Home Tour: Part I

Here is our first home. Pictures were taken on the days prior to moving in (one week after our purchase we were on a family cruise to the Caribbean and were not able to move in quite yet). We are the second owners in the home's history. The elderly couple before us had each passed away years apart from one-another. The home smelled strongly of a "sitting" house as it hadn't been occupied since November 2011. Additionally, the previous owner was a smoker which added a musky smell. With the house being vacant for 7 months the yard had overgrown and some bugs, namely roaches, found a new home here.

Front Yard

I promise to eventually get a larger photo of the entire front house so that you can see the big oak tree! There are many dead plants throughout the entire yard that have been cut back or removed altogether.

 Laundry Room

 Here we have outdated vinyl flooring and curtains along with three appliances that are more than 6 years old. The dryer is on two pieces of wood and there is a large hole in the wall behind it. Both the washer and dryer are being replaced this upcoming weekend and all three appliances are going to be cleaned and put on Craigslist.

Family Room

 A view towards the front door/family room from the old dining room.

 The old dining room as seen from the family room. I say old because this area was at one point the dining area but is currently used as a toy corner and eventually a reading nook.

 Upon first entering the family room we have this corner to the left. Behind it is the kitchen and we have big hopes to one day cut the wall in half like this. But since the home is built masonry solid we have to come up with a Plan B.

Master Bedroom

 Old window fixtures, dirty walls, and a brown shag carpet that my husband says needs to be raked, not vacuumed is what greeted us on purchase day.

 To add to the lack of oasis that was our master room, we also had a chain-link ceiling fan plugged in the wall and a sticky metal closet door.

Master Bath

 The vanity is newer but the curtains were remnants from the previous owner, along with a large mirror with water stains at the bottom and a seashell border. The shower- where to begin, we cannot wait to tear this one out, and add some nice tile. When I first washed the shower, the corners had an unbelievable amount of dead bugs and roach feces coming out of it. I spent a good 30 minutes spraying the corners out. Gross!

 To the right in the bathroom was a very dirty toilet and brown bathroom accents. That toilet seat was such a pain to take off since the screws were rusted and stripped.

Kitchen

 This view of the kitchen is what we see as we exit the master bedroom. To the left is the wall we would like to take half-way down, and to add something to block our son from reaching/touching the stove. Our kitchen is not equipped with a dishwasher, but plenty of cabinet space. The right side bottom cabinet is where we would like to eventually put in a dishwasher.

 Here is the opposite side of our kitchen from the "new" dining room.

Living Room/Office/Dining Room

 The previous owner used this space to watch television but we decided it was too small to entertain our large families. Currently this spot is used as our office, though that will soon change and then we will be back to a blank slate.

 With our back to the current office nook we see the dining area and door to the laundry room.

 And here we have the entrance to our back porch. The yard was the previous owner's pride and joy, though it has definitely been overgrown in the past 7 months. 

Guest Bath

 Again, outdated wallpaper, shower curtains, wall border and a wooden toilet seat.

Outdated vanity that I cannot wait to demolish.