Our Home
When Ben and I bought our first home in April 2011, it was by far the biggest financial decision we have ever made together the whole journey of renovating, painting and so many sleepless nights has been one of the most rewarding things we have done. After six full months of renovating while living at my amazing parents house we moved into our home in October 2011 and have loved every minute since. Naturally with any home, your to-do list is pages and pages long but there is honestly nothing more exciting than knowing that there is always something to do, something to improve or completely redo and of course creating a gorgeous garden! We are so proud of our home, we hope that you like what we have done – I promise there will be a lot more before and after photos to come!
click read more for all the before and after photos!
Our home started off a mushy yellow with a burt red trim – very attractive. But after a lot of painting we have toned down the colors and have also started the wonderful but never ended task of creating a beautiful garden!
By far the biggest transformation in our home has been the kitchen, lounge and dining room area. By taking down the two walls that divided the area into three very small pokey rooms, taking out the very outdated kitchen hidden in the back left corner and installing our gorgeous french doors. We have created a beautiful open flow to our home, there is nothing better than being able to see into our backyard and watch Kora run around!
Our kitchen is without a doubt the heart of our home, and my favorite room – you probably already knew that though! Nothing makes me happier than pottering in our kitchen cooking and baking delicious goodies and having friends and family over. I am still complete blown away by how much it has changed and how effective white is!
Our laundry took so long to get finished, we went for months with out a sink or any where to put things. It was just a lonely room with a washing machine and dryer. It is now such a lovely and bright room – in the future the washing machine and dryer will be moved behind the wall on the right so that it’s even more spacious and we can have better access to our sweet little round laundry tub.
By far one of the easiest DIY projects of our house – painting the end our our hallway from white to blue I love the bright punch of color. It is also so much nicer than tired yellow and old wooden doors. Ben and I (with a lot of help from family) repainted the whole inside and outside of our house from yellow to white – by far the best decision we have ever made. I love love love white!
We have so many projects that need to be done outside, but here is one that is actually finished. It was so good to say goodbye to the worn burnt red deck and hello to a lovely soft grey non-skid grey deck. I highly recommend painting a deck if you don’t like the color, be sure to get the non-skid paint, it’s a little hard to paint with and your brush will get very heavy, but it is a life saver on rainy days!
I hope that you enjoy looking at our before and after photos, even though it has been really hard at times we have LOVED renovating our home and would do it again in a heart beat. I promise there will be a lot more before and after photos to come… we still have the deck to finish, the bathroom to redo, start gardening and build a veggie garden and of course decorate our bedrooms – right now there really isn’t very much in them. If you have any before and after photos you would like to share, I would love to see them!. x
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[...] to soft grey – due to an amazing amount of rain this week I’m taking shelter in my kitchen and am going to bake! 2. I am a nanny of three amazing kiddies and I also work part time as a [...]
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[...] know that I love neutral palettes with bright pops of color which is just how we set up our house. Now that we’ve settled into our home I want to start really decorating with more color and [...]
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[...] without too many headaches. Now don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adore everything about our home, we are both naturally drawn to clean white surfaces with a shocking pop of color. But over the [...]
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[...] outside, and her sleek + modern laundry room – yes, this laundry room is sleek, take a peek here to see the full renovation thus far! [...]
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[...] Cake to add a little bit of summer to a rainy day. I am also beyond excited to share this post of Our Home that I re-did for the lovely 20 Best Twenty blog – be sure curl up with a warm cup of tea and [...]
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[...] share with you all! I have been throwing around ideas for a little office space since we moved into our home last year. Everything from turning one of our spare rooms into a office, to using the dinning room, [...]
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[...] without too many headaches. Now don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adore everything about our home, we are both naturally drawn to clean white surfaces with a shocking pop of color. But over the [...]
Gorgeous! You guys have done an amazing job and everything looks so comfortable, light and inviting. Delicious.
Where did you get the gray and white chevron bed spread? Is the Urban Outfitters one (if so, do you think the quality of the fabric is okay because I have heard it’s quite thin and a bit rough, but I can’t find another chevron duvet cover anywhere)?
xo
Aw thank you so much Sam, so kind of you, we really do love everything about our home.
The bed spread is from urban outfitters, the material is a little thin but I washed it a couple of times with some fabric softener and it seems to be fine. Its on our guest bed and so far I’ve only had good comments from people staying here. I love the pattern and wasn’t able to find it any where else either. Hope that helps. xx
Hi there,
I recently stumbled across your blog and love it to bits! Your new home is lovely and so beautifully decorated!
Unusual question, but I was wondering if you could tell me how big your kitchen/dining/living area is? We’ve got an area I think of similar proportions but our kitchen takes up far too much space and we’d love to squeeze in a living area too. By the looks of things it can be done with the right size kitchen. Thanks heaps for you help
Hi Mary,
x
So lovely to hear from you – thank you so much for your lovely comment about the blog and our home!
Of course I’d be happy to help, if you send me a email I can send you the house plans… It’d be much easier for you to see
Hi Rachael, I came across your blog recently and love it! Nice to see another Kiwi blogger, if you have the time I’d love you to check out mine http://coralandcoast.blogspot.com it’s all about DIY, coastal living, photography, interior design and everyday life in NZ. Congrats on your new home, it looks amazing! xo K
Hi Kirsty, thank you so much for your lovely message and your kind comment about our home, as you know its a wonderful never ending project! Your blog is beautiful, and my gosh your before and after photos of your house are amazing! I have to agree its so lovely to meet another kiwi blogger. x
I love your photos I am not surpised you were so happy with them. A lovely light filled contemporary home to be proud of!
Oh Lee, thank you so much for your lovely message. Yes we are very happy with the photos – I almost need to get them re-done as a few things have been changed since these were taken. We are very proud of our home, we love how light and bright it is too, it makes the space feel so much larger than it really is. x
Rachael!! Your house is amazing!! I LOVE your kitchen (I love white too!) You guys did such an awesome job!!
Aw Laura
thank you so much for your lovely comment, you are so sweet! Oh I adore our kitchen, I honestly never leave it, it’s defiantly the heart of our home. It’s finally starting to feel like ‘home’ now, the rooms are starting to soften up a little which is so lovely. x