Sadly, the super tidy “after” living and dining room didn’t last very long!
Real life happened. Or should I say I happened.
I always have good intentions when it comes to cleaning up clutter, but often, more important things just get in the way. I’m trying to start a daily habit to tidy up clutter though. I’ll let you know how that one goes…
Here is a another angle from the other day when it was all tidy looking. Boy, that didn’t last long.
See the staircase to the basement? The basement is rented out to someone else and we don’t have any access (there is a fireproof door locked from both sides). It would be nice if we had it for storage, but I think we’ll be ok since we got rid of so many things before the move.
The hallway:
When we were staging our house before we put it on the market, we put long mirrors in hallways to make them look bright and big. It’s a fun trick that we carried over into this place.
By the way, if any of you are interested in a post on staging please let me know. We picked up several great tips from a stager that our realtor brought in. I also have lots of pictures (after staging) from the old house. If there is interest I will write a post on it, so please let me know!
Here’s peek at our old house’s entry way after staging:
The entry way was previously empty (and I mean empty!), so we added the sofa table, big mirror, faux flowers, rug, plant, and small accessories on the shelves. It made a huge difference.
Ok, back to the new place.
If you walk down the same hallway, you’ll come to a small powder room:
It needs some sprucing up…I might even paint it if it drives me crazy enough. Anyone have a good colour for a small bathroom?
At the bottom of the stairs you’ll find our cute little giraffes to greet you.
Now, we’ll go upstairs for a peek!
This is the view looking to the right from the top of the stairs:
We put another piece of art up and another mirror in this hallway.
The door to the right of the mirror is our bedroom and the door to the left is the bathroom.
The bathroom is quite modern looking and flooded with light. It’s definitely one of my favourite rooms.
This pic was from before we moved in. We have plans to put up art and pictures in there, so I will show you those when it’s finished. It also needs a bright pop of colour!
If you turn right out of the bathroom, you’ll come to the laundry:
I guess it’s more common these days for homes to have the laundry on the second floor and I must say it’s GENIUS. I’ve never had laundry on the second level and I’m loving the convenience. No more lugging baskets of dirty clothing down the stairs.
Here’s what you’ll find inside the doors…
One of the hardest things I parted with in the old house was our new front loading whirlpool washer and dryer. I cry at night for them. Ok, not really, but man do I miss them!
Eric had a vision for this laundry space.
Last weekend, he installed a shelf and he’s also putting a small one on the far left side a bit lower down.
It took us over an hour to pick the shelving, figure out the parts, and then find someone to cut the wire. Remind me again why I let him talk me into going to Home Depot on a Saturday? If it weren’t for those energy bites, a meltdown may have occurred.
We plan on putting our cleaning supplies, laundry soaps, toilet paper, paper towel, etc up there. The shelf is just low enough for me to reach on my tippy toes.
It also doubles as a clothes drying rack…which is why he put the shelf a bit higher up!
I originally wanted to purchase one of those free-standing clothing racks (the big clunky ones), but I like Eric’s idea much better. It’s a 2-in-1 laundry “room” now and takes up no extra space in the house. He’s a keeper.
Across from the laundry is a linen closet:
Something you may not know about me (but may not surprise you): I simply have no patience for folding. Don’t even get me started on those fitted elastic bed sheets! I know how to fold properly, I just don’t like spending time on folding and could care less what my linen closet looks like. That’s also why I hang up 95% of my clothing.
Immediately next to the laundry and linen closet is the 2nd bedroom, which we’ve turned into a shared office. Well, we will be turning into a shared office.
Right now, it’s a scary, scary place.
Oh and you know how I said I loved the central vac? Well, after using it for 2 weeks, I now have mixed feelings about lugging around the hose and having it take up all the closet space. I think someone needs to invent a retractable hose for a central vac…one that retracts right into the wall. Do they make those? That would be pretty fun, but only if the hose came out of the wall easily and it was on each level. Probably not the most practical idea.
Our desks are due to arrive in another week or so. Right now, we’re trying to do our personal and business taxes among this mess and it’s not working out so well, especially because we put one of our files in storage by mistake.
Our bedroom is also not finished, so those pics will have to wait for another time too.
By the way, I forgot to mention in my Kitchen before and after post that I’m challenging myself to stop using a microwave. Our microwave in the last house is staying with the new owners, so I took this opportunity not to buy a new one. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time now, so I figure now is the time. I’ve missed it a few times already (mainly for reheating leftovers and melting chocolate), but it is nice having the extra counter space too. I’m sure I will get used to it after a while!
I’d love to read a post on staging!
We have that same laundry room w/ the same shelving on the 2nd floor of our townhouse too! I do love it! Same w/d too…the trade off for convenience helps :) I store cleaning supplies up on the shelf in bins..and stack bins of things that I need to store and I go all the way to the ceiling!! One trick that I’ve found (b/c I am short!) is to put the laundry soap/fabric softener/bleach/dryer sheets right on the top/back of the w/d.. in small wire bins -or- not! They actually fit on there and they stay even w/ the washer going.. it’s really another shelf and is much more convenient!! Hope it works for ya. (Also the bigger sizes from Costco fit there perfectly..
I got rid of my microwave about a year ago and it did take some getting used to but I dont miss it at all! It was convenient since I have two young daughters and I do like to cook/bake a lot but it was ugly, old and taking up space.
I now use a little coffee pot – you know the kind that is just a lid-less metal container with a long black handle and holds about 1 – 1.5 cups of liquid? I melt chocolate in there, coconut oil, butter… you name it. Its so fast on the stove top! I also prefer stove popped popcorn (SO much tastier!!) so my microwave is officially something of the distant past.
Lovely house by the way! Youre too cute with the way you set up everything so perfectly! Oh and I LOVE your table!! I seen one like it years ago and have been lusting ever since!
Oh my gosh, my boyfriend and I moved into our (smaller) apartment last summer, and we knew our kitchen was going to be tight, so we lived the last 2 months in our condo NOT using our microwave. Like you, I didn’t want to clutter the [limited] counterspace we now have. I will tell you, 8 months into, we do not miss having a microwave at all. We just reheat leftovers on the stove or oven (which tastes 100 times better). It’s also a great excuse not to buy bad-for-you microwave meals. ;)
Please write a post on staging!
I agree with you on the microwave bit. I reheat leftovers in our steamer basket. Buuuuutttt, I do use the microwave to sterilize my neti pot and for that reason I like to have one in the kitchen.
Everything looks great! Looking forward to seeing the rest. :) I’d love to see a post on staging and your before and after pics of your old place when you did staging.
Loving the new place!!
My hubby and I are in the midst of re-decorating/reviving out home now that I’ve been in it for almost 5 years. So with that being said, I would just love to read a staging post! :)
Looks great, Angela! And I would definitely be interested in hearing your tips and tricks on staging.
A staging post would be great! We have our house on the market now and need some staging tips.
your house looks so beautiful! I’m a little confused as to how that shelf is also a clothes-drying rack. do you just hang clothes on hangers there?
It’s looking great! I love all of the natural light in your bathroom – how nice. I would definitely like to see a post about staging; that sounds really interesting and the mirror “trick” seems like a great idea. I don’t know if I could give up my microwave… definitely curious to see how it goes for you!
Staging makes SUCH a huge difference when you’re selling a place, for sure! We’re struggling right now because we have tenants in a place we are trying to sell and we’re nervous that not having it staged will impact its sale – which I think it will for sure. However, thankfully we have very neat tenants who are really helping us out!
Staging is so intriguing to me and I know nothing! I’d love to read your insights!
Both of our bathrooms are microscopic and have white tile halfway up the wall. One I painted a bright magenta and hung a black mirror and medicine cabinet and used brushed chrome fixtures. The sink is a white pedestal like yours. I love the bold color pop!
I gave up my microwave, too, when we moved into this house! I missed it often at first and had to learn to plan ahead with defrosting things, and had to shrug my shoulders at lukewarm coffee, but I’m glad we stuck with it! There’s so much controversy with microwaves and I’m feel like we made a good decision to be on the safe side. :-) You’ll definitely get used to it and hardly miss it!
I would go with a blue tone for the half-bathroom to give it a Spa like feel – maybe a silver sage (more blue than green). I love your new furniture — very you!
You go, girl! My trick for sheets is to fold them mostly neatly (by which I mean, my husband thinks not at all — he’s a neat freak), and then slip them into one of the pilowcases. Then, when you go to make the bed, you just grab a pillowcase sack, and there you go. It looks way more neat stacked in our linen closet. . . and no extra folding for yours truly.
Sometimes, I’m so brilliant, I shock myself. Well, really, just myself, because no matter how many people I tell about this, they somehow don’t associate brilliance with pillowcases. . . oh well.
On painting: bold colors — try a dark blue or black (makes the white “pop”). We painted a lot of our trim black (lots of time/tape/etc.), but it looks very good. Plus, it lets you go minimalist. . . no extra decorating required if you just pick 2-3 strong contrasting colors.
Ha ha, I hate folding too! My husband won’t let me fold our laundry because I do such a sloppy job due to my lack of patience. I hang what I can, but inside my clothing drawers there are big messes and a lot of wrinkled garments!
Did you keep your treadmill?
Yes, a post on staging would be most welcome!
I got rid of my microwave about two years ago and I realized I really didn’t need one. Although I love popcorn so I bought a $15 hot air popper from amazon. You should get one if you find youself missing microwave popcorn!