A before and after round up.

Life has certainly changed in the last month as our little man is now a whole month old. I haven't had any time to really do any crafting or diy projects for the last few weeks as I've been lapping up and cherishing my first month as a Mum and it's been fantastic.
Today I thought I'd share a little round up of the busy last six months before Henry entered our family. I've really enjoyed transforming our home into a space that feels like us and since I love a good before and after shot, I thought I'd go round the house and share the progress we have made so far. While there are still many ideas and lots to do, the progress has been great and I'm so pleased with the new space. I think the nursery and half bathroom are the only truly finished spaces (that I'm happy to leave as they are and won't be making any more changes to). However a home is really always a changing space, especially with our new baby forcing us to make more child friendly choices.
Enjoy the round up so far and feel free to ask any questions about sources/projects done.

Kitchen:

While the original before photo makes the walls look white, they were actually a peachy colour and just whitening the walls and shelving has already significantly lightened the feel of the kitchen. Eventually I'd like to paint the cupboards white, install a gas stove and extend the island bench (currently not pictured). I'm trying to restrict all items to display to neutral colours with a splash of yellow and black. 

Posts:

White kitchen shelving

DIY reupholstered kitchen bar stools

Laundry:

Our laundry feels so clean and crisp now with the fresh paint and crisp white laundry sink. We've actually set up Henry's baby bath in this room and the long bench has been perfect for washing and drying off our little man. We've also recently installed a dryer (not in above picture) as washing for three in the middle of winter was getting too much without one. 

Posts:

Laundry shelving and artwork

Fixing up the laundry

 

Half bathroom:

Our house was purchased from an older lady and her daughter and had a distinctively dated feel about it. Removing the curtains and wallpaper frieze was a start, but with crisp white paint, a new mirror and some wall stickers the room really feels a lot more modern and us. 

Posts:
Adding gold wall spots

Lounge area:

 While the after photo looks much darker, it's due to my developing photography skills, rather than how it really is since the walls went from peach to white (the carpet stayed the same and looks like the original photo colour in real life). We added a gallery wall and while the photo doesn't show it well, the room has three defined spaces (the lounge area, dining area and kitchen) combined.

Posts:
Black gallery wall


Library:

Having white carpet in the entrance way was terrible so we quickly replaced it (and consequently the library which is just off the entrance way) with wooden floorboards which have made a huge difference to the feel of the space. The walls are no longer pink, but a nice fresh white and a lot of freebie furniture has been upcycled for the room.

Posts:
Painting the library
DIY window seat
Baroque style chairs
Library bookcase

Bathroom:

Once the wallpaper frieze was removed from this room and it was freshly painted, the bathroom felt much cleaner. We also custom designed and built shelving/ framing for the mirrors which has finished off the room nicely.

Posts

Painting the bathroom 

Custom shelving/frames 

 

Nursery:

The nursery was previously a small and uninviting room that wasn't really used much. We livened up with room with sea bubble (mint) paint and painted the existing sink and wardrobe. The furniture was purchased secondhand or found and this room has been filled with DIY projects as making things for a baby is great fun.

Posts:

Painting the built ins 

Gallery wall 

nursery tour 

the lamp table  

upcycled thrifted lamp 

 cloud shelf 

 the framed box shelf  

 elephant bookends 

 pin board 

"for this child I prayed" artwork  

giraffe canvas 

 quilt 

pillow and elephant toy

Garage:

 In the country we had two large sheds so when we moved to the city, we really needed somewhere to store all our tools, camping gear and other larger items. We have a double garage and now it is getting lined with shelving and we're even in the process of building a little loft so we will have a large amount of storage for our future growing family. It's still evolving and I can't wait to share how much storage we've managed to create and some diy ideas...but the garage still needs work before it's ready to share.

Posts:

Building shelves

Atrium:

One of the key selling points of our house was that all the rooms lead out to a central atrium, thus the house is always bright during the day. The atrium is the only outside area for our dog, Maisy so we needed to make sure there was an area for her to do her business. We've planted some plants and bought an outdoor table but there is still lots we can do to unlock the potential of the area.

Posts:

Planting plants

Outdoor furniture

Catering for the dog

Backyard:

The project we've invested the most time and money into has definitely been the outdoor area. While the before photo makes it look somewhat pleasant, in reality the retaining wall and fence were collapsing and causing some structural issues. Now that we have a blank canvas we need to think of some ways to spice up the space.

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The clearing process 

And there you have it, a before and after round up so far- I think we've come a long way! In the future I hope to  share the walk in wardrobe, craft room, master bedroom, guest room, a few of the hallways and the front yard. But right now I'm going to give Henry a big cuddle :-)
Lisa x