When Jerod and I bought our first house together, we were months into our marriage and all we were responsible for was our one sweet boxer named KC. Cut to four years later in that darling home and we had two babies and two dogs, with every room in the house transformed and homey. But also a laundry list of issues that we weren’t crazy about with our home any longer.
Our house sat right on a bend of a VERY busy street that people used as a quick cut-through to avoid all the red lights on the main road. It also had ZERO sidewalk so when we’d go for walks, we were constantly stopping in someone’s driveway to let someone cruise past us…and they were usually texting!! :0 We also had a pretty yuck neighbor next door that really put a damper on our home.
We knew we wanted move to the neighborhood just a few blocks north but it was a tad bit out of our price range to get just what we wanted. Jerod kept telling me in 12-24 months…every 12 months, so my feelings weren’t super optimistic of a move anytime soon. But luck would have it, a friend of a friend reached out saying the house next to his parents was going to be listed soon and they would be willing to walk us through that evening if we were interested. We jumped on it and just a few hours after the walkthrough, we had an offer on the table!
It was absolutely perfect. Two-story, huge fenced backyard, quiet street, SIDEWALKS (!!!!), and just ten houses down from a beautiful park and playground that we always loved playing at. This. Was. It! And to boot, it was priced almost $100k less than most homes going on the market in this neighborhood.
The Catch: It is completely, 100%, no questions asked straight out of the 1980s. The wood paneling, the blue ceramic backsplash, the warn and damaged cabinets, the laminate countertops with wood edging, and yes, the built-in glass cutting board IN the countertops. The exterior is peach, the carpets are dingy, and boy it needs some loving. But we love it! And we have so many ideas for the future that we can’t wait to show you!
So here it is…our sweet fixer upper…blue striped wallpaper and all. 🙂
This cozy little livingroom.
Even stocked with its very own wet bar. 🙂
The kitchen and breakfast nook. So many walls are going to get blown out here!!
This half bath is directly off the breakfast nook. Ohhh, the wallpaper begins! 🙂
This dining is directly to the left when you walk into our house. I like it to call it “art.” 🙂
Here’s our entryway. You can see the carpeted stairs, outdated light fixtures, popcorn ceilings, and ohh…the mirror my hubby still needs to hang! 🙂 Maybe he should read a little more of this!
This wallpaper…I mean…
But the boys really do love this tub!
Moving into our master bedroom and bathroom. We have so much more space than we did at our last home which is so wonderful! I did already do some work on the shower/toilet area of our master solely because it was really gross when we moved in. I never really felt clean when I got out of the shower. The brass shower doors and nasty popcorn ceilings just weren’t my cup of tea! So I stripped the popcorn ceilings, painted all the walls and ceiling, and removed the shower doors. Ahhhh…so much better! 🙂
Ugh…those carpets.
Last but certainly not least…one of the glorious reasons we jumped on this house!!
I can’t wait for you to follow along as we transform this sweet fixer upper into the house of our dreams! Stay tuned!
That is one beautiful house! Good luck with the wallpaper, that is a lot of work. I can’t wait to see what the finished house looks like!
Thanks! Between the wallpaper and the popcorn ceilings, I don’t know what I’m dreading more! 🙂