Home Sweet New Home

It's official. We are buying a house. After nearly 3 months of waiting, we got the official word on Friday. We had a chance to go back and check it out Friday afternoon and I guess I forgot how much TLC this house is going to need. I am feeling overwhelmed right now with the amount of work in store for us. I am going to have to learn the valuable lesson that is "prioritizing"!

Here is project #1. Since the previous owners have already moved out most of their stuff, we got a good glimpse of the carpeting. And all I can say is "Eww!". We had originally hoped we could get a few more years out of it but it is obvious that it will need to be replaced ASAP. At least on the main level where I will spend the most time looking at it. So, I have spent the last few days frantically learning everything I can about carpeting. And holy sheet, I had no idea how expensive carpeting is. Yikes. I want some opinions from anyone who has good decorating skills! I am really loving the brown carpeting that has taupe-y, grayish undertones. Not a rich chocolate color but a bit lighter. Does that make sense? I have espresso colored furniture and a cream colored couch. What do you think? Or, do I stick with the light beige carpeting??

Project #2 is painting. Every single room in the house needs to be repainted. And most rooms have wallpaper that needs to be removed. Ugh.

From there I'll move on to updating light fixtures and hardware as the money comes available. Which will be in about 20 years when we finish paying off the carpeting and the deck that has to go in next spring.

In the meantime, here are the "Before" pictures. Please excuse the hot mess known as Andrea in some of the pictures. I can't be bothered to dress up on most days.