Story City House Tour: Second Level

Next on the house tour, we'd go up the stairs to the second level.

 

This landing area is perfect for a Christmas tree during the holidays.

It's just tricky to get up there - you have to put a ladder across the steps and climb up it while carrying the tree & ornaments!

 

When we moved into the house, the entryway was three shades of peach. It was not pretty. Shortly after we moved in, Nick, Sandy and I spent a weekend painting it three shades of tan. It was not easy with the high ceilings, but the colors are much more neutral and pleasing to the eye!

 

At the top of the stairs is a hallway that leads to the bedrooms.

 

I'd take you into Kimber's room first. It's my favorite room upstairs!

 

I spent several months decorating the perfect nursery.

This room came out exactly how I envisioned it and I couldn't be happier.

 

We have spend several hours in this room with our sweet baby girl.

Nursing her. Reading books to her. Cuddling her after bath time.

So many sweet memories of our time together.

 

Next to Kimber's room is the spare bedroom. Or the 'brown room' as it was referred to by my family. This was the first room that was reserved if we were having family over. And of course, my parents always got first dibs.

 

This room was originally baby blue with kids wallpaper before we painted it brown.  

We decided it would be a better spare bedroom than nursery since it was much bigger.

 



 

Down the hallway is the main bathroom.

 

This bathroom was the same baby blue color as the spare bedroom. I spent a Saturday during harvest painting this room while Nick was in the fields.

 

Our master bedroom & bathroom would be last on the tour.

 

This room will always hold a special place in my heard.

This is the room Nick got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

This is also the room where I told Nick he was going to be a daddy for the first time! 

 

Our master bathroom is huge. With a big ol' bathtub that never got used....and a tiny little shower in the corner. Don't get me wrong, I loved having all this space, but it was a lot of cleaning. And we had a shower that I could barely move around in when I was 9 month preggo. If this was our forever house, we would have definitely re-did the master bathroom and put a big shower in the corner instead of having a bathtub.

 



 

What I wouldn't have changed was the master closet.

It was huge and held a lot of clothes - so it was perfect for me!!

 

 

This would be the end of the house tour...next I'd probably offer you a drink & we'd go to the deck and enjoy the nice weather with a drink in our hand!!

 

Story City House Tour: First Level

After we finished walking around the outside of the house, we'd go into the house.

 

If you walked into our house, you'd see this beautiful entry way.

But honestly, if you walked in the front door...that meant that you weren't a close friend.

Maybe a neighbor selling girl scout cookies or looking for a lost dog.

 

 

If you were family or close friends - you'd walk in thru our garage into the mudroom and be welcomed by the washer & dryer. And trust me, it wasn't always this clean. The top of the washer & dryer was the catch-all for items when we walked in the door and Nick liked to use the sink as a hamper when he came home from the farm.

 

 

From the mudroom, you would walk into the kitchen. By far, my favorite room of the house. I loved that our kitchen was a gathering place for family & friends. No matter how much seating we had in the living room, we always ended up sitting {or standing} in the kitchen hanging out.

 

This is the first room that I painted in the house. My sister came up for the weekend and we spent 2 days painting {and drinking on the deck at night!}

  

 

 

Next we would head into the living room. After the kitchen, this is the room we spend the most time in. Nick & I re-did this room shortly after we got married with new carpet, paint and crown molding.

 

I have memories of my family laying around this room watching the Packers game after our Thanksgiving meal, lazy Sunday afternoons watching movies with Nick, Kimber practicing walking between Mom & Dad and hours of snuggling my sweet baby girl in the rocking chair.

 

 

 Our formal dining room is off the living room. This room only gets used a couple times a year - usually for Thanksgiving, 4th of July and other parties we host throughout the year. My parents gave me their dining room set when we moved in the house, on the condition I host Thanksgiving for my side of the family. I was fine with that since I love to host parties at my house!

 

I have wanted to paint this room burnt orange since we moved in...and it finally got painted when we were getting the house ready to sell. At least, I got to enjoy a few months of it before we had to move out!

 



 

 

Thru the french doors is the sitting room. This room has hardly been used since we moved in...unless we had family in town and they put an air mattress down and slept in there. If this was our forever house, I would turn this room into a play room for kids and then later a hang out for them & their friends.

 

 

 

Off the sitting room is the office. Which did not actually look like an office until we got the house ready to sell. Before that - I was a catch all room. When I was planning our wedding - it was full of wedding decorations. After the wedding - it was full of wedding gifts until I found a home for them. We always had intentions of using the room more, but since it's in the back of the house and we had a laptop we could use anywhere in the house, we didn't have much motivation to work on it. But of course, now that it's organized...I wish we would have done it sooner!

 

The sitting room & office are the only 2 rooms in the  house that we have not painted since we moved in. Mostly because we never really used them. And the paint colors are neutral and not an eye sore like so many of the other colors were.

 

 

Back at the front of the house, off the mudroom, is a 1/2 bath.

 

 

This hallway would take you right to the front door again. Or if you headed the other way toward the bathroom and took a right, you would be in the mudroom.

 

Kimber loves that she can get to the steps 2 ways and tries to sneak past us to get to them. I'm sure if we were in the house longer, she'd be making full circles thru the mudroom, to kitchen, to entryway and back to the mudroom!!

 

{Story City House Tour: Second Level coming tomorrow}

Story City House Tour: Outside

Since it's the last week we'll be in this house, I thought I'd do a tour of the house and add a couple tidbits along the way...

 

If I walked you around the front of the house, the first thing you would notice about the front yard is that it's one big hill. Perfect for a white-trash slip & slide. Every summer since we moved in, we hosted a 4th of July party...we'd pulled out the big tarp and dish soap, turn on the water and had a great time sliding down the hill! We always meant to pull out the barbed wire fence at the bottom of the hill, but never did. Luckily, no one ever got hurt!

  

 From the beginning, Nick hated the color of this house.

Since my favorite color is green...I never really minded it.

 

As we walked around the house, you'd probably notice the lack of landscaping.
We always had grand plans of landscaping, but we never actually got around to it.
With over 3 acres of land, it seemed like such a daunting {and expensive} task.
I did do some landscaping around the well and one of the sheds, but that was it.

 



It usually took 2 1/2 hours to mow the yard. The first 2 years, it was fun. And a good excuse to work on my tan. After that, it became more of a chore and I liked doing it less & less. The new house is 4 acres and the current owners said it takes them 4 hours to mow...not looking forward to that!

 

 

As we walked around the to back of the house, I would point out the deck and tell you that I am going to miss this deck.

It was big and had built in seating, which is perfect for hosting parties.

When the weather was nice, Nick & I would have dinner & drinks out on the deck.

After Kimber was born, we'd pull her high chair out there so she could join us.

 

On the weekends, when I wake up before anyone else in the house, I'd grab my cup of coffee and sit on the deck. It was a nice & relaxing way to start my morning.

 



We'd end the tour of the outside of the house in the shed.
I know Nick is really going to miss having his own shed. But I'm hoping within a couple years, we'll be able to build one for him. Until then, he'll have to drive the 3 miles down the road to the farm to dink around.

{Story City House Tour: First Level coming tomorrow}

Story City House: When a house becomes a home

The big green house on the hill. That's what we referred to it as five years ago when we saw it on the market. A house in the right location with the right amount of acres and the right amount of square footage {well maybe a little too much square footage for two people, but we figured we'd grow into it}. When we moved in, it was just a house.

 

This picture was take June 2009. The day our offer was accepted on the house and we took my sister & mom to the house to show them!

 

Slowly, over the course of those five years, this house turned into our home.

 

This was our home where Nick asked me to marry him.

This was our home where I planned our wedding down to the smallest detail.

This was our home when we said "I do".

This was our home where I spent hours painting, decorating and organizing to make it as comfy as possible for visitors.

This was our home where I had a falling out with my sister.

This was our home when we both forgave each other and have a stronger relationship than we ever have.

This was our home where we hosted Thanksgiving with my family.

This was our home where we held our annual July 4 celebration for family & friends.

 This was our home where we sat around the kitchen table drinking with friends until the early hours of the morning.

This was our home where I hosted several bridal showers and baby showers for my girlfriends.

This was our home when I found out my mom had passed way from a heart attack.

This was our home where we watched Blake having a great time swimming in our pool, where he shot guns on the back deck and where he sat at the kitchen table helping us prepare food for Thanksgiving.  

This was our home when Blake passed away {and forever changed my heart}

This was the home where we cried & held each other tight when we struggled to get pregnant.  

This was our home where we saw those two pink lines for the first time telling us we were going to be parents.

This was our home where I spend hours decorating the perfect nursery.

This was our home where we brought our first baby home to.

This was our home when Kimber said her first words and took her first steps.

This was our home where we celebrated Kimber's first birthday.

 

 

We have so many memories in our first home. Part of me is sad to leave and all the memories we've made here. The other part of me, realizes that we will be in our new house many, many more years and have so many more memories there.

 

This is our new house that will soon become our home!