Before and Afters {from 2011 to now}

My style has evolved quite a bit since we moved into our house 5 years ago. When we originally moved in, we were coming from a one bedroom apartment to a 3 bedroom house. There was a lot more space than we were accustomed to, which meant more spaces to fill and ultimately  decorate. I have always loved interior decorating, but you would never really know if you looked at our house from 2011-2013 because it was filled with hand-me-down and super mismatched furniture. It has taken me F I V E years to get our house to a place where I'm pretty content with it. I'm such a homebody, as you guys know from previous posts, that the space around me plays such an impact in my life, that I need it to be a place I enjoy aesthetically. It's not everybody's thing, but it's my thing, so there.

Also, let me throw this out there while we're at it. If you follow me on Instagram, you probably noticed that I have been posting far more pictures of our home {and less of Emerson}, and even posting multiple times daily. {If that annoys you, please feel free to unfollow me. It won't hurt my feelings}. I've done so because I have started following more home decor/DIY/mama bloggers on IG and they often ask their followers to participate in a variety of hashtags and "games" if you will. It's fun for me and a cool way for me to interact with other bloggers/DIY obsessed women that I wouldn't  interact with otherwise. One of the hashtag challenges was to post a "before and after" of something/somewhere in your house. I posted this photo:

The top is the "before" of our back room. It gets great light, but before it had dark red brick on two full walls {which made the room appear SO dark despite the large windows}, brown carpet and a black wood stove. The bottom picture is the "after" of the same room. I whitewashed the brick walls, added a light gray + white area rug ON TOP of the carpet {wasn't sure I'd like it, but I actually really do...like a lot}. I added different window coverings, and slowly brought in "new" {aka Craigslisted} furniture to fill the space. The wood stove is still in there, it's just disguised with black bookcases and a television. For more pictures and updates on this space, click on over to my most recent post that tours our playroom. This is definitely one of the most dramatic changes in our house, in my opinion, if not simply for the bright and cheeriness of it compared to the previous gloom and doom. 

In keeping with the before and after spirit of today, I thought it would be fun to share several before and afters from our home. Everywhere from the living + dining room, to the bathroom, to each bedroom. I think it's safe to say that every single room has gone through some pretty decent changes within the past 5 years. Shoot, paint alone changes a room completely. Can I get an amen?

Before and after pictures 

{I think you'll be able to tell which is the before and which is the after, so I will not commentate too much}.

Let me preface these by saying, EVERY SINGLE ROOM in our house has been painted since we moved in. The entire {yes, even the closets!!} house was painted a color with the title "mushroom" in it. So, if that isn't a hint that you should repaint, I don't know what is. It was like a yellowy-beigey-cream color. It wasn't totally awful, but it wasn't us at all, and for some reason it looked SO yellow in all the rooms! Thank God paint is an easy fix! Since being painted, the living room, dining room, and front foyer are Benjamin Moore's Revere Pewter. The kitchen + main bath are BM Gettysburg grey (it's a greenish-grey}. The master + guest bedroom/office are BM Smoked Oyster. Emerson's nursery is a random grey color {can't remember the title}, which is also the same color as the 2 walls around the windows in the playroom. We have other rooms not shown here that have BM White Dove and Valspar Morning Zen {pale green}.

 First, a close up of the picture I showed above.

Guest room turned nursery for Emerson

                     

{I made that E on the wall for $8, ask me how, if you're interested}

This makes it in the TOP 3 favorites: the fireplace in the living room.

MY MOST FAVORITE before and after is definitely our dining room! It literally looks like a completely different space.

Too many dark colors! The room looks so tiny!

Below is a the only shot of the foyer from "before" that I could find in my hundreds of pictures {standing in living room}.

{from a different view, but same area}

 {that lime green console makes another appearance below-different shade of green though-I had a MAJOR thing for lime green when we first moved in...yikes!}

Living room shot of the couch + side table
{and blurry at that. These before pictures were taken before quality iPhone cameras}.

Where's Emerson? ;)

The Guest room/Office

{All paneling in here guys. MAJOR HAND CRAMPS thanks to all those crevices}. 

Master bedroom

 Don't have a full shot, sorry!

{DIY headboard + canvases}

Eat-in portion of the kitchen

The kitchen has been painted twice since 2011. 

First it was Valspar's "Breezy" {blue}, then it moved to BM Ghettysburg grey, just recently.

 Main bath
{this is not the very first "before" but it's the only one that I can find a picture of on the computer.}

{I literally just snapped this picture-no edits- below because I couldn't find a recent one-see the next picture for  a truer color}.

{I painted the existing cabinet a very dark brown-almost black instead of buying a new one}.

Well, there you have it, my favorite {and most of} the before and afters in our home. It's been a long, sweat-inducing {sometimes tear-inducing} process, but I absolutely LOVE our home now and it's hard to imagine ever leaving, though I know that time will come and I'll just have a new blank canvas to work with! What's five more years of my life, eh?

Hope you enjoyed and if you're stuck with hand-me-down furniture and mismatched items, don't worry, there's hope!! If I can do it, so can you! Just think outside the box and get creative. Also, be patient. Changes don't happen overnight, as hard as I may have tried to make them happen that way, trust me, they did not.

So, what does your style say about you? I like to think mine says calm, organized, and pretty comfortable in it's own skin, just like me. :) Hope this helps give you some style inspiration! XO!