Before and After...

Our new house was built in 1963. It has popcorn ceilings and a carpeted formal dining room. It also has a patio that has been converted to a huge bonus room, which would be cool if I was a teenager and it was, say, 1975. The point? We're going to have lots of remodel and decor challenges in our new pad. Which thrills me to no end, because I love painting and demolition as much as a great Craigslist or garage sale find. PLUS...I'm hoping to showcase more cheap home related projects on this here blog. Which brings me to today's post. I'd always wanted to do a before and after of our old house, but felt weird putting my home on the internet. Now I can! 

Here's the before of our formal living room. The whole house was like a time capsule from 1966. The couches behind those rockin' marble tables were covered in plastic. Awesome.

The living room after. We made the best of the mint carpet by pairing it with a purple couch ($200 on Craigslist!) .  Purple brocade curtains were $10 at Big Lots, and the chairs and ottoman were another Craigslist find. 

Hello, ugly kitchen! From the chiffon curtains to the ornate hardware,  this kitchen screamed old lady, which makes sense because the previous owner was a 97 year old lady who had built the house as her retirement home. In 1966. The fridge was full of white wine and ice cream. My kind of woman!  

The stove that burnt everything we tried to cook. Wouldn't you love to have a built in convection oven?

After. We didn't change much (new hardware, bye bye wallpaper, new paint) because I wanted it to still have that 60's charm. 

More kitchen after. Containers courtesy Grocery Outlet, and art from Big Lots.  Oh, and the curtains were on clearance at Walmart. 

The den before. The indoor/outdoor brown floral carpet was particularly charming. I loved ripping that stuff up (as well as removing those iron banisters). 

The den (or the "step down lounge" as I liked to call it) after. Red couch, another great $300 Craigslist find. You can't really see it, but the table on the left is repurposed as an entertainment center. My husband scored that for $10 from the Catholic church rummage sale and attached half of an old coffee table to the bottom to hold our dvd player, etc. 

Master bedroom before. Notice how there is no carpet? There's a reason they had to tear it out...be glad I didn't include the photo of the patched hole in the floor where the previous owner "expired" (what can I say? The house was a GREAT deal!)

Master bedroom after. Never one ghostly experience. 

2nd bedroom before. People who stayed in this room did claim to have some vivid nightmares and hear strange sounds. 

So that's where we put our kid. She never complained. (Of course, she couldn't talk yet, either). 

Dining room before (that's me holding the previous owner's circa 1960 wedding dress. That I did NOT get to keep. Shoot). 

Dining area after new flooring, paint, etc. Once again, furniture from Big Lots. That place is a treasure trove of bargain finds!

So that's the tour of the old casa. I hope you're up for some fun new projects in the future, because I'm all about branching out (while still staying in the realm of cheapness) and sharing the transformation of our new house with you guys!