The Power of Paint: Before and After

We are in the process of selling our house to a cute young family.  It makes me happy to think that a lot of fantastic memories will be created here and for this to be their home.  I am sad to leave this house though, if I'm being totally honest.  Even though we haven't lived here a whole entire year, I became quite attached.  We (mostly Brett, let's be real...) put a lot of love into starting to update and personalize this house for our family.  I envisioned a porch swing hanging from our back patio, and adding some cute little bar stools to our kitchen to serve up fresh-squeezed orange juice from our backyard trees to our sleepy-headed kids at breakfast-time...I had years of future memories playing out in my mind, that will never happen now.  But I have a new swirl of future memories that will take place in our new home, that are still wonderful too. I am so glad we at least got to experience one Christmas here though.  It makes it feel like we lived here, since we did, after all, have Christmas together here once.  

"Before and After" pictures are just some of my favorites!  They can be so inspiring and fun to see the dramatic change, since some things take time and by the end of a project, one might not appreciate all their effort because they forgot how much work and change they created to get the end result.  This house was built in the 50's and the original owner/builder of the house had lived here until we bought it.  So it was...outdated.  Very well cared for, but outdated.  And we didn't have much of a budget to just pour tons of money in at once.  So thankfully, we could slowly start changing things as our budget and time would allow.  

The best tool in our endeavors, was paint.  Paint is relatively inexpensive, pretty accessible, and has the potential for a dramatic impact!  I will share two examples of my two favorite rooms in the house in this post.  Our kitchen.  And our laundry/playroom.  

Check it out!

Our kitchen:

We took all the wallpaper down, instant update for sure!  Brett spent some time painting the cabinets (with a special paint intended for cabinets, so it is super durable.  Food that gets splattered and dripped on them, can easily be wiped off without chipping or peeling the paint).  We also replaced the cabinet hardware (we ordered it off of overstock, it was the cheapest option for the brushed nickel knobs and pulls we wanted, since we could order them in bulk).  We replaced the sink and faucet and painted the walls, and changed out the outlet panel fronts for new ones.  That's all we did!  Paint and a few small replacements literally took decades off of this kitchen!  The major appliances (stove, oven, dishwasher, etc.), flooring, cabinets, etc. are all the same.  It is so bright and light and I love the end result!  

Now, if we were living here long-term, here are a few things I would have loved to add/change about this room in the future: paint or change the kitchen door leading to the garage (maybe a darker charcoal gray for some contrast), add a backsplash (maybe subway tile), change the countertops to either butcher block or cement and extend the bar out more for a more comfortable "bar stool" situation.  I also planned on having Brett build me a few shelves and add a little open shelving near the "dining area", and also have him build a corner breakfast nook underneath this corner window.  But for only having lived here for 10 months on a tight remodeling budget, I think we did a pretty good job in a room that can cost thousands upon thousands of dollars to renovate!

The laundry room/playroom:

 As you can see, the carpet was extremely outdated (not to mention mildewy underneath the washer and dryer), so we are super glad that this was not the carpet throughout the whole house.  We ripped the carpet out and bought special paint that can be used on flooring (indoor or outdoor).  We simply painted the walls, the cabinets, and the concrete (with the floor paint).  I also added chalkboard paint to the lower 3 cabinets, for fun, and I love it!  The framed art are printables found on Pinterest.  If we were staying here long term, I planned on adding a play kitchen (a DIY from an old entertainment center), a growth chart that looks like a ruler to hang on the wall to document the kid's heights, a large corkboard to hang art projects and pictures as the years went by, and possibly an alphabet strung around the top perimeter of the room.  But look at the dramatic change, with just some paint!  

Hope you enjoyed taking a peek into this house and some of the work we did on it.  Even though we didn't live here very long, we will have fond memories of our short time here!