House Tour

The Day We Moved In

  
With the keys to our house and a moving truck loaded with furniture, we started our journey as homeowners on October 1st, 2011. While the house itself is actually a Duplex Flat, it does have 3 bedrooms with 2 full bathrooms, a hurricane closet, a kitchen with an attached laundry area, a joined family and dining room, a screened porch and a carport with side storage. Sitting at about 1,300 square feet, it's not bad for our first home!

  

When we first moved in we were told that while we have the options of not only painting the rooms within the house but also doing some landscaping around the house we were definitely excited. Both Alex and I love DIY projects and while we wanted to paint the house before moving in and work on the yard throughout our stay, we weren't sure if that would be in our best interest. Due to our decision to living on base, we really just rent this house and understand that any modifications done will either stay when we leave or will have to be put back to how the house was when we got it. So in the end as much as we want to make this house a home by adding our own touch, it honestly wouldn't be worth the time  or money knowing we will be leaving in a year or so.

  

For now though, we are making our way throughout the house adding minor details and making it as much of a home as we can. Since we have only stayed here for a couple months now, we're still in the early stages and don't have any "after" photos yet. Rather, we have a bunch of "before" and "in-progress" pictures for you viewing pleasure.

  

Floorplan

Here is a little floorplan I drew up to help give a visual of the layout on the house:

Our "Before" Photos

This is the exterior of the house:

There are two entry doors to this house, the first of which is the main door located to the far right in the picture above and one located within the carport. Typically we use the door near the carport since when you step into the house you enter the kitchen and laundry area with doors leading to the dining area and hallway.

This is what our kitchen and laundry area looked like the day we moved in:

While we wish we could do something with not only the ugly shelving but also the awkward layout, we seem to have found a way to work with what we have. Within this area there are also two doors that lead to either the front door or the dining room.

  
This is what our dining room looked like the day we moved in:

Not too bad of an area and luckily our table and chairs fit perfectly here! This room itself is 10 X 8 and off the dining room is the family room.

This is what our family room looked like the day we moved in:




















We love our family room because just like the dining room, it houses all our furniture nicely at 19 X 11'6. Making your way from the family room to the other side of the house you will find the hallway with the first door on the right being the linen closet.

This is what both the hallway and linen closet looked the day we moved in:

While the linen closet is a tad small considering we don't have any storage in our bathrooms, we have really tried to utilize every inch of the layout. Our house has three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

This is what the second bedroom and third bedroom looked like the day we moved in:

Being just two people, we couldn't figure out what we wanted to do with these rooms when we first moved in. With a a little boy due in late August and myself almost done with school we figured one room would be a nursery while the other a scrapbook room. Both these bedroom are about 11 X 11'6 and share a common bath as well.

This is what the common bathroom looked like the day we moved in:

Like I mentioned earlier, we (mainly I) was a tad discouraged to find our bathrooms without much storage space let alone sink space. Luckily though, we have figured out how to make this area work for our needs.

And finally the mater bedroom with a joined bathroom is located at the far end of the house. This is what the master bedroom and master bath looked like the day we moved in:

The room itself is 11'8 X 11'8 and kind of small in that it can only take our bed and two small dressers and unfortunately the closet is no better. Even smaller though is the so-called master bathroom; Alex can barely stand in there not to mention his head is inches away from touching the top of the door every time he walks in and out.

All in all though we are very thankful to have a house of our own and have enjoyed making it our own by adding furniture and decorations. We still have a while to go until we are completely done and happy with what it looks like but we have made great progress when compared to what the house was like back in October.

Our "In-Progress" Photos

This is what our kitchen and laundry area looks like today:

     

Thanks to an error made by housing, we were making weekly trips to the on-base laundrymat for about two weeks until we finally had our washer and dryer installed. With a rust-filled dishwasher we were also doing dishes by hand for the first month or so until housing finally agreed to install a new one. Other than that we haven't done anything besides add some cooking utensils, coffee maker, cutting table, knives, and a microwave along with a dry-erase board on the fridge. Though we are still unsure about what kind of colors we want to add in the room, right now we are thinking about doing a shechme of gray, white and yellow to help brighten the room. The plan is to make a DIY rug for the area as well as a smaller matching rug for the dog bowls. We also want to add cutrains to both the window and the door. From there it will be all about yellow and gray accessories and artwork to help complete the room.

 

This is what our dining room looks like today:

  

Like I mentioned in our before photo, our table and chairs fit perfectly here and as naked as the room is we have some pretty big plans that will hopefully be started soon.

 

This is what our family room looks like today:

With a bit of room to space, our family room houses our furniture perfectly. Along with the dining room, we have big plans for this room as well! 

While the hallway itself looks the exact same, this is what the linen closet looks like today:

Though we have put this space to good use we really wish we had a bigger closet or at least space inside the bathrooms to store some supplies. Right now we are in the process of organizing our bathroom products which we hope to store inside baskets on the top shelf of our master bedroom closet.

This is what the second bedroom and third bedroom looks like today:

With our little guy due in August, we took the second bedroom and made it into his Nursery while the third bedroom acts as a Craft Room/Office.

This is what the common bathroom looks like today:

Having to live in a house without much sink space let alone underneath storage space has been an issue for us but we hope to get a better wall shelf with baskets in the near future. I don't think having items at that level will go over well once Nicholas can walk, though that is a ways away.

And finally this is what the master bedroom and master bath look like today:

Our bedroom is definitely no master bedroom as we only have two side dressers and the queen bed in the room. Hopefully we can buy a full-length mirror for muah and maybe even a tall dresser?! Speaking of master though, the bathroom is just as bad in terms of its size but if it wasn't so cute I would seriously have problems with it.