.  The shed in the back is actually really nice and we will keep that- I want to paint the doors and fix the trim around them.

Here is the "yard" part of the backyard.  We plan to rip all this gross grass out, level the yard, and lay down sod.  I also want to put some sort of mini pine trees for something along that fence- to make it seem a little less industrial.  We will be taking out that half fence without chain link.  Word on the street is that our neighbors are looking into a vinyl fence.  We're going to wait and see what they put before we decide on fencing for our yard.  We might just reap in their vinyl fence and put in something similar on the other side of the yard (at the moment its all chain link- not too pretty but it works for the time being.)

Here's the garden.  Our incredible neighbor told us that this was once grass, and then it was an incredible garden, and then the last owners let it go- so we aren't sure how we feel about this area at the moment.  I think my dream would be to lay down some sort of rock or something and put in raised garden beds.  That huge thing is a grape vine- verdict is still out on whether we will keep it or not- we aren't sure we are up for the task!

So that's it, our VERY old, work-in-progress house.  Hopefully one day it will be beautiful and we will have some awesome after shots for you!

Thank you all for your awesome support, encouragement and excitement!