Our New House: Before Photos

We were able to get into our new home for the first time tonight to see what work we need to do before we move in.  We have work to do, but then again, we are excited about it!   We prayed a special prayer for nine days to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and on the last day of the novena, Jordan's boss texted him about whether we were interested in his home.  We saw that as a sign from God that we needed to take this next step.  The home has plenty of space for our family, and we are excited to finally sit together around a table as a family.

The home definitely has character from the early 1920's.  The original bought a one acre plot of land in Nashua with views of a hayfield in front of the house and woods near a dry creek in the very backyard.  The original owners also poured a new foundation around 1999 with a double garage (breezeway attaches garage to house).

I forgot to take a picture of the garage and breezeway.  You go through the breezeway and enter into the area near the downstairs bathroom, kitchen, kitchen nook, and dining room.  Our plans are to take down the wallpaper, paint, and redo the flooring.  

I am so excited about the work space on the countertops!  There is also a dishwasher!!!!  It's amazing how much storage is in the kitchen.  

Brand new fridge!  Seriously folks....this thing will hold so much food!

Cute kitchen nook.
Jordan will take out the carpet since it's right near the deck sliding door. The sliding door leads to the two tiered deck overlooking the huge backyard.  It's a gorgeous view!
 We want hard flooring near a high traffic area with a dog and children running in and out from the outside.  I also plan on using that countertop to do some schooling and keep a desk in the corner with some school supplies.  

Our cute little bathroom downstairs.  Since the rest of the downstairs has white trim, we plan on painting the trim the same color.  

Our new dining room!  It flows well between the living room and kitchen.  They left their beautiful table for us as well.  We just need to get more chairs.  It can seat 12 people!  The door in the picture leads to the front porch.  

Here is our living room!  I think our family altar will go in the corner.  I hope to get a fake fireplace to draw the eyes to the area.  

This is the extra bedroom downstairs that we will use for a toy room/school area.  I plan on hanging school posters and keep things organized in this room, but schooling will happen pretty much anywhere in the house that learning could happen.  

By the way, those windows are gorgeous and beautiful!  The stairwell is safe for children and clumsy mothers who seem to fall down a lot.  :)  

We plan on taking out the carpet in this area.  I know it's a beautiful looking carpet, but it would not look so beautiful after children eat on a table near it.  We plan on getting a cherry laminate wooden plank flooring to match the colors upstairs in the house.  We do plan on keeping the carpet on the stairs though.  We think it might be safer to walk up and down on carpeted stairs.  

This is where most of the work will be done.  The original owners did not do very much to the upstairs.  Jordan already started pulling up carpet, and we will need to patch up cracks we see.  He will continue working this weekend on the prep work so painting can happen before flooring is changed.  

This will be the boys' room!  

I love closets.  You see in our current home....we have only one room with closets.  There is a closer in each room!!!!

The boys (and girls) will have so much in this little cove, cave, whatever you want to call it.  

This was their little girl's room, and she left some of her toys behind for the girls.  Isn't that sweet!  Magdalene has been working on thank you letters, coloring pages, posters...you name it.  

This used to be a small bathroom and a bedroom.  They tore apart the area and just made one big bathroom with washer and dryer access upstairs.  This is where they placed their washer and dryer.  

I like the colors enough to not change it.  It reminds me of my sister.  :)

Walk-in closet from bathroom to master bedroom.  

Master bedroom

Girls' room!

Magdalene wants a pink room so I think we found the shade that would last for years.  By the way, the ceilings in every room are so high.  The rooms feel so large!!

Jordan started ripping up carpet and discovered that all the bedroom upstairs had the beautiful original hardwood.  Our plan is to refinish or whatever you call it to the floors after we paint.  We think it will stay in character with the home.  We will try to find a laminate hard flooring for the downstairs  that will be close in color of the original.  It appears to be a cherry colored wood.


We hoped you enjoyed the before photos of the home!  We pray one day soon that the Alves side can come visit soon.  Oopsss...forget to take pictures of the half finished basement.  There isn't any work to be done there since it was recently done.  It even has a screen like a classroom.  I need to find an LCD projector to hook to our computer and have family move night.