Our House, in the Middle of Our Culdesac

Well, I feel bad for not posting last week, but I think this post will make up for it. House pictures! When we bought our house, I really wanted to do some updating before I shared pictures. Now, a normal person might share pictures of a work in progress. But I am a perfectionist, so I can't do that. Anyway, without any further ado, the new place!

First, here's the kitchen before:

I really hated that wallpaper border around the top. And man, it turned out to be kind of a pain to remove.

And now, after!: 

This is the new backsplash I tiled. I'm not sure why it's all zigzaggy. That's just the photo. In real life, it's nicely spaced small squares.

One thing I didn't like about the place was that the living room was painted in varying shades of brown. Brown is a nice classy color, but it's also really dark. And in the winter, the last thing we need up here is more darkness.

Now here's what it looks like:

Oops, trim still not finished.

I get a lot of comments about how "bright" the room is. But actually, I really love it. It's so happy and sunny. This next picture really shows the difference. For reference, the before pictures were taken in the summer. Because of the sun angle, there might be a little less light in the room in summer. But frankly, winter is when I need the sunshine anyway.

This picture is to show you the hall, including the beautiful going away gift I got when I left Australia. These pictures are of Maroubra beach, where we lived the first year. They add so much to our living room.

Well, that's all the pictures for now. The bedrooms are less interesting, for one thing. For another, although the living room appears fairly neat in those pictures, that's because all the mess is in the bedroom. Unlike many people (Mom), when we clean up, that usually involves shifting the mess from one room to the next. Plus, I want to be able to post pictures when I finish new home improvement projects!

I'm relieved the kitchen is finished. That's been hanging over my head for a while. But now it's done, and I can move on to my next project. I have a few in mind. :)