House Tour: Spring 2012

April 13, 2012 · By ·

I finally have the House Tour mostly up-to-date, and in honor of it being Friday – and Karen’s House Tour link-up party – I thought it was a good day to share it with everyone. You can always access the House Tour page from the top of the blog, too.

We bought our house – in a Denver suburb – in 2007. We hadn’t even considered a new build but when we stumbled upon our future neighborhood it was in the close-out stages with the builder. Our house was already built, finishes picked, appliances ordered, etc. In general, the builder picked the upgrades we would have prioritized at the time on our newly engaged, first jobs budget – hardwood floors and air conditioning – and we’ve spent the last 5 years putting our own touch on the builder grade. We fell in love with the Craftsman Cottage curb appeal when we pulled up to the house and never looked back.


Our neighborhood is a neo-traditional neighborhood that features traditional architectural exteriors, alleys and alley garages with a goal of emphasisizing community. All of the homes in our neighborhood have great front porches – I love our porch and the happy hours that take place on our front steps with our neighbors as the weather warms up every Spring.

As you walk through the front door of our house you see our great room – half dining room, half living room to the left and our home office/playroom through an archway on the right.

The office is my transition zone – half office, half play room. I’m never sure how to best use the space and it’s never looking top notch, but it is what it is.

Dining Room:


Living Room: 

 

Just off the great room is our kitchen and the staircase to the second floor – the stairs come down into the back of the house rather than meeting you at the front door like many traditional floor plans. It was one of my favorite things about the floor plan when we looked at the house – I refer to it as our “back staircase”. 
At the bottom of the stairs, just off the living room and between the living room and the kitchen is our breakfast nook. We recently installed the banquette seating to add softness and color to the room.

The Kitchen was my labor of love in the summer of 2011 – when we bought the house it had dark “walnut” cabinets and beige (that read pink in certain lights) laminate counter tops. It was fine for awhile, but it wasn’t my dream kitchen and as the years wore on, it felt like the black hole in our house. I painted the cabinets white, installed hardware and a classic white subway tile backsplash, and we had with new counter tops installed – Silestone’s Marengo quartz.
This is what our kitchen looked like when we moved into the house in 2007:

Upstairs we have a laundry room, three bedrooms and two full baths. The master bedroom is on your right as you get to the top of the stairs.

If you exit our bedroom and look to your right, there’s a small laundry closet:


Across the landing from the master bedroom, next to the laundry room, is the Board and Batten Nursery. When we were expecting Thomas, I was craving a simple brown and white nursery. We wanted this room to be gender neutral and themeless while working with the overall craftsman cottage feel of the house, so we chose to install board and batten two-thirds of the way up the walls, and painted the top third Behr’s Chocolate Swirl. A dark wood crib, an antique dresser for a changing table, and the rocking chair my mom rocked me to sleep in rounded out the furniture – very simple, but very me circa 2010.


The nursery is under review now that we’re expecting our second child – we’re in the process of assembling the room with a new crib, chair and color scheme. Stay tuned!
Down the hall from the nursery is the kids’ bath.

At the back of the house, next to the kids’ bathroom and down the hall from the nursery, is Thomas’s “Vintage Boy’s room” – previously our guest room.



Back outside, we have a small private backyard and a side yard we share with our neighbors. Our small yard is probably Mr. B’s biggest hang-up about our house – but now that we have kids, we’re realizing how great the community playgrounds, fields and pool are – especially since we don’t have to maintain them!
 

 
Our side yard was always useless space between our home and our neighbors’ home, but when we got new neighbors last year and became good friends with them, we decided to make the most of our shared space. Mr. B and our neighbor worked all spring laying the patio, landscaping and putting together a little tot lot at the back of the space for our kids to play. We all hang out and fire pit together at least two to three times a week in the summer – it’s been a fabulous addition to our living space!



And that’s our house – in the last 5 years we’ve gone from using about 3 rooms regularly to using every square inch of the house – inside and out – on a daily basis. I don’t think we ever dreamed when we bought this house as a newly engaged couple just how much it would become our home.


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Comments

  1. Mrs. 5C says:
    April 14, 2012 at 1:00 am

    What a lovely tour, thank you! :)
    I’m terribly jealous of your neighborhood. We have ONE couple our age in the neighborhood and everyone pretty much keeps to themselves. Sometimes that’s nice, but it sounds so lovely to have fire-pit evenings and front porch happy hours. :)

  2. Colleen says:
    April 14, 2012 at 2:24 am

    Gorgeous. Your great room is so inviting. Love it!

  3. Liz says:
    April 14, 2012 at 3:21 am

    your home is so lovely! we need to visit again-you’ve changed so much in there since we’ve seen it!

  4. Caroline Meyers says:
    April 14, 2012 at 4:46 pm

    I’m with Sarah. I’d love to live in a friendlier neighborhood. I grew up on military bases and that’s what I was used to until I moved back to the states. Our town has a large older population and making friends has been slow going.

    Your house is lovely! It looks very comfortable and loved!

  5. Jessica @ Stay at Home-ista says:
    April 15, 2012 at 11:26 pm

    Thank you so much for sharing! I love how your office is also a playroom, that is totally what the real world is like! I have the bottom two shelves of my library/office full of kid’s toys and books, but usually I’m just on the computer while nursing the baby:)

    I’m totally into your breakfast room chairs, where did you find them? And congrats on the kitchen and side yard. Those are two awesome projects you (and hubby) undertook!

    Jessica
    stayathomeista.com

  6. Kim @ NewlyWoodwards says:
    April 16, 2012 at 10:47 pm

    I love your house so very much. The exterior is so charming and I LOVE and ADORE that it’s a back alley garage. I’m not much of a fan of new constructions where all you see is the garage. Your home has such charm.

    I like this post because I never actually visualized the layout and was thinking it was totally different. Love that now I know where I’ll be walking in when I come to visit. Oh… can I come to visit? ;)

  7. Kylie says:
    May 1, 2012 at 12:27 am

    Your home seems stylish, yet lived in — totally love! My favorite is the kitchen… or the nursery. I like your eye and how you keep things nice but practical.