OUR HOME // KITCHEN (BEFORE)

---

You've seen the before photos of our living room, dining room, and master and now we arrive at the kitchen. Our current kitchen needs a whole lot of work. This is a BIIIGGGG project. We have BIG plans for this one...but before we talk, let's show you the photos...

It's not the exact type of kitchen that's screaming...BAKE COOKIES IN ME but it's alright for now...and let me tell you, I've already baked dozens and dozens of cookies in it. :)

I am thankful for the cupboard space and also for the fact that the cupboards are white and not some crazzzy bright colour BUT I have BIG dreams for this space.

First of all, we're planning on taking down that brick wall...before you say WHHHYYYY I LOOOOVE THE BRICK!!!, let me tell you...it's a FAUX brick wall. Yeah, so we're planning on smashing it down. During the crazy renos in December, James and my pops actually climbed up into the attic and secured whatever they needed to secure so we can do that in the future #lovethem.

So the wall will come down and we will have an open concept with an island FO SHO. When it comes to the rest of the kitchen, I'm sooo indecisive... good thing I have a long time to dream while we save up some $$$ for this massive project.

Here's what's inspiring me in the meantime...

 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5

I'm all about those cute fluffy stools. And a farmhouse sink...and subway tiles...and butcher block countertop...part of me wants all marble but I know we will never be able to afford that..oh this will be a fun reno! In due time though...in due time...

Hope you have an amazing weekend! It's raining here in ol Victoria which makes me sad because of all the glorious weather we've been happening. We're having a clothing/garbage sale on Saturday so pleeease pray for sun and come on by if you're a local!

Happy Friday!!

xo,

s.s.♥︎.

OUR HOME // MASTER BEDROOM (BEFORE)

---

via

Well you've seen the before photos of our living room, dining room, and the suite (well, the before AND after of the suite...now it's rented out so we won't be able to show more photos!) and now it's time to show you the master bedroom!!

The master bedroom didn't win the house for us. It was a plain old room, with a mediocre closet (bigger than our apartment so that's a win!) and a decent window. It was hard to envision anything inspirational when we first viewed it because of the old owner's furniture....80s oriental vibes are not so my thing.

Wow, looking at these photos, I don't even recognize our current room!! So far we've done new floors, new walls and new white furniture and let me tell you, it has made a world of difference! 

This is the room that we're the closest to finishing. We got a new bed, dresser and bed side tables but I'm on the hunt for a sweet mirror and plant or chair for a corner. 

I'm all about peaceful vibes in the master bedroom. I'm not attracted to anything bright (big surprise there, ha!). Cool greys and lots of white. I want the master to be a room where I walk in and can take a big deep breath and then take a nice long nap. :)

Here's what's been inspiring me for the bedroom:

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5

Ah there are so many elements from each one of those rooms that I'm in love with. Even though I'm all about peaceful vibes, I still want to add a touch of girly-ness like in the form of a girly chandelier or a cute fluffy stool like in that second photo. Ohhhhh I could dream about this room forever!!!

Which rooms are you loving??

xoxo,

s.s.♥︎.

OUR HOME // SUITE (BEFORE & AFTER

I'm kicking myself here. You know when you get an awesome hair cut and you wish you had taken a photo right before because you wanted to show the world (aka instagram) how transformed you look?? It happens to me ALL THE TIME...or twice a year when I get my hair cut. lols. (I did just get 8 inches off and forgot to take a before photo! Insert hand to forehead emoticon girl) 

Well that's what has happened with our dear suite. No before photos...SO TRAGIC....but JUST KIDDING.....I checked the MLS listing...yahoooo there are photos!!! 

When we were looking for houses we needed to find one with a suite. This one miraculously had 3 bedrooms upstairs and a 1 bedroom suite. We were STOKED. Our first plan of attack on the house was making the walls in the main living area smooth (worst job ever.) and then refinishing the hardwood floors. After those two were done, our plan was to GET THE SUITE DONZO. We wanted to get a renter in ASAP and start making some $$$. 

We ended up putting a lot more work into the suite than I thought we would have. Before we moved in it was pretty ghetto. Old stained carpets, ugly stained vinyl in the kitchen and bathroom, gross paint on the walls, nasty vanity in the bathroom....you get the gist right?

So James went to work on it. He patched and painted the whole thing, installed new flooring throughout, put in new baseboard, installed light fixtures, put in a new vanity, installed new bathroom flooring and a new toilet and my brother in law did a ton of electrical work (thanks Mike!!!)- fan in the bathroom, new baseboard heater, new electrical plates (which make a WORLD of difference) and I'm sure there is more stuff I'm forgetting!!

James had the brilliant idea of turning the one bedroom suite into a bachelor. That way we don't lose our whole basement and can have a student in that spare bedroom. HELLO GENIUS!

So we did some working and turned it into a bachelor! What do ya think???

WORLD OF DIFFERENCE HEY??? We'd love to transform that kitchen but hey, you can only do so much in your rental. How beautiful is that flooring? I'm loving how wide the planks are.

So the suite is done and our new tenant is moving in February 1st...what a WHIRLWIND! 

We have a few more renos upstairs but right now I'm trying to focus on unpacking and organizing the place...which sounds a lot more fun than it is..ha

Happy Wednesday friends!

s.s.♥︎.

OUR HOME // DINING ROOM (BEFORE)

---

photo via

Time for another house post!!! Today, we're chatting the dining room. Oh the dining room. This room is an important one for me. When we were looking we had to say no to soooo many houses because of their lack of a dining room. I just can't do an eat in kitchen.
I love people and I love food and the combination of people and food gets this heart a sparkling! Dinner parties are my jam (remember when I had 15 family members over for Thanksgiving?) So obviously, a dining space was very critical!! 

The open living/dining concept really won me over in this house.

p.s. how awesome is that credenza china cabinet? So wish they left us that and not the junky desk to the left...

And there's a sneak peek into our kitchen! We will be getting some MAJOR work done later in the year.

Again, I'm so thankful for the huge window in the dining room...(yay for light for recipe post photos!!) And the dining room is actually pretty large. We moved our piano and our big table in and it still feels roomy. We also hung curtains tonight...booyah.

So what I'm hoping to do in the dining room is bring in some plants like the inspiring photo up top! Lighting is also a HUUUUUGGGEEE thing aka that fan has got to go.

Now here's what's inspiring me....

1 // 2 // 3 // 4

We have a table, chairs and a beautiful bench that our friend, Benson made us. But we need to paint some chairs...I'm loving that pink chair above. 
We're on the hunt for an awesome chandelier/pendant and potentially a rug. How awesome are those rose gold pendants? 

Here's a photo I took of the dining space mid renos....

WHAT A DIFFERENCE WHITE PAINT MAKES HEEEEEEYYYY!!!!! 

So there you have it, the dining room before and inspiration.

Incase you missed it...

• Our Living Room Before

Happy Friday!

xo,
s.s.♥︎.

OUR HOME // LIVING ROOM (BEFORE)

---

Well hello there! It's about time I showed you some pictures of our home!! Today we're going to start in the living room. The living room is a very important room for me. When we were looking for a home I knew that we needed one with a good sized living room because I love to have people over!!! This is the first room that we will focus on decorating.

So let's dream shall we. I'm all about the bookshelves hugging the fireplace in the above photo. I'm not all about the bright colours. 

Now let's look at what we have to work with.

I took that photo the first time we viewed the house in November. At first glance I could tell this house had a lot of potential. The living room is connected to the dining area and in those spaces are two very large windows aka lots of light aka my bff. I also liked the fireplace and oak floors are always a win. 

Here are some more photos from the mls listing.

It's so crazy looking at these pictures because SO MUCH HAS CHANGED. We got the house December 15th and the very next day, James started working on it. You can't really see from the photos but all the walls are a crazy texture. We (and by we I mean James, my dad, his dad and all the other amazing people who helped) got rid of the texture first (in the living room, dining room, hallway and entrance). NOW THAT WAS A JOB and deserves its own post so watch for that one soon...I'm pretty sure James could start his own reno business after all the crazy work he has done!

I took the above photo a couple days into the reno...what a difference smoothing out walls make!! I don't even think it was even painted at that point!!!

Now let's get on to the dreaming!!!

So what I envision for our living room is a cozy, calm, and inviting environment.... 

1 // 2 // 3

Now the planning...! My amazing friend Amy is coming over Saturday to help plan and measure. She has an incredible eye so I'm excited to hear her ideas. James and I are not ballers so we'll be slowly working on these rooms but we're hoping to go to Ikea at the end of the month to find a few pieces.

James has also painted and redone the floors (SUPERMAN, I KNOW! I'll show you soon.)

Here are the next things to do for the living room:

• Find a rug. A BIG RUG.
• Get curtains...people we know keep saying, "I drove by your house and saw you in the kitchen." ha. Our house is at a fairly popular shortcut for many people I know and we have massive windows that give you a good look in...it could get awkward so curtains are a priority!
• Bookshelves to go beside the fireplace? I really like the bookshelves in the first photo, but now it's just to find the right ones.
• Mantle. We (and by we, again, I mean JAMES) ripped off the old mantle. We're going to replace it with a cedar beam or something along those lines.
• New chair eventually...not a massive priority but definitely on the list.
• Plants!! I really want to be like every other blogger alive and own a fiddle leaf fig tree....fingers crossed I won't kill it like I've done to almost every other plant (except for the avocado plant that my dear friend Becca gave us!)

So there you go! Those are my plans! But I'd love your feedback as well. Got any home design blogs that you love? Send them my way!

oh and HAPPY FRIDAY! Hope you have the best weekend :)

xo,

s.s.♥︎.