House tour #2: Milwaukee - Green With Decor

We bought a total fixer upper, and we’ve had so much fun making it ours. We fully renovated the kitchen, bathroom and family room, and the rest of the house got new floors and lots of paint on the walls and trim (which means we ate a lot of meals at that folding table you’ll see in the dining room ‘before’ photos).

We lived in our house for a few years, temporarily moved out for Kalen’s job and are BACK! Here’s the before/after tour of our house from the first time we lived here (when we did all of the major renovations).

If you want to see our house as it is now, head to this home tour page.

A lot of the ‘before’ pictures are blurry, but I feel like you can’t appreciate the ‘after’ until you see what we started with! (Even if you have to squint.)

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FOYER:

GET THE LOOK: Rug | Chest | Basket

Like what you see? For sources for everything from furniture to pillows to other decor, head to this page where I have everything listed.

See more of the foyer reveal.

LIVING ROOM:

Not a true before picture, since this was after we stained the floors, but you can still see the white striped walls we had to paint over!

HOME OFFICE NOOK:

DIY projects in the desk nook:
– Desk makeover with clay paint
– Chair makeover with clay paint

See more of the home office nook.

KITCHEN/DINING ROOM:

We knocked down the wall between these two rooms and pretty much rearranged the kitchen. This might be my favorite room renovation we’ve done.

GET THE LOOK: Bar stools | Cushions | Cabinet handles | Clock | Faucet

Obviously some of these ‘after’ pictures are taken at different seasons throughout the year, but I wanted to pick ‘after’ pictures that were taken as the same angles as the ‘before’ pictures so it’s easier to see the changes we’ve made.

DIY projects in the kitchen:
– How to make window valances from a shower curtain
– Get extra storage in your kitchen cabinets with this easy trick
– How to fix it if your cabinet handles are installed wrong
– A DIY cork chalkboard

See more of the kitchen renovation reveal.

If you’re planning your own renovation, I have free Kitchen and Bathroom Renovation Checklists that you can download to help. Just scroll to the bottom of this page and grab them.

BATHROOM:

I love green, but the lime green had to go. We gave this room a coat of paint and some new fixtures, but we decided to keep the charming white and black tile. Some things are classic. And also, we were out of money, which turned out to be a good thing. It’s fun to have a room that has some of the original character of our house.

See more of the bathroom reveal.

FAMILY ROOM:

Okay, the kitchen is my favorite thing we did in this house, but adding patio doors and ripping off that wood paneling to brighten up this room is a close second.

DIY projects in the family room:
– How to make window valances from a shower curtain (This is a different project, but I used the same tutorial for the red/white window valances.)
– How to make a throw pillow from extra fabric (This is a different project, but I used this same tutorial for the red/white pillows.)

See more of the family room reveal.

PATIO/BACKYARD:

Bye to the big tree, hello patio.

GET THE LOOK: Outdoor couch | Outdoor rug | Tray | Wine cooler | Pillow

DIY projects on the patio:
– How to use a heat gun to clean a grill

See more of the patio reveal.

STAIRS/HALLWAY:

This is where my design loving self and practical self are most at odds. I LOOOVE the look of hardwood stairs, but we had them in our old house, and the noise drove me insane. So carpet it is.

BATHROOM:

We didn’t find this coral tile quite as charming as the white and black tile in the other bathroom, so this had to go. We also ripped out the linen closet to make room for a second vanity (more counter space!), and to this day, it’s one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.