A new hairdo

When we bought our home in Taylorsville, the plan was to live here for 2 years and then move to where we would sink our roots in deep for the remainder of our child rearing years. Well, 8 plus years later, we are still in Taylorsville. For many reasons we just don't feel it is the right thing for our family to move. Our house is actually pretty great except for a few areas, kitchen, dining room and bathrooms. I love our bedroom sizes and amount. I love our backyard. I love the floor plan. I love that if people drop in, there is a welcoming room that basically stays tidy and the rest of the house is hidden(unless I invite them in). The things I would change if able would be like I stated, our kitchen, dining room, basement and  bathrooms. Our kitchen has a bunch of odd sized cabinets and our counter tops were the exact ones I grew up with. It was funny because I didn't remember this fact but would have this feeling of dejavu and one time my parents stopped in and my mom said, "oh, this color was in our Ucon home". And there you have it!
 Our dining room can barely fit our table and chairs seating for 8. We have toyed with the idea to build out but it would cost so much money and hardly give us much change. Plus our backyard is tiny, which we love  so there would be even less of a backyard.
So last November we decided to focus on updating our basement first since that was the most economical spot to begin. We painted the walls (Christmas Eve) and had the carpet replaced. We got all new furniture downstairs and even got a 55" television to add to the scene.
I have always wanted a home where my girls would want to bring their friends over to hang out here and now I feel like the basement is conducive to this wish. Next year, we will work on the bathrooms and maybe the kitchen.
Try as I may, I am unable to locate the awesome before basement photos. So just use your imagination and visualize white boring walls, beige plain carpet with red stains from the previous owners and old mismatching furniture. OK, do you have the image?
Here is the after shots now.......I just love the two tone paint. I love the white trim with the darker walls.

Under the TV, I would like a plug in fireplace with mantel. The ambiance is amazing and we could use a bit more warmth in our basement.

Got the bargain of the century on this lovely sectional....booyah! Still kind of have mismatched furniture, but this blue recliner will be with us through the eternities. It is so comfortable and where I sat to nurse all my sweet babies.

We figured if we have the toys behind the tv area the family can all be together and everyone is happy and fulfilled.

  This nifty little black item was supposed to change my life as I knew it,  it hasn't exactly lived up to it's full potential. Each cubby has all our toys. One cubby full of dishes and kitchen fun, another dress up, dolls and clothes, barbies.....you get the picture. Well, I need to attach pictures of the items or something on the outside of the cubby because there isn't a family member who is capable of putting like items with like items. So my brainy idea has been nothing but a glorified huge toy box that the girls shift through, dump out to get to the one desired item. Oh well, kids will be kids I guess.

Our family room downstairs is really long so we divided a section of it off for our office. I don't particularly love this idea but we need all 5 bedrooms right now. It is messy but well used. See the work out bench there. While I blog, Corby pumps iron. One day I will get organized and my desk will be clean but for now this is real life and how it looks 90% of the time. Just keeping it real people.

The next new and improved hairdo was replacing my rug and decor in the family room just off the dining room. I bought the items 8 years ago when we first moved in. The rug was black, which I loved but after 8 years of constantly vacuuming and still having it look dirty I traded it in for a lighter color. I also had the room accented in maroon and brown. I changed all maroon to an avocado green and cream. I rearranged the furniture in the room and have to say I am well pleased with the outcome. I also changed out my curtains from tan to green. Check it out!

If you look super close, you will see our family photo is sideways. Costco's photo machine was down so I couldn't update the frame, so yes, we are on our side!

 
 I changed out our curtains from tan to green. I had to hem them and for the sewing abilities I hold, it took a lot longer than it should have. Don't look too closely, but I have to say they look pretty great. On the curtains are brown designs, tying in the dining room with the living room. I also left a tiny bit of maroon, my fave color, see it, next to the table decor?

Our next house hairdo will be the bathrooms.......this June! I'll keep you posted, literally;)