New House & Remodeling

Once we knew we were going to move to Pittsburgh, Tom and I searched for houses daily. We didn't really find much we liked. Tom was the one that ended up finding the house we eventually purchased (HW). It was a foreclosure and had been vacant since November 2011.

When we came up in mid-July, we had a list of 3 houses we wanted to look at. We saved HW for last, because we didn't really think we would like it because of all the work (and the smell was horrible). When Tom and I walked in - we just knew it was the one.

Front of the house

Back Patio

Basement walk-out

The floor plan was exactly what we wanted - split formals, master on the first floor, hardwood floors, 4 bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms, garage on the main floor (not in the basement like a lot of the houses here) and an updated kitchen.

We couldn't put in an offer on the house until our house in TX sold (which happened within a week). After going back and forth on a price - we finally closed (well, Tim filled in for us since we were in TX) at the end of August.

There were a few things we wanted taken care of before we actually moved in. We had new carpet installed on the 2nd floor and in our bedroom, a couple rooms painted and the house deep cleaned.

We've knocked a lot of our "house list" since moving in. There is still a lot to do, but we had to take a break for tax season. Once its over, we plan on taking care of more. :)

Other than the basement, the worst rooms in the house had to be the bathrooms - ALL of them.

The powder room had the ugliest wallpaper I've ever seen on the walls and the previous owners thought it would look good to add leopard print to the ceiling. What!?! Who does that? Tom and I spent a whole weekend taking all the wallpaper down, but the end result was worth it.

I don't really like the sink, but it works for now..

 Leopard Print Ceiling

We chose Pumpkin Spice for the walls

Tom did a great job texturing the ceiling

The kids bathroom upstairs also needed some updating. The vanity was horrible and had no storage or mirror, but at least we didn't have to take more wallpaper down. :)

We went with a mint green color

We also didn't have to do a lot to our bathroom. We painted (okay - Tim did), had a new vanity installed (the old ones were ugly) and added a mirror.

Look - dressers with sinks on top of them (ha) - the drawers don't even open

I love the window ledge above the deep soaking tub

Much better :)

More to come....