Updated: Living Room & Kitchen

I'm finally getting around to posting updated photos of our living room and kitchen. Since I last posted photos we have gotten a new dishwasher and finally hung things on the walls. I'll also include a photo with our Christmas Tree. We were a little nervous when we bought the new house...we weren't sure we'd be able to fit our 7' tree. But, it fits pretty well in the corner next to our slider. Let me know what you think.

We're home owners!

We closed on our first house on Thursday morning and have been very busy ever since. We were are so happy to have this be our first home. Once we actually found the house we really wanted and the offer was accepted, everything was pretty simple from there. I think it was because we had a great team of people working on our side. Our realtor, mortgage broker and attorney were all fantastic.

We got to the house on Thursday around 11:00 am. Saying the house was dirty would be the understatement of the year. The walls, cabinets, floors ceilings were all just filthy. We had gotten a few quotes for a painter to paint all the interior walls and the kitchen cabinets a few weeks back but they were way too expensive. One of the contractors came to take a look at the cabinets on Thursday night and ended up dropping his price by $1000. We thought about it and said yes and are thrilled that we did. In just 2 days of work, he has already painted and repaired all the woodwork (trim, doors, window casings) upstairs and has completely painted the master bedroom and 90% of our 2-story hallway. We are absolutely thrilled with the results so far. I'll take some before and after pictures next weekend when everything is painted. It was still a lot of money, which is going to put other projects on hold for now, but I think it was totally worth it.

Not included in the painters quote (to save us money) are the bathrooms and closets. So, we've been focusing on getting everything cleaned in the house and buying everything we need. Today we will finish painting the insides of the closets and start painting the 3 small bathrooms. We may also pull out the ugly vanity in the downstairs bath. We bought a new one, which will be delivered next Saturday.

The house has wood floors on the first floor and old carpeting on the stairs and second floor. We're having the old carpets torn out on Tuesday and the new ones put in on Thursday.

So far, of course, we have been working hard and are completely exhausted. But, it has been worth it. I know we are always going to have projects. But, I cannot wait until the current ones are completed and we can move in and be able to sleep there. It's all so exciting!

Paint Colors

We're not 100% sure on the orange for the living room, but TruePenny gives you a good idea of what we're looking for. Cobble brown (or similar color) will be used as an accent wall in the Master Bedroom, along with Latte for the other walls. We will most likely also use Latte in the upstairs bathrooms and hallways. Quench Blue will be used in our downstairs half bath. Tupelo Tree is for the dining room and Restrained Gold is for the Kitchen. I really like Meditative but haven't decided where to put it yet.

Busy, busy, busy

We've been quite busy the last two weeks trying to get everything organized and packing up everything that we will not be using in the next few weeks. So far, we've come up with about 5 huge trash bags full of clothes/shoes/handbags to donate. We've also been scrambling to get quotes on carpets, painting and movers as well as trying to figure out what we need to buy for the house now and what can wait. I think we've decided on a few paint colors, all from Sherwin Williams, which I will post in the near future. Right now, we're trying to come up with the right shade of burnt orange to paint the living room.

We decided on the sectional from Ashley Furniture, since the Bob's one ended up being too large for the space. But, since Bernie & Phyl's is closer to our house and does price matching, we will probably buy it there. We also decided on the dinette table from Ashley Furniture as well...although instead of the pub height, we've decided to get the regular height. We realized it will be easier with a regular height table to bring the chairs into the dining room when we need extra seating.

Help us decide: Dinette Set & Sectional

We've been looking around for a dinette set for the eat-in-kitchen and a sectional for the living room. There is just so much out there, its so hard to decide. Here are some photos of the rooms with seller's furniture:

Eat-in Area

Living Area

These are our favorite Dinettes right now, the first two are both pub tables from Bob's Furniture and both cost $599. The third is a pub table from Ashley Furniture and costs $399. The last is a pub table from JCPenney and costs $649. It also comes in a regular height table for $499.

These are our favorite sectionals right now. The first is an espresso color from Ashley furniture and it comes with an ottoman for $1600. The second is from Bob's, we would get it in the same espresso/mocha color as the Ashley one, but it is shown here in Linen. It costs $1199 with a full size sleeper.