BIG news!!!
Sun, 15 Jun 2014I have some big news to share with you all (finally). Three weekends ago my husband and I decided to go house hunting. We had come to the conclusion recently that the whole build-a-new-house idea was just too much for us to handle (and too scary financially) so we thought we would take a look at what downtown Ottawa neighbourhoods had to offer. We were pleasantly surprised to find a few homes within our budget that we would be quite happy in. A few days later an agent that my husband had talked to convinced us to put our home on the market the following weekend. !!!!!! I thought she was nuts but we figured why the hell not. So one week after starting to house hunt we had our first open house and it was a big success. We ended up with 2 offers and accepted one of them. Early last week our house was officially SOLD!. Last weekend we went to see a home that blew our minds. And a couple of days ago, that home became ours. If you think these 3 weeks were insane... we get our new house June 26th and have to vacate our current home by July 3rd. AAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!! Hectic does not even begin to describe what this 5 week period has been and will be like. But I am beyond excited. The new house is the most beautiful home I have ever set foot in. I will share photos of it with you tomorrow. I thought today I would take you through the last 7 years I have spent in my current home. It is located in Ottawa's Little Italy (which I always really loved because I am half Italian), is 12' wide with 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths and is about 800 sq ft (I always thought it was 926 sq ft but it turns out that was the exterior dimensions).
Besides minimal landscaping at the front of the house, this is pretty much how it looked 7 years ago when I bought it.
This is the living room right after moving in. Pale yellow walls and ugly oak floors. BLEH. A bit annoying that the front door opened right into the space so the back door became our main entrance.
Walls were painted and my beloved forest mural was glued to the wall (and another sofa purchased).
Then we decided to DIY a sofa.
Then we found what is close to our dream sofa.
We did a massive gut and renovation of the horrifying kitchen - including tearing down the wall separating the kitchen and living room, making the kitchen window smaller and removing the side door.
It was REALLY bad. Before the renovations happened, I decided to have a little fun and paint the cabinets bright pink (and painted over the tile backsplash).
The renovations were extensive (and I blogged all about the process on a separate blog).
The results still amaze me 6 years later. It has been a dream kitchen and I will miss it dearly. (Cabinets were from Greentea Design).
The room off the kitchen (a 1-story addition off the back of the house) was an office when I moved in. I soon gave it a makeover with lots of white paint.
A while later I moved my office into the living room so I could actually spend some time with my husband. The back room became a mudroom/pantry - LOVE IT!
There is a powder room located in this space (opposite the shelving above). It was just gross, and I have lived with the grossness up until a few months.
It got a little bit of a makeover. ;)
At the top of the stairs is the main bathroom. It too was pretty damn ugly.
We did an inexpensive makeover to it in my favourite colour scheme for a bathroom - black and white.
Next to the bathroom is a small bedroom. It became my dressing room.
It underwent a transformation with bold teal walls.
And then another makeover happened when I could not handle the brightness any longer (I kept the curtains though).
Next to that is the master bedroom. It had a really large closet on the right when you walked in that covered half of a window.
The closet was torn out to make room for a wall of bookcases and I went with a girly theme with pale pink walls (I was living alone at the time heeheehee).
I toned things down when the house became a joint venture.
And here is the backyard when I moved in.
I built a deck along the back fence for a nice shaded area to hang out.
The large deck off the back door has undergone various looks. Here is one of them.
As I mentioned, stay tuned tomorrow for some photos of my new home!
Reader Comments (36)
AHH! Congrats! I can't wait to see pics of the new place
Congratulations!!! Can't wait to see your new house! Yes, big THANK YOU for all your posts. Would have loved to buy a house where the previous owner shares my taste - lucky them.. no wonder it sold right away. I am sure there's going to be more exciting projects to come too!
Cheers!
Whoa, Kim! Congratulations!!! I'm sure you will work your magic in the new house--can't wait to see how it evolves!
The renovations look incredible. We are working our way through our house.....I've been blogging about it all here (Pebbledashedpad.wordpress.com) but what really uplifts me about your post us that you have changed your mind along the way! I do that and then feel bad about it but actually it's just the decorating cycle huh? You fancy one hue one day and a few years (sometimes months???!) you fancy another!
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The new house is the most beautiful home you've set foot? Coming from you, this means something! Congratulations!
Very much looking forward to seeing it and thank you so much for letting us be part of the amazing work in progress that is your home
I visit this site a lot and I can't believe that I did not see more of your home until now. I must say that while we are trying to be as daring and adventurous with our renovations I am not sure if I would be able to pull off some of the stuff you have done with your home. Really nice job!
You really capture my favorite aesthetic
Rustic Modern brilliantly!
What do the cats think about what you're up to.
If they could talk...it would be as hilarious as their personalities.
Congratulations
Thanks everyone!
I can't wait to see how the cats react in the new house. They'll love it. They can each have a room :)
Congratulations on your new home! I'm sure it's going to be a wonderful place!!
First of all, I love your blog. By far the best! And secondly, I love what you did with your house!
Good luck with your new place. Im sure it will look fab!
Thanks Despinach and Robyn!