Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Professional pictures:)

So, I finally had professional photos taken of our house...yay!!  I kept putting it off because "Is your home ever really done!!"  Ours is not but I finally bit the bullet.  We did not move in to a "done" house.  To recap, we bought an old tired fixer upper and poured our love and money into her!!  We spent so much money on the big stuff, i.e. roof, driveway, flooring, etc.  that the decorating has had to move at a bit of a slower pace.  At least, we never have to worry about a roof leak:)  Oh, yeah, that's not really a big worry in San Diego anyways...ha ha. We still do not have some blinds and drapes in some of the rooms and I am still negotiating with my husband on some perfect art work...but we are at the point where we could at least have some photos taken.

Our friend and fabulous photographer, Meredith Park, took the photos. She is a family and lifestyle photographer in San Diego. I love the brightness and crispness of the photos...that does not really happen with the iphone!!

Below is Part 1 of the little home tour:)  All pretty photos are by Meredith Park and all before photos are by moi or are from the MLS. There is more detailed information about what we did to each room on previous blog posts if you are interested.

Our home has a fairly open floor plan...when you walk in you pretty much see everything except the kitchen and the bedrooms.  The foyer consists of some benches and a side table and a mixture of art...modern and antiques. And rugs.  My husband thinks we have too many.  I think not enough. The office is on the right and the dining room is on the left and the living room is straight ahead.  It is a ranch style home which makes for some pretty easy living!! The barn wood floors really changed the feel of this home to give us that warm and rustic feel we were craving.

 
 
 
 
 
Below is what the foyer and the dining room used to look like....
 

 
This is our family/living room now.  The most impactful changes to this room were 1.) to fill in the sunken living room (which screamed 1960's) and also gave the room a larger yet more cohesive feel. And, 2.) we added a Kolbe pocket door system that completely opens up which is perfect for our mild and sunny California weather:)

 
 
 


 
And here is a before of the living room...
 
 
Our kitchen...


 
 

 
 
All I can say here is creamy white paint.  Those cabinets certainly needed it. White paint does wonders!!  And, we used a pretty grayish blue for the island and the existing built in cabinets as contrast.  We used reclaimed wood as well as concrete for backsplash and concrete for the countertops. The woven blinds are from Home Depot and the drum light in the kitchen nook was one of my first big home purchases over 8 years ago.  It has traveled with us to 3 homes.  I do love it but it is a sentimental issue more than anything!
 
And, here is a before...
 



Hope you enjoyed Meredith's pretty pictures.  Her website is https://www.mparkphoto.com.  Check her out if you are in need of any photography!! I will be back soon for the rest of the tour. Thanks for checking it out!! xoxo