Entry Way & Then Some...

This post might seem a little long for a subject as simple as the entryway flooring.  But the house has come a long way since we moved in back in May, so I am also sharing some other changes from along the way that have been done to this space as well.

 Remember this pic from my last post?  I took it before we moved into the house.  And this next one is a picture of the kitchen table/entry hall area right before we had moved in anything.

And this was right when you walked into the front door...

 And then what it looked like with carpet ripped out, but the entry tile remaining.

 The hallway before much was even hung on the walls, and before we had even thought about new paint colors...

 The back of the front door and an itty bitty rug which didn't look so itty bitty in our old house...

 This next pic you can see how broken and choppy the flooring looks in the living room with the wood floor and then the tile by the front door...

 It has driven my ocd type A brain crazy to not have homes for things in our new house.  And now that we are finally figuring out furniture placement and things like that my brain is feeling much better.  This is what this space above looks like now...

 And another pic where you can see the flooring goes to the front door now...

We are really loving the paint color that we've decided on for the large rooms and walls throughout the house.  In the background you can see where I painted two swatches against the wall, and in the family room and hallway we now have the paint done.  Next we'll do the kitchen, and then hallways upstairs.  The ceilings are so tall in the living room that we might hire out for that area.  (The rug is new for the family room and I am just waiting for Mr. H to get home from work today and help me move all the furniture so that we can lay it out!)

But I digress, back to the hallway...

 I couldn't stand how blank and bare this hallway was so I was quick to hang frames we already had.  But then I quickly decided that the aqua frames were too bright aqua for the space, and that the black wasn't doing it for me.

 So I left it until we painted the hallway...

 This is the wall I want to put up brick wallpaper on and make into a "mudroom" wall for backpacks and stuff.  Sadly, the brick wallpaper turned out to be quite the fiasco.  I think we had a bad roll and the image was peeling off.  But Mr. H also said it was a pain in his you know what and that he'd rather pay someone to do it.  So, that might me our next move because the company sent us a new roll and I still really want the brick here.  

 The back of the front door and the garage door entrance...

 And demo day...

 They made quick work and finished in one day.  Here's Claire showing off the new floors...

 There's a heavy box by the front door to weigh down the transition piece of flooring that was recently glued down.  
And just for fun, this is a similar picture from the same angle taken from before we moved into the house...

Oh how I hated that leaf light!

Looks so different huh?

And don't worry, we don't plan to leave that front room empty forever.

I just want baseboards throughout downstairs and shutters in the front windows of the house first. 

And then one day perhaps a place to sit and some decor as well.  Or maybe we'll just keep it empty for slumber parties.  ;)

 This pic is dark, but the new hallway flooring, with hand weights on the transition piece.  ;)

 Sorry these are all iphone pics.  It's way too hard to grab my big camera these days.  It's still so fun to come into the house from the garage and see the wood floor instead of the tile.

 Last weekend I went to Home Goods after I worked and I found this cute green'ish colored bench that I knew would be perfect on my mudroom wall!  And I think the color will play off the brick wall paper nicely too once that's hung up.

I've had lots of questions about these rugs on instagram.  I got them from Urban Outfitters and I love em.  
I am liking the white and lighter frames up in the hallway now too.  The empty frame is for Hannah's school picture if it ever shows up in the mail.  And the chalkboard on the lower part of the wall is for the girls chore lists, which I've yet to write down on there, but I will!
I'm still looking for a lantern style light to replace the two lights in the hallway too.  
The list will never be done, but it feels good to be checking some things off!

I'm off to relax a bit on this very rare rainy So Cal day.  Both girls soccer games were cancelled today and after our busy week and Halloween last night, I do not mind one bit!!!

Flooring Before & Afters

It's hasn't even been two weeks since the carpet has been torn out of our new house, and it's funny how long ago that seems to us now.
I have been trying to document the changes as best as I can from my iphone.  Things have just been so busy that there's no way I'm even about to pull my slr out right now.  So these pics aren't the greatest, but they're what I got.  

So this was the carpet in the living room as you enter from the front door.

The stairs look SO different with carpet on them than they do now.  They have become one of my very favorite features in the house.  And I absolutely love the dual entrance of the stairs from the front of the house or from the family room/kitchen area too.

There's that hideous leaf light that I can't wait to switch out.  And the chandelier hanging above the dining area is broken, and also ugly, so I can't wait to replace that one as well.

 They look better already just with that carpet gone don't they?

Below is the guest bedroom that is downstairs and to the right is the entrance from the garage.

This next pic is the bedroom without carpet, taken from standing inside the room, and across the way is the entry and then the living room.

We only had the wood floors put in where there was carpet, but we have since decided that we are going to demo out the ceramic tiles in the front entry leading up to the kitchen, and will be replacing those with the wood as well.  We have half of the materials needed for that leftover, and if we demo the tile ourselves we can save a bit there too.  So stay tuned for that project!

 The guys who did our floors were awesome!!!  This was the second time we have used this local flooring company Compare Carpets Hardwoods and More, and we were so happy with everything!  The contractor in charge of the project was the nicest guy.  So friendly and nice, and we even realized that we knew several people in common, and that his cousin was my very first boyfriend!  Small world!  All the guys were so good.  They were easy to have in our house, and very polite.  We will definitely recommend them to anyone looking for new flooring options.

 We asked them to start upstairs in the bedrooms, so that as each room was finished I could move the girls closets in and prepare them for the movers bringing the beds and furniture that weekend.

 Mr. Hass and I both are so happy with our flooring choice.

This pic above is of the loft, but you can see into the upstairs laundry room, and down the hall to the left is the girls bathroom and two more rooms.  And to the right is another bedroom, and down the hall is the master.

 Can you spot that picnic table in the family room in the back?  We brought that over when we first started cleaning and moving into the kitchen and it was awfully handy to have.  Don't worry it's in the garage now and we have a real table in the kitchen.  ;)  Oh and see the celing fan in the family room above the picnic table?  It looks like an airplane.  Definitely not what a woman would have chosen for that room.  Or any room actually.  We bought a very pretty traditional looking fan from Lowe's that will be replacing that very soon.  

 This is Cory working on the stairs.  Mr. Hass kept telling him what an artist he is.  It was so interesting to see the process of the floors, but the stairs especially was such a craft to see come to fruition.  First Cory cut and installed the white risers, and even that was tricky and neat to see him do.

All week long while Cory and his guys were working, Mr. H and I were busy bringing in loads of boxes, and unpacking, and cleaning right beside them.  We had fun chatting and getting to know Cory and I told Mr. H they were such nice guys to have around I was actually going to be sad when their work was done.  But now I'm glad they have to come back to do the entryway! :)

Every night after the girls are in bed, Mr. H and I have been busy hanging and decorating, and doing all sorts of things.  Last night we hung these pictures on the wall of the stairs.

 And the night before we hung one of our wedding photos where you can see it when you come in through the front door, or the front side of the stairs.

 And on Wednesday this week I had a gap in my day at work and I went to Hobby Lobby for the first time.  I loved it!  So much to look at in that neat store, and I wound up coming home with a few fun things.  One of them was this sign to the right of our wedding photo.  I'll take a better pic in the daylight one of these days.

Once we finish up with some of the more expensive projects we are working on downstairs, and do the flooring in the entryway, we are anxious to have big fat baseboards put in too.  It's been so fun seeing things start coming together.

We worked hard around here today preparing to have my family over tomorrow for our first offical BBQ for Mother's Day.  We're beat and are off to go soak in the spa.

Happy Mother's Day weekend to all you Mamas out there.