it's started...

shopping for the new house...that is. 

so b and i have been working on figuring out what needs to be done to the new house asap and what things can wait until after we have moved in. 

some of the things that need to be done asap are typical like painting rooms, changing out lights and adding window treatments...but there are also some things that are not so typical. 

so we have hired a contractor to help us make those (non-typical) changes.

guest bedroom with a bit of Oliver head
- don't be deceived the photo makes the carpet look SO much better. 

first things first...

the existing carpet is being ripped out...it's old..it's yellow and looks like the color of urine. yes...i said it. 

the carpet looks like pee. lucky for us..it doesn't smell like pee. 

in it's place, we are having oak hardwood floors installed. 

yahoo! 

during the time of the carpet removal, our contractor is going to remove the existing hot water heater that is not so conveniently located right in the middle of the kitchen. it's old and like i said..in the kitchen. so we are having it removed and will be installing a tankless unit that will go in the crawlspace..not the kitchen. 

the space that is freed up from removing said heater will become a much needed pantry...

and i am really liking the idea of a glass door on this new pantry area.

similar to this...minus the hardware. 

bhg

there is also a closet in the kitchen that has the washer/dryer hook ups. those hook ups will be moved to the upstairs hall closet where we will put our new stacked washer and dryer. it's not as ideal as a laundry room but it's so much better then the first floor where our guests would have had to step over the piles of laundry if we were in the process of laundry day. blah!

washer/dryer closet in kitchen.
- parquet flooring is being replaced with oak.

we are still working out what will happen to the old washer/dryer closet. it will either be removed or it will be framed out so that it can become a butler's pantry of some sort. 

we will see.  

foyer

the house is two story which means we have stairs...crazy to think we will be walking up and down stairs after living in a one story for 9 years. those stairs will be getting a face lift as well. 

as you can see, they are carpeted and a little dated. 

the newel post and spindles will be replaced and painted and of course the carpet will be removed so that hardwood can be added.  

i am so excited to see how different the hardwood floors will make everything look! 

not to mention a fresh coat of paint! 

something we can do while wait is shop for the things like 

shower curtains, rug, lights etc. 

 this week, i took a trip to West Elm with my shopping buddy.

we could have gone a little crazy in there..but we held back due to the budget. ;)

i picked up this shower curtain for O's bath

(you might recognize it from here...the buyers loved it so much, we are leaving our existing one for them.) 

and this one for our bath. 

i also picked up these safari hooks for O's room. they are going to look so cute against his new wall color (more on that later). 

O thought so too and walked around the store holding two out of the three we bought. 

he was so proud! :)

love him!

oh and i bought this mirror...it's for one of the bathrooms.

 i am thinking the new powder room that we will have the contractor build. 

i love it and can picture it with some aged brass sconces...eek!

oh and the picture all the way at the top of this post..yeah...

i wanted to get that rug for the new kitchen...but i am waiting to see if we feel we need one.

speaking of kitchen...

we are doing a bunch of things to the kitchen as well like fresh new countertops, a backsplash, giving the cabinets a face lift with "lighter" paint and adding lighting where a fluorescent light fixture currently is. yuck!

i really want to share a before picture because..it's that bad....but i think i am going to wait and let you see it after we have done the work on it. 

i know...i am a tease. sorry.

here..i will show you some other things i would like to get for the new house.

i really love these rug and so does b (score!)...i am not sure if it will go in our master bedroom or if it will be used in the living room..either way it is coming to the new house with us. 

the new house will have two eating areas...the formal dining room and the breakfast area. we plan to add a small round table in the breakfast area and i am thinking we might use our existing metal chairs in that space. i really love the look of these chairs above. they are amazing...but i am not sure how they will look with our existing dining table. 

i am leaning towards chairs like this or this.

i am not a big leather fan...never have been but the this chair caught my eye. 

i know why..it's the style of the chair. i love it's sleek lines and thin arms.

it's so me.

 this is the type of chair that i can see in our living room next to our tall white bookcases.

 who knows..it might end up there one day.