I can hardly believe we’ve been in this house for 7 months! I am always hesitant to post any “after” photos until we are TOTALLY done with a space. But I’m finding that “totally done” may not exist. We have so many grand ideas and my initial thoughts about spaces are changing the longer we live in each room. I’m still really unsure about how to decorate each space too. I know what I like when I see it, but sometimes I have a hard time getting to that place when I’m looking at a blank wall. So even though we still have boxes in our den, rooms we’ve yet to paint and picture frames stacked and waiting for their final destinations, I’m going to post pictures of our home for those interested. It’s not perfect, it’s not finished and it’s not all beautiful… yet. But we’re getting there.

So here’s some progress in the dining room! It has been lots of hard work, but we are thrilled with how it looks. A big thanks to my parents for all their help!!

I just LOVE the perfect new walls, crisp white molding and brand new windows! We still have grand plans for built-ins around the window and I’ve already collected plates for the wall to the right of the table.

It may not look like a lot of work, but so far in this room we have:

Removed plaster and wall paneling

Hung Sheetrock on walls and ceilings

Taped and mud all seems and corners

Widened doorway to living room

Moved laundry room and removed former laundry closet

Narrowed pantry so it fit better in the space

Capped off plumbing for future butler’s pantry sink

Re-stained and started sealing the floors under the old laundry closet

Installed new threshold in wider doorway

Installed new windows, window sill and trim

Installed, caulked and painted baseboards, trim, and crown molding

Painted walls and ceiling

We knew it would be a major project when we started, and it got even more complicated when we decided that awful old laundry closet just couldn’t stay, but we are very pleased with how it looks now!

And speaking of time passing… look how big our puppy is! It was so hard to get a picture of her… she kept laying down and inching towards me. She was totally confused by the camera. Maybe that means we should take pictures of her more often. 🙂