I Love a Good Before and After

I love watching shows like Fixer Upper on HGTV. I love seeing the transformations that people can perform with some paint, a contractor, and a little imagination.

I also love a project. Our house in Connecticut was full of projects, and it always felt so satisfying to complete one and then admire our work.

I suppose that is why I love our home in Wisconsin - it is full of projects! (much to Steve's dismay) And while we have tackled some big ones early, there is still plenty to do.

I have been meaning to post some before and after pictures of the main floor. We renovated the kitchen, widened some doorways, knocked down some walls, and put in all new flooring. I wanted to take pictures when everything was finished, but I finally realized that we would never really be done. So I was cleaning today in preparation for Christmas guests and figured that now was as good a time as any to get the pictures done. I won't even point out the things that still need to be done ;-)

In the kitchen we got rid of pretty much everything except the appliances:

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

We knocked the wall out that was between the kitchen and the dining room and then got rid of all of the carpeting and light fixtures in the dining room.

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

As you walk into the house, we redid the entryway by getting new flooring and all new white trim/doors (we changed the trim to white in nearly all of the first floor).

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

Looking back at the front door from the kitchen:

BEFORE

AFTER

The dining room/living room area was opened up and all of the flooring and trim was changed. Below are a few before/during pics followed by the after pics from several angles.

DURING (looking from the dining room into the living room)

AFTER (nearly the same angle - looking from the dining room into the living room)

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE:

AFTER

AFTER (miscellaneous)

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

BEFORE (first floor bathroom)

AFTER

BEFORE (first floor family room - very little other than paint done to this room)

AFTER

So here is our first floor. I'm thrilled with the results! I've got some other outdoor before and afters and also a few from the girls' rooms. I'll get to it soon.