Faith 'n Family: Before and After Kitchen Dining Master Bedroom Office

As the Kitchen is the Heart of the Home, we'll start our tour here:

BEFORE: white lenolium with black diamonds, green walls, old stove, stainless sink

New Laminate floor, Red walls - I really like how the walls turned out - we call it our ladybug kitchen - the black tile with white grout are the spots on our ladybug.

We replaced the sink with a Deep Beautiful one that sparkles :)

The simple joys of life - a sparkly sink.

We replaced the sink in our old house with one similar to this one, but white. I would definitely go with the beige over the white because the white tends to stain.

We also replaced the old stove - I picked up this one for $30 :)

We decorated the tops of the cabinets with Colt's deer antlers.

I really enjoy this barn I picked up at the thrift store - it matches one my grandma has, so it is extra special.

The backside to the woodstove wall and arch way.

Sitting on the archway: Easter eggs my Sister-in-Law sent last Easter, but are too cute to ever take down and have taken up permanent residence here :)

We also removed the island that was in the middle of the kitchen. It seemed that it was always in the way of working in the kitchen or walking from room to room. Out it came and OH do we love it so much more, it opened the whole area up!! And the kids can run around and not have to dodge the island :)

This house is SO fun for kids: Every room has 2 exits, so they can make great big loops running through the house in and out of rooms through different doors than they came in through.

I very much enjoy this counter in the kitchen for lunches, snacks and homework!

A must have in my book! Summer eating her lunch.

Our bedroom and bathroom had these grey/blue swipes on white background. We took off the manufactured home strips (for lack of a better word, seen above) and Colt filled in the gaps and taped and textured the walls and we sponged them - it turned out very nice with the colors and the texture beneath.

The kids SO enjoy the BIG bathtub in our bathroom! It is a priveledge to take a bath in a swimming pool! I SO enjoy a BIG bathroom. I grew up in a house with a large area for a bathroom and I have a hard time being in tiny confined bathrooms to give kids baths. This is lovely!

We left the swoosh background in the bathroom as that was one project too many to tackle before moving in. But we replaced the floor as it was the same white lenoleum with black diamonds:

This floor is fabulous! Sticky lenoleum squares that lay down and last really well, we did this same floor in our old house and loved it so much we had to do it again :)

Fun way to organize and think of Colt?

Reads: Wishin' I was Fishin'

That's got to be Colt's motto!

Good way to organize earrings!

River's picture of a temple that she drew on the back of a church program during Sacrament Meeting.

On my Bathroom Mirror

Above the mirror: My missionary name tag and River's 2nd coming picture

This perfectly sums up River Joy to me.

She drew a cute pic inside for me when she was small and it has stayed in my bathroom ever since.

A laminated poster that was above my shower in the old house and above the bathtub in the new.

A perfect bright start to the morning!

I wish I had taken better pictures of the before carpet: It was REALLY old and really dirty carpet. There was a smell in the house before we moved in that I just didn't know if I was going to be able to live with. Turned out, it was the carpet. Colt and I pulled out all the old carpet and replaced ALL of it and the smell disappeared! There had been quite a few animals and kids over the years who had quite a few accidents on the carpet. It was enough to say no dogs in the house!

Replaced the windows in our bedroom - the new windows didn't fit the old windows, but that was no problem for my mister-McGyver I married! The windows are beautiful with a lighter wood trim inside and darker outside.

I enjoy this touch-lamp. A must-have for new moms when your baby wakes up in the night. 3 levels of light.

Another art piece by my talented Sister-in-Law that brightens my room :)

The dining room before:

We now have several fish that reside in our dining room.

Above: River and Silver measuring the fish tank. The girls love to measure things!

I have Always wanted a fish tank and found this great one on Craigslist that someone was needing to get rid of. It has brought us many hours of enjoyment watching the fish.

We have a HUGE fish in here named Oscar. He is a breed of fish called an oscar, but he is also a grouch, so Oscar fits him perfectly! We got him from the previous owner and the girls won't let me get rid of him. He bites at their noses, fingers, toys, food, etc. when pressed against the glass and will follow their fingers. He is quite interactive! We also have 5 blue baby cichlid fish and one large plecostomus (a tank cleaner) we call him Pleco, and he is the brunt of Oscar's orneriness.

I think we'll try to split the tank down the middle so we can have the agressive fish on one side and then have pretty little fish swimming all around on the other. That would be neat!

Dining room ceiling before.

Old Office

We did the office carpet lighter than the rest of the house, and laid it just right over the old carpet, as this one was in better shape. It makes it really nice to walk on as it is really good quality carpet and extra-soft padding underneath. We got the carpet for the office at the "Re-Store" a habitat for humanities store that contractors and people remodeling donate their used or new but unused items to, and you can get them at a huge discount. Very worth going to! It was the only remnant they had that was large enough for this room. It worked out really nice!

The office door is really lovely.

It had a hole punched through it...and Colt took tongue and groove and laid it across the door. It really made the space SO nice! Add a nice door handle...and it is a completely different look.