1st House Tour

 

We started searching for our first home around December 2012, right after we came back from a 3-year tour in Okinawa, Japan. This home felt like a great fit for our Family, it was a four bedroom, three bathroom – two-story home with 2480 sq. ft., and had a large backyard. Located in a quiet family-friendly neighborhood, which meant no through traffic and lots of space for the kids to play.

House Front intro

What brought us here

We had just PCS’s (Permanent Change of Station) back to Texas after a 3-year tour in Okinawa, Japan. And since it was only a couple of weeks until Christmas we decided to stay with Nakia’s Family. We started with the buying process right after Christmas, and because we had a 4-5 hour drive to our preferred neighborhood, the agent had to come up with 5-10 Houses for us to look at, which she did!

Our first time looking at houses, was in the first week of 2013 – we had 8 houses lined up, and on the second day we actually wanted to see two of the eight houses again. That’s when we decided to go for it, and 48 days later it was ours!

Front Yard

Home tour - Front Yard before

The front yard was a disaster, considering that it was; still, winter in Texas. It had been empty over 2 months and the previous owners weren’t able to care for it at that time.

It was not a big deal for us, but after we had moved in and spring came around – I was digging out old roots while 7 months pregnant. This is what the front yard looked like around April-May 2013 after I planted a pair of Italien cypress trees, a few Red Yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora), and some Variegated Japanese pittosporum.

We also added quite a bit of sod under the tree area, we used some leftover rocks to create a flower bed circling the tree. The soil was so drained from the roots of the tree, no sod would have grown, period! But, the flower bed around the tree helped a bit.

Home tour - Front Yard

The Entry

Before Hallway

What I loved most about this house, was that it had hardwood throughout the lower level, except the kitchen and powder room. You can find all my projects for the hallway here and here.

Hallway Home tour2

Hallway – AFTER

Hallway Home tour3

The Office

Office Before

The office was on the left hand side of the entry, and meant to be the dining room. But, since we needed a space for me to work, we changed it into an office. I painted the walls and it immediately felt bigger. It was such a great space to get work done. I stored all my craft supplies in this room, and also got all my sewing, paper, and design projects done in this room.

Office After

OheverythingHandmade Office

You can find the entire makeover herehere and here.

The Playroom

Playroom After copy

The playroom was right off the entry, and both of my kiddo’s loved playing in this space and literally got wild in there! And even our puppy Ginger loved this space, I mean there is nothing better than the sun, a window and the comfort of a couch cushion, right? Did I hear an agreeing whooof? (can you find her???)

Overnight Playroom Makeover

The Living room

Living room before

We loved how spacious our living room was, even with the 26-degree cut for the fireplace it still made this room our gathering place for family and friends throughout the years.

Living room early 2013
Living room style – early 2013 – TV stand makeover
Living room 2013
Living room style – 2013
Living room 2014
Living room style – 2014 – Cushion Hack Tutorial
Living room 2015
Living room style – 2015

The Fireplace wasn’t touched until a few weeks before we put the house on the market. I used a stencil and some lighter leftover paint to make it a feature wall. And here is my 2013 REVEAL // FIREPLACE MANTEL CHRISTMAS DECOR for the mantel.

My 2014 Christmas decor felt so grown up, we enjoyed every minute of it since it was our last Christmas in this house.

Christmas 2013-2014
Christmas 2013-2014

You can find my flocked Christmas tree tutorial, here. And the scented wreath over the fireplace can be found on my remodelaholic profile, here.

The Kitchen

Before Kitchen

The kitchen …my favorite subject when I get to talk about our old home. I admit, I am proud that hubby and I tackled it all by ourselvesWe spend 50% in this kitchen during the day, so making it functional and unique was priority #1. You can find all our remodelling steps here.

All Steps Kitchen Remodel
All Steps Kitchen Remodel

Our eat-in-kitchen area was simple, but very functional and a wonderful space where we made beautiful memories with our children while eating, learning, or working. My husband and I build a kitchen nook, one of my favorite builds.

Kitchen Bench

Kitchen Bench1

The Laundry Room

Laundry Room Makeover

Our laundry room was off the kitchen, and also took us to the garage. We gave the laundry room a makeover, added some much needed storage to the walls. You can find the reveal and makeover here, and here.

The Powder room

The powder room was on the right hand side of the hallway, next to the stairs. This room needed my full attention (so much red!), I  hated the red walls, and the outdated light fixture made me unhappy, too. So, we tackled this space and it helped us tremendously to sell the house. You can find the full makeover and reveal here.

Powder room

The backyard

Before_Backyard

The backyard was HUGE, and a great space to hang out. We loved the gazebo, I used to BBQ dinner out there all summer long! We only changed the flower beds, and fertilized the grass. The best part about the backyard was actually a pecan tree, so after each summer I was able to harvest fresh/free pecans.

Backyard - After

Hope you enjoyed our detailed house tour, you can also find my Part 1 – House Tour, and my Part 2 – House tour, here. These posts have even more images and source links.

House tour Part 2

I apologize for some of the grainy images!

I you like to share my 1st House tour, please use this image. Thank you!!!

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