I have a confession to make. My house is empty. Not of people of course but furniture. We moved into this house almost 2 years ago about a month before the twins were born. We hadn't planned on moving but with the surprise of twins came the realization that our previous house was just too small for 5 people. It was so cute but SO small. 1100 square feet and it had 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, dining room and 2 bathrooms. So if you can imagine each room was
very tiny. In the two months before the twins were born I wasn't doing a whole lot of "nesting." More like counting each second of each minute until my suffering ended and the twins were born. I'll just say that I am small person and me pregnant with twins..... not pretty. So long story short the house has been neglected. We have not purchased any new furniture, so this 2800 square foot house, has the furniture for an 1100 square foot house.... can you hear the echos? Oh and all of the walls are still white. Haven't gotten to that either.
So that is my confession. Wow, I feel better!
The boys are getting a little older and I am finally feeling like I want to get started on the HUGE project. However I don't want to spend a bzillion dollars on new furniture. Not just because of the money but because there are so many great pieces of furniture already circulating on craigslist, antique stores, etc... that it seems like a waste. I also have 3 small boys and a dog that weighs in at 110LBS. We need sturdy pieces! SO the challenge I am giving myself is to furnish and decorate this entire house with at least 90% previously owned items. AND make it lovely. I don't want my house to look like the furniture department of Goodwill. So this will take some serious thought, time, and dedication. I may have to learn to sew. EEK! And I will definitely have to learn how to refurbish furniture.
Here are the before Pictures....
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| Kitchen & Family Room |
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| Kitchen and Family Room |
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| Living Room |
These are pictures of the downstairs. There is also an office and a dining room but I will show you pictures of them next time. Trust me they are also empty. This house has great structure, good light, and serious potential for greatness. I am getting excited! Are you??
For an idea of what I am aiming for check out the images in these 2 posts.
5 Steps To A Neater House
First Antique Piece
Oh the most important piece of information.... I don't have a CLUE how to design a space! This could get interesting... poor Jon.
A serious project, but I know you can do it! Good luck! And of course, would love to help in anyway that I can. Liz
ReplyDeleteLiz I could keep you busy for years!!
ReplyDeleteOh, man, I WISH we had this problem! About a year after Gracie was born and we were thinking about #2, we moved from a 1200 sq ft, 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath house to a 3600 sq ft, 5 bedroom house. QUITE an upgrade. All of the sudden we had all of this space to make our own and people thought they would start helping. Old tables, rickety chairs, smokey smelling couches, GINORMOUS kids toys... Now I'm in the process of getting rid of all of the crap! I want to put a sign on the door that says, WE DON'T WANT YOUR JUNK! But it would probably offend the in-laws.
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Don't worry, you aren't alone! We moved into our current house about 3.5 years ago and focused on updating most of the rooms. We are almost done with that, but now faced with the problem of not having furniture. We have a dining room...with no furniture in it. We don't really have any decorations or cute furniture anywhere. And I don't even have kids, I have no excuse. haha
ReplyDeleteI'm really interested to see how this project works for you and maybe it will get me in gear and working on ours.
I am so glad I'm not the only one! Jenny, thats why I said 90%, not sure how I feel about reusing upholstered furniture.... would have to be a VERY trusted source! Who knew there were empty houses all over the country:)
ReplyDeleteFun! We just did our bedroom that way and it turned out so cool! Check it out if you have time... we refinished alot of vintage items and added alot of personal feel. Now I want to move on to our dining room. Have fun!
ReplyDeletegreat challenge! I want to do this with my house also! We just moved,and I have quite a few empty rooms as well! I love the idea!
ReplyDeleteI have an idea: we trade houses...I need MORE space for all the furniture I have! haha! jk!
ReplyDeleteI love your blog. I have recently found myself in a similar situation. Family of 5 and just moved from a smaller home to a larger one. I've also set out to furnish my home using furniture that is pre-owned. I love to have a beautiful home without breaking the bank. I'm impressed. I should really post some pictures on a blog to share.
ReplyDelete