{"id":29114,"date":"2015-10-27T18:00:49","date_gmt":"2015-10-27T23:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/?p=29114"},"modified":"2015-10-27T14:36:12","modified_gmt":"2015-10-27T19:36:12","slug":"our-new-house-the-before-first-floor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/?p=29114","title":{"rendered":"Our New House- The Before – First Floor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today is the day\u00a0I am here to show you the before of our new house. \u00a0 The back story is that we had one week to spend in Charlotte to find a house.\u00a0 We knew we wanted to live in the city as opposed to the suburbs, and Yankee didn’t want a long commute.\u00a0 Once we found a neighborhood that fit our needs and with a good walk score<\/a>, we narrowed down the search. \u00a0Homes in that area were not really fixer uppers. \u00a0It is an established neighborhood and what was on the market was new.\u00a0 When an older home goes on the market, it is usually purchased by a builder who either rehabs it or tears it down and builds a new one.\u00a0 I thought we would live in a charming old house again, but it just didn’t work out that way. \u00a0However, we live in a charming neighborhood with big trees, lots of families our age with young children, and loads of character.<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here is our new house.\u00a0 I showed you another shot of the exterior a few weeks ago.\u00a0 She is almost 10 years old and as cute as can be. \u00a0I am already in love and while it is a fairly new house there are still tons of personal touches I want to do to make it our own. \u00a0The house is 2,300 square feet which is a little bigger than our last house and has three full bathrooms. \u00a0I don’t even know what to do with three baths. \u00a0I love the front porch and how it feels so southern. \u00a0I can’t wait to decorate it with some rocking chairs and more. I was going to sell our old fashioned sleds in Syracuse, but then I realized that I have a porch where I can still use them as winter decor.\u00a0 I’ll hang ferns there in the warm months.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Here is the dining room, and one thing I didn’t notice before we bought the house was that all of the ceilings, except one room, were painted beige, and all the trim and doors are cream. \u00a0I just noticed the beige walls and house layout.\u00a0 I didn’t think anything of it because I could paint.\u00a0 But when we did our walk through I realized that the ceilings and trim would also have to be painted.\u00a0 I knew then that it was going to be a bigger painting project than I had planned.\u00a0 The ceilings are 10 feet high, and everything is requiring two coats of paint.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Beige works great for lots of people, but I have never been a “beige person.”\u00a0 The cream trim was okay, but I knew a pure white would freshen everything up.\u00a0 Thank goodness Yankee is painting the ceilings. \u00a0Anyway, here is the before of the dining room, and it is a great size with lots of natural light.\u00a0 I am proud to say that since this photo was taken, it has been painted, the furniture has been moved in, and we are eating our evening meals in there.\u00a0 We will make some changes to the light down the road.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"New<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

Across from the dining room are French doors that lead into my office. \u00a0I work from home most of the time, so this is a working office.\u00a0 It has also been painted, and right now my antique roll top desk is in there.\u00a0 However, it doesn’t work in the space.\u00a0 If any Charlotte readers are interested, it is for sale.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

It is a perfect size with lots of windows. \u00a0Again there are pretty ceiling that are not fun to paint.\u00a0 The second set of French doors open onto the side porch.\u00a0 We have ordered plantation shutters for the windows and French doors.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Next up is the kitchen which opens right into the living room. \u00a0I am itching to paint the cabinets and add a different back splash, but I want to finish painting the walls first.\u00a0 (The first floor should be finished this week.) There is a lot of space and down the line I would like to add a small portable island for storage and to use when cooking. \u00a0I am still trying to get a hang of the dishwasher drawers.\u00a0 Although I probably wouldn’t have chosen it, I am okay with the black granite.\u00a0 It is basic and easy to work with.\u00a0 We plan to paint the cabinets white and add a white subway tile back splash.\u00a0 The lights will get changed, too.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"New<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

Here you can see the kitchen view from the living room. \u00a0It has a great bar and the open living which is different from our last house.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

The living room is nice and airy and we loved the coffered ceiling. \u00a0However, we did not love painting the ceiling. \u00a0It is finished now, and the white made a huge difference. \u00a0Don’t worry. We will be sure to show you.\u00a0 Mom tried to make me feel better about painting ceilings by showing me photos she took of the painted ceilings at the Vatican.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Living<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

This photo is from the MLS listing and you can see the living room doors lead right onto the back porch.\u00a0 We have wonderful porches on three sides of our house.\u00a0 They are big and wide with wonderful stone floors.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Outside<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Here is another MLS listing photo, but you can see the porch and beautiful yard. \u00a0We hope to one day screen in the porch, and I would LOVE to add a fireplace, but that is down the road.\u00a0 #wishlist\u00a0 The landscaping is very nice, and it’s a big change compared to all of the work we had to do in our last backyard. \u00a0Now we get to enjoy it right away, and Gracie has already been busy hiding her bones behind the plants.\u00a0 We have signed a contract to have a large driveway gate added which will be done in November.\u00a0 Then we won’t have to worry about Gracie getting out.\u00a0 Little Miss will have a nice spot on the drive to play, also.\u00a0 To the right of the photo is an adorable two-car detached garage.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Off the living room is a fourth bedroom.\u00a0 (The other three are upstairs).\u00a0 We will use it as a multi purpose room.\u00a0 There will be a workout area for Yankee and play space for Little Miss. \u00a0We don’t have a basement, so this room is it.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

This room also leads out to the back porch and has some nice light.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

The bathroom on the main floor is actually a full bath.\u00a0 (There are no windows in there so it’s difficult to photograph).\u00a0 This bathroom will be nice when we turn the multi purpose room into a guest room, but till then I doubt the shower will be used that often.\u00a0 After living in a house with one shower\/tub, having three is great.\u00a0 In fact this bath is almost bigger than the only one in our last house.\u00a0 We are going a little bolder with the paint color in the bath and multipurpose room.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

I didn’t want to overwhelm you, so I will have the upstairs in a second post. \u00a0I hope you enjoyed seeing the first floor.\u00a0 There’s lots of potential, and I hope you enjoy following our progress. \u00a0Right now I am working on getting organized because we have our new North Carolina adoption social worker coming Sunday to do an update for our home study.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cheers!<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is the day\u00a0I am here to show you the before of our new house. \u00a0 The back story is that we had one week to spend in Charlotte to find a house.\u00a0 We knew we wanted to live in the city as opposed to the suburbs, and Yankee didn’t want a long commute.\u00a0 Once […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29114"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29114"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29160,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29114\/revisions\/29160"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}