The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

9:48 PM

That's right... I'm talking about some before and "after" photos that show some of the great progress we've made. And some that show just how lazy we really are and why our house is just not quite in "having our first housewarming party" shape. Some of these photos are just plain embarrassing and almost make me want to get up off my butt and start cleaning up the remainder of the messes that loom in my house. The key word, of course, is almost.

So, friends, here are some photos of where we were before the move and where we are as of about 5 minutes ago. Please, no judging. OK, maybe a little.

Here is the living room the morning of the move. Carpets are cleaned. Sun is shining through the windows. So serene...

And here it is last night.

Husband is on the sectional. Dog is sleeping on the floor. Towels are folded and not put away. Carpets need to be vacuumed. Nothing hanging on the walls. But, despite all that, this is our living room and we definitely live in it. Obviously there is some work to be done but we like it.

Here's a close up shot of our sleeping puppy. She's just so cute. As is her polar bear.

This next photo is sort of a cheater photo. This was not actually taken on move in day. In fact, this was before the walls were even painted. But it is still a before...

Here is a current shot of our dinette area. We have eaten on this table approximately 3 times since we moved in. Although we did enjoy many meals at a mini card table prior to actually moving in.

The lilacs are from my mom. I love lilacs. Good thing since we have a 10' high lilac bush in our tree line.

And here is the rest of our kitchen.

The range works great. And this kitchen has a TON more storage than our last house. Let's just say I am in love. Since we got the gas line put in I have cooked as much as possible. In fact, there is home made granola baking in the oven in this photo. And it's de-lish. I shared that recipe here in my second post. I still owe you the recipe for buffalo chicken mac & cheese. And tonight I made skillet veggie lasagna. I should probably share that one with you, too.

That is where Stella eats her dinner every night. Love her food dish. It was a wedding gift from Erik's sister and her husband. They made it. I know. Super awesome. Stella loves it almost as much as I do. Oh, and she eats her food from the side and drinks her water from the front. She is very special.

Next up is the family room... all cleaned up and ready for the movers to trek through with all of our crap.

And here it is with our furniture somewhat organized. Although I really struggle with this narrow room and our incredibly oversized sofa, loveseat and chair. But it works for now. It's not like we need to use the fireplace with the warm Wisconsin summer we're having. Oh wait.... that's right. Nevermind.

And last, but certainly not least, is my favorite thing ever. The dining room.

Yes, the light fixture is still ugly. Yes, the china cabinet needs a new coat of stain/poly. Yes, the textured glass needs some serious updating.

Yes, I am fully utilizing all of the amazing storage space and have not even filled up the drawers or underneath cabinets as of yet.

The other amazing thing about this room is that this is where we eat dinner just about every night. In Indiana we only used this table about 4 times. Once was for our anniversary dinner. I couldn't even tell you what the other 3 were for.

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So now you may be wondering where all these really bad photos are that I was referring to at the beginning of my post. Well, here you go. These are our bedrooms as they stand right now.