New House Walk Through and Plans

Well, Memorial Day weekend is over. And while everyone was out having a barbecue and setting off fireworks, we were working on our new house. Between packing, painting, and running back and forth to Home Depot, it was a pretty crazy weekend! Luckily, I took a few “before” pictures, so we can start making some plans. Here’s a walk through of the whole home, with floor plans, photos, and plenty of space for projects and dreams!

You might remember my initial planning when we first put in an offer on the house. I built the whole thing in The Sims 4, and placed all of our furniture. I was only working off the listing photos, and now I have more details like exact room measurements and many more angles.

Main Floor

Here’s the house! It was build in the mid nineties, and you can definitely see some of those architectural details. Overall, it’s in pretty good shape, and the neutral color matches the other houses on the block nicely. One idea we have is to possibly paint the front door. We are looking at a bolder but still dark color to replace the brown. Maybe a dark red or warm navy.

Once inside, you enter into the two-story foyer. In here, we had to get a paint match, since the old paint from 2004 was all dried out. Luckily the match we got was perfect and we were able to do some touch-ups. Eventually, we will probably switch out the stair runner, but in the short term it is perfectly fine.

To the left of the entryway is the formal dining room. This is the space we will be using as our sitting room, so there are plenty of projects to come in here. The paint is a sandblasted texture and impossible to match. Instead, we are looking at some new paint chips that will better fit the bright citrus color scheme of the sitting room. I’m also considering adding wainscoting or painting the built-ins white.

Opposite that room, if you turn right from the entry is a space that we will be using as our game room. We don’t have as much to do in here. The darker stained floors and neutral walls already lend themselves to the color scheme I was aiming for. We’ll put our futon in here for now, and hopefully upgrade that eventually. One small project would be a whiskey bar cart!

If you go straight through the hallway from the entry, you get to the living room, which is also open to the kitchen. This is the hardest room for me to design, because it’s so big and we use it all the time. For now, I’m considering painting the lower cabinets, but otherwise we will just add our current furniture into this space.

The kitchen is the moneymaker in this house for sure. We are so excited for the extra counter and storage space, the gas stove, and a brand new fridge we just ordered! We will put our high top table in the eat-in section for now, but eventually move to a lower light wood table. Long term, I’d love to redo this space to add wall ovens and some more color. But it’s totally amazing for now!

In the hallway off the kitchen, we have a pseudo-mud room space. There’s a large closet, a half bath, and a small laundry room with plenty of cabinets and an extra sink. I’d like to convert the closet into a hall tree with seating and hooks, so it doesn’t get out of hand. Long term, I’d love to open up the space even more, making a true mud room.

Second Floor

The stairs are right inside the front door, and when you reach the top there is a small landing. I don’t plan on doing much with this space, and it doesn’t really need it. Maybe I’ll add a small shelf in the corner or some fun art on the walls.

To the right is the master bedroom. This room is just the right size, and will be perfect for when we upgrade to a king bed. The vaulted ceiling over the window lets in plenty of extra light. We are thinking of painting this room, perhaps in a light cool gray with a navy blue accent wall. I’m excited to make this room into our relaxing little haven.

The master bath is incredible to start with, so it doesn’t need much work. I’m going to enjoy the extra space we’ll get from having the double wide vanity. And mostly, I am just loving the idea of soaking in that tub! This room gets tons of light from the corners windows and skylight. We’ll decorate it with blues and grays to work with the bedroom.

On the other side of the hall is the guest bedroom. This is another space I’m excited for. At this point, it’s a bit of a blank slate, and it will be one of my favorites to decorate. I love the idea of creating this as a fun and relaxing space, so our guests will want to keep returning!

 

We have two other bedrooms. One will become my office, and the other is just kind of spare at this point. My current office is fairly well decorated in purple and coral, so I’ll have to translate that into this new space. I’ll be sure to share how that turns out! In the spare room, I’m going to store my exercise bike and yoga mat, and we will use it for some extra storage. We can also use it as a landing zone while we unpack.

The final room upstairs is the second full bath. This is a standard sized bathroom with a tub and shower combo. We have a current bath in our apartment that is giraffe themed, so that will carry over to this room. This is another space that won’t need too much work.

Basement and Backyard

Downstairs, we have a basement that is almost entirely finished, and the previous owners left us a pool table! At some point, this space will become a den, where we can host parties, watch sports, and drink.

There’s one separated room with a large closet. I’m not sure what that was used for in the past. Long term, I’d like to add a half bath down here, but that’s a few-years-down-the-road project. In the other corner, there is also a small workshop space that is unfinished. I don’t really have a ton of plans yet, but there is plenty of potential down here!

In the backyard, we have a deck off the kitchen, that we will eventually close in to be either a screened porch or glassed in three-season room. There’s a patio off the porch that’s perfect for grilling. In the future, I’d love to add a hot tub and a fire pit somewhere out back. The yard is a hill, so we’ll have to carefully plan these projects.

So, as you can tell, we are really excited to finally move into this house! It’s fully livable now, and any projects will just be excellent upgrades. And of course, I’ll keep you updated on all the details as we go. Meanwhile, if you have any ideas or suggestions for first time homeowners, share them with me!