Home Tour
"Knock knock"......
"Oh, hi there! Come on in!"
Welcome to our home here in Calgary! I'm so happy you came by. Let me take you guys through a tour of this home of ours. Our house has seen some major changes since we first took possession 4 years ago. One of the biggest changes we've made is to the exterior. It's still a work in progress due to the short summer season we have here, but we did manage to get it painted right away with this fresh shade of grey called Icon Grey by Dulux Paint. The trim colour we chose on the exterior is the same as all of the trim colour inside of our house, Benjamin Moore Simply White. In this exterior pic our deck isn't put on yet, but I couldn't take a recent exterior pic cause it's buried in snow, arggghh!
We added some more curb appeal to the front of our house in the summer of 2018 with a simple platform deck that sits directly under our front large living room window. Our kids are front yard kids, they love to be outside playing in the front, probably because that's where all the action is with all the other kids in the neighborhood. So we knew having a great sitting area under our living room window would be a benefit to our family.
When you come in you will more than likely be greeted by two ankle sniffers at your feet. Our pups love to welcome our guests! The front entry way has seen some changes as well since we moved in. I originally painted the interior front door from the original boring builders white, to a rich black, and more recently gave it this lighter shade of blue called, Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue, (which you will also see on the door in our laundry room)
Upon entering you will see on your right hand side a front living area. This small living room has become home to our distressed white piano which sits against a white shiplap feature wall and across from my daughters little home work desk. Past the piano room is our formal dining room where we added a DIY over sized wood table and painted the walls a soft shade of pale grey.
If you go to the left when you come in the front door you will see our open foyer which was one of the selling features to this home when we first walked in. I was instantly smitten with all the space. Here in the foyer we have our staircase, front entry DIY console table, french doors with access to the main floor home office, a half bathroom and the entry to the laundry/mudroom which gives you access to the garage.
Past the office you will enter our main living space. Our open concept family den and kitchen area is where we spend the majority of our time as a family. Our dogs sun themselves in this south facing space every day while I am usually sitting at the small built in desk near the kitchen working away on this blog! Our kitchen area is all the original cabinets and back splash that was here when we moved in. The changes we made in here all came with gallons of paint and endless DIY's to make this area a newly updated space for our family. I look forward to sharing all the projects we've made in these spaces with you guys soon in many blog posts to come.
Our breakfast nook is where we have most of our family meals. It's a sweet little sunny spot that looks out into our back yard. We also have this great DIY bar top we made from the existing half pony wall that was here. We decided to make better use of it and add a wood top to it so we not only have extra seating, but also a casual entertaining spot for game night, movie night or having our kids friends over for meal time. Our Ikea sectional fits perfectly infront of the half wall and is our cozy corner in the family den, also officially the dogs bedroom.
Let's head upstairs now guys!. Upstairs we have 4 bedrooms and two bathrooms, and we area also lucky enough to have two very large linen closets. What's behind door number one when you come upstairs? It's the linen closet I just gave a makeover to, Marie kondo style!! I love opening this door now and seeing organization, not to mention all the pretty colourful baskets.
Next to the linen closet is our guest bedroom which I've decorated with soothing shades of blush and sage greens. Our guest bathroom was the first room I started to paint when we moved in by painting the cabinets and stenciling the linoleum floors. Our kids use this bathroom all the time, so our goal is to one day get a double sink vanity in here and add a new shower and tub, but for now it functions great for what we need, and the few DIY's I made in here have spruced the space up nicely I think.
Down the hall past these rooms you will next come to my daughters room, she has such a sweet room and its a great size for her. She has a DIY loft bed, little reading corner and built in desk with shelves. Past her bedroom and a "Juliet" balcony (which looks down to the foyer) you will come to our son's small bedroom. He also has a loft bed. We are big fans of loft beds around here. Using vertical space is always a plus in my books which gives the kids a great play area underneath their beds.
Heading into our master bedroom, we've made it a priority to make this a special place we can come to at the end of the day. We shiplapped the wall behind our bed frame to add a flow through out the house and add some clean lines to the space. Curtis made us our very own custom bed frame and headboard out of wood. I love it so much and it adds that distressed chippy look I love so much in here. We are so lucky to have the room in here for our very own little sitting area where we have flanked two wingback chairs and added some floating wooden shelves. Our master bathroom as I'm sure most of you guys know has seen some major DIY changes in here with some paint. The painted tile in here turned out perfectly and brightened up this space exponentially. I take baths in here often and look up through the sky light at the stars....ahhhhh life if good in here guys!
Ok so now that we've finished looking around the upstairs I'm excited to take you guys to the basement where its an on going renovation at the moment, but the projects that we have finished thus far have made us so happy and proud to take people down here and start to show this space off and all of the hard work we've put into it.
Currently we are updating the staircase with new railing and shiplap, so once that's done I will definitely be sharing that with you all! So, when you come down to the basement its basically a large open space. The previous owners never added a bedroom down here, only a small hobby room which I hope to convert to my office space one day soon. We also have a large bathroom down here that's still in its original state, and you guys know I have some plans to update that space soon as well. So lets get to the good stuff guys, the stuff we have worked so hard on thus far, our family room. This space is used by our kids all the time. As soon as they come home from school they go right to the basement. We gave the original corner fireplace a big makeover with some new subway tile, mantel and hearth. The niche area next to the fireplace got a shiplap treatment and we also hacked two Ikea Kalax units and turned it into one over sized media cabinet to go under our new tv. Facing the tv is a great DIY bar we made and incorporated into an existing oak support column. Now you can hardly see the support column anymore just a beautiful useful bar that seats 4.
Alright guys, that concludes the home tour! I will be updating things on here as the seasons change and as the house changes as well with many more DIY projects to come. I hope you enjoyed this look around our home and maybe got a bit of inspiration as well for your spaces. We have really made this a place we love and are proud to raise our family here. It's such a rewarding feeling to look around and see all the changes we've made in here since we first took possession. If you want to see some of the spaces before we made the changes then head on over to the blog and look at the "Before and After" category. If you guys are anything like me then you will love looking at before and after pics as well. They really showcase the dramatic changes that have happened in here and the reasons why we are so proud to call this place our home.
Thanks for stopping in guys!
Love,