The Bigger House

As this house was a new construction, we waited a year to paint and decorate anything. Let me tell you, that was a long wait. Nothing on the walls for 12 months.

When the time came, I was painting all the time! Check out the main areas of the bigger house.

One of the first rooms was the front room. Alex choose this color since it was her bedroom when she lived at home. After her wedding, it became a hang out room, a place where I did my homework or church work and a place to watch out the front window. We hung up cool documents - a family nursing diploma from 1898, Hero's parents baptism certificates and their wedding certificate and cool replica of an old map of our city.

This is how it looked once we started packing things up. It was a great storage room, cause we just did not use this room all that much.

Moving on, the foyer was painted next. See that ceiling? Fortunately we did not have to paint any ceilings - That vault is 14 feet high! I braved the very long ladder and got that painted in one weekend.

Into the great room, this color is called Alligator Tears. (Love the names of some of these colors!) I painted the fireplace wall one afternoon and did all the trim in one weekend. The walls were finished up the following weekend. The ceiling is at it's peak right behind the couch, which is where we put our Christmas tree every year. We always got the tallest one we could find out at the tree farm. One year the star just missed the ceiling!

The stairs and the loft all got the same color. It was tricky painting that high over the stairs, but Hero built a platform to put the ladder on. Secure? Yes. Still scary? Oh yes! 

Glad we moved before it needed to be painted again.

After the foyer and great room, the dining room was a piece of cake! I was done with that one in about 5 minutes. 

Can you see the stripes? They are actually the same color, but different finishes. Sometimes subtle, sometimes so different looking.

Into the kitchen, this color is actually the second color. We had originally chosen what we had hoped was a soft water-looking blue, but ended up being just not quite right. We had it that way for a few years, but one day I just could not take it. Hero was on board to paint one day and we got it done.

First floor laundry off the kitchen, that has the garage entrance, lots of storage and a clothesline. The color is very similar to the great room. Wonder why? Oh, it's because we had a bunch left over, so I took it back to Lowe's had it tinted darker and painted away. It was like it was free!

From the top of the stairs looking down into the great room. Lots of good memories in this room.

See how great a monster tall tree would be there? (We did move the couch for the occasion.) Last year, the boys insisted on a very fat tree, which in the past, I have avoided for good reason. Not even exaggerating - That tree took up a quarter of the room!

Upstairs in the loft. It started out as just a lounge -y area, but evolved into a crafty space. It worked out great. But still not utilized as best as it could.

Wow, looking back on these pictures, it seems like we lived there a million years ago. We are already adjusted to small house living. We are using all different colors in the new place - So ready to try something new!

I can tell you, just looking at this last picture, we did not keep any of this furniture for the new place.