{House Tour}

We moved into our home (lovingly nicknamed Heardmont) about three years ago and immediately began snapping “before” pictures.  Although our renovations are far from finished, here are some before, during, and after photos of what we’ve done to date.

Heardmont Layout: To make our house tour a bit easier to understand, this is a layout we whipped up using FloorPlanner.com.  The rooms are color-coded by current paint color, and subject to change with our painting whims!

You can see our gray entryway and hallway, leading into our blue living room, which flows into the chocolate dining room and tan kitchen.  The other half of the house is all bedrooms and bathrooms, with the two smaller bedrooms and guest bath on the front half and the “master suite” on the back half.

Now on with the tour!

Entryway Before: The first thing you saw when you walked into our 1980s entryway was wood, wood, and more wood trim.  This photo shows our entryway after we’d scraped the popcorn ceilings, changed out our door hardware, added a storage ottoman and mirror, and painted the previously off-white walls a light gray.

Entryway Now: We primed and painted the trim white and added curtains for privacy.  The credenza was a piece we rescued and rehabbed from Craigslist, and our DIY sunburst mirror adds some bling to the space.

Living Room Before: The day we moved in, our living room was big, empty and dated. And did I mention BIG?  :) The dark brick fireplace was overpowering and the off-white walls went on for miles.

During: Over the course of several months, we painted the room a light blue, lightened the fireplace up with white paint, hung drapes over the two huge windows, and painted the fireplace grate oil-rubbed bronze.

Living Room Now: Since then, we’ve changed out accessories and doubled up our window treatments, making this cavernous room much more cozy for our family.

The blue lamps, two-tone side table, and entertainment center all saw a paintbrush over the course of this update!

Dining Room Before: Before Heardmont was even ours, we had big plans to turn this little box of a dining room into an open space for entertaining in style.  Like the rest of the house, this room featured popcorn ceilings and wood trim.  Although we appreciated the upgraded chandelier (who KNOWS what used to hang there), it wasn’t our style.

During: The day we moved in, we tore out the wall between our dining room and kitchen.  We scraped the popcorn ceiling, painted the walls and trim, and hung a new light fixture almost immediately.  I still remember how giddy we were the day we picked up our new dining room chairs!

Dining Room Now: We’ve recently updated our dining room even more by hanging DIY curtains, installing can lights, and adding some personal art.  You can’t see it in this photo, but we also built a beam to disguise the missing wall between our dining room and kitchen.

The china hutch was a handmade wedding present from my dad and holds all our special glasses and dishes and small appliances that didn’t find a home in our kitchen.

Kitchen Before: Novice DIYers that we were when we bought our home, Stephen and I thought updating this dark kitchen would be a snap.  As you can see, we had a lot to do, and we started with cabinet painting and (more) popcorn ceiling-scraping.

During: Those cabinets took longer to paint than we’d like to admit.  Along the way, Stephen changed out the fluorescent fixture for recessed lighting, and we replaced some appliances and spruced up the island with wainscoting.

Kitchen Now: The island was always a sore spot for Mr. Heard, so when we had the opportunity to replace it, we took it!  The new island is a recent addition from IKEA, and our lovely bar stools were another Craigslist find.  Open storage on the opposite side of the island makes finding pots and pans so much easier.

Hallway Before: A neighbor who toured our home when it was up for sale told us that her immediate memory of our house was the LONG, DARK hallway. So many wood doors, dim light, and BLEH paint and carpet!

Hallway Now: Most definitely a work in progress, our hallway has seen a little love since we moved in.  We’ve extended the entryway paint color down the hall, changed out the light fixtures, hung wedding photos and art, and ripped out the carpet (by necessity). I’ve even gotten started priming and painting the endless amounts of trim, so look for an updated hallway post soon!

Laundry Closet Before: On the left side of our hallway is our laundry closet, and that’s just what it is – a closet.  Since our house was built before front-loading washers and dryers were common, the bi-fold doors wouldn’t even close when we moved our front-loaders in.

During: We removed those doors and were left with a storage-less “laundry hole,” so we started brainstorming how we could use this space better.

Laundry Closet Now: Completely inspired by the blog Young House Love, we added shelves for storage with wooden roman shades in front and a countertop across the washer and dryer for laundry folding.  Up until our master closet makeover, this was my favorite closet in the house!

Master Bedroom Before: Two kids one year out of school don’t necessarily have the funds or the furniture to make a master bedroom shine.  We bought our bedroom suite on a whim at a discount furniture store, and have been pleasantly surprised at the quality over the past 3 years.  The rest of our master bedroom was a mix of hand-me-down furniture and bedding and was lacking personality.

During: At the beginning of 2010, we were ready for an upgrade.  Our bedroom got a complete overhaul including new paint, nightstands, lamps, curtains, bedding, and accessories.  The vintage mirror created a great focal point above the bed.

With master closet and bathroom makeovers underway, the master bedroom got some sprucing at the beginning of 2011.  The furniture and wall color stayed the same, but we updated the linens to a color palette of yellow, gray and white.

Master Bedroom Now: Even more recently, we updated our nightstands and added a wall of curtains for $0!

Master Bathroom Before: Our most recent renovation, this master bath was bland and beige when we moved in.

During: We tackled the popcorn ceilings first, but after 3 years of boring, we were ready for a change.  We started by adding board and batten to the walls, and the reno took off from there!

Master Bathroom Now: For less than $600 we completely updated our master bathroom, top to bottom.  The list of projects in this room is long and includes the board and batten, new lighting, a painted vanity and new sink, and our DIY shower curtain.

Our bathroom is our favorite renovation to date and provides a great place to wake up and prepare for our day.

Master Closet Before: You probably remember our stories of leaking washing machines and flooded closets.  After a required ripping out of the carpet, we laid tile and painted walls to clean up our master closet.

Master Closet Now: The updates to this space were far from over, though.  For around $100, we were recently able to add lots of fun and style to this room.

My darling hubby even gave me more than half the closet for my clothes and accessories. Happy wife = happy life, anyone?

Guest Bedroom Before: For the first six months in our home, the guest bedroom served as Wedding Storage Room Extraordinaire.  After our November 2008 wedding, it got the same “whatever works” treatment as our master bedroom.

Guest Bedroom Now: Though you haven’t seen much of it on the blog, this room now serves as our guest bedroom and my craft room.  I ordered fabric and made lined curtains and throw pillows for this room, and inexpensive bedding on a Craigslist bedframe rounded it out.  Even though an extra bed is a necessity in our house, the current setup might see some tweaking in the near future!

Update: A guest room makeover is currently underway!  The newest addition to the room, these DIY drapes, will give you an idea for our new color scheme.

Studio Before: The third bedroom, which is actually bigger than the guest room, serves as Stephen’s studio.  We added the couch in this room early on, and after seeing our hallway, you can guess what a feat that was!  We’ve pretty much decided we’ll have to sell the couch with the house when that day comes.

During: After a couple years of Stephen rolling heavy music equipment on that shag carpet, it was time for a change.  We replaced the carpet with durable laminate flooring and painted the walls a dark gray.  I was nervous to go with Stephen’s plan for black trim, but now I love how it turned out!

Obviously this room has stuff in it now, so we’ll be adding those photos to the tour soon!

Guest Bathroom Before: Can you say Builder Boring?  This room ties with the kitchen and dining room for First Room Tackled at Heardmont.  Those off-white walls didn’t last more than a month after we moved in.

Guest Bathroom Now: Apparently getting married in the middle of a reno will make After photos non-existant.  Here’s a glimpse at what we did in the guest bathroom – with more photos to come!  The walls were painted a glossy blue, we added white linens and a hotel-style shower curtain, and replaced the frameless builder mirror with an oil-rubbed bronze one.

I also whipped up some quick canvas art with acrylic paints.  The trick for making the messy circles?  A small cup dipped in paint.

Between Stephen’s studio, our guest bedroom, this bathroom, and our hallway, we may just have to draw straws to see which project gets checked off our to-do list next!

I hope you’ve enjoyed our little home tour.  Let us know if you have any questions about any of the specific items or paint colors you saw on our tour, and we’ll continue to update it as we check more projects off our list.