Bye Bye Burgundy...Hello Beautiful Bathroom Countertops!

Another item on our to-do list was replacing the bathroom countertops. The upstairs bathroom had a burgundy color laminate countertop and I knew that would have to be changed. Check out the before shot of the outdated culprit. Phew...that thing was screaming for some help.

We went with cultured marble for our new countertops. This may be the most drastic before and after of the whole renovation process. We still have a few small things left with this bathroom but it's basically done!

Oh, and by the way, this bathroom is also known as Riley's bathroom.We have his litter box hidden in here and his food stays here too. He decided to crash my little photo session and be the model. This is his first appearance on the blog so now you all know that we have an adorable kitty living in our nest. So, guests beware, if you stay with us you will have to share this bathroom (and I may ask you to clean the litter box, hehe).

The master bathroom countertops weren't bad but since we wanted to change one bathroom we decided to change all of the bathrooms. We chose the same color cultured marble as the upstairs (Riley's) bathroom.

This isn't as drastic of a change as the burgundy but it looks much nicer with the recessed sinks and rounded edges. Not to mention, those recessed sinks are sooo much easier to keep clean. 

Here is the before and after shot of the half bathroom. Again, there wasn't anything terrible about these old countertops but we decided to change them out for something nicer. We went with a cultured granite instead of the marble. 

This is my favorite. I love that color granite and the oil rubbed bronze water pump faucet. This picture really doesn't do it justice. I try to find excuses to go in this bathroom just to look at this cute little faucet. Here, let me give you a close up picture so you can see for yourself.

See what I mean? It's adorable and fun to use. I also picked out a cool light fixture to fit in with the farmhouse feel. Once we get a new mirror up and find the right decorations, this little bathroom may be the cutest spot in the house! :)

Get Ready to be "Floor"ed.

A last minute addition to our to-do list was refinishing the hardwoods in the kitchen. We originally thought they looked fine but after seeing the beadboard and new paint we decided they may need some TLC. So, even though it pushed our move in date back we decided it should be added to the list.

The hardwoods used to be almost the same color as the kitchen cabinets so we wanted to choose a stain to differentiate the two. Please disregard how rough the kitchen looks in the after and just focus on the floors. :)

After the hardwoods were refinished we were able to have the carpets installed! Woohoo! The house had been carpet-less for over a month. Now we have beautiful, clean, and extremely soft new carpet. We can also walk around barefoot without fear of dying from the exposed tack strip.

This is one good before and after picture of the master bedroom to show the difference. You can tell the carpet was worn out before and needed to be replaced. I've spent the past couple nights relaxing on the new carpet while Colin ripped out the old countertops and it's very comfy!

Next up in the before and after shots we have the master bathroom floors. We didn't want carpet in the sink area and wanted the same flooring to go all the way to the shower. We thought carpet in that area might get too wet and linoleum would be easier to clean.

The before picture was taken the day we closed so it had the old paint color. Oh, and the after gives a little sneak peek of the new countertops that I promised to share. I'm waiting on the plumber to install the new faucets so you can get your moneys worth with the before and after pictures. :)

The guest bathroom has the same flooring as the master bathroom so I'll skip that and go straight to something new and exciting. The half bath got a major update from the original early 90's flooring. The original was yellowing and tearing away from the wall. 

We decided to help ease this little bathroom into the 21st century with some pretty hardwoods. Not real hardwoods but maybe I fooled you for a second there? Honestly, I think it looks just as good as the real thing. This linoleum was a relatively inexpensive update and completely changed the feel of this bathroom (and the laundry room attached to it). 

So, what do you think? Some pretty major changes, right? Well, just wait because the new bathroom countertops and faucets are coming soon. Followed closely by the new kitchen countertops and backsplash. Oh, and did I mention we have already started moving stuff in? We are hoping to be mostly moved in this weekend! :)

To-Do List Progress: What's Done and Still to Come

It's been almost two weeks since I've posted anything and I didn't want y'all to think I was holding out on you or had decided not to share anymore. So, here's a quick look at my updated list:

1. Beadboard in the kitchen and living room (see it here)
2. New paint everywhere: walls, trim, closets (see it here)
3. Install a security system
4. New bathroom countertops (this reveal is coming soon)
5. Kitchen hardwood floors refinished (starts tomorrow and should be finished Friday)
6. New carpet and bathroom floors (should all be done this Saturday)
7. New kitchen countertops installed the end of next week
8. New backsplash installed soon after the kitchen countertops

There you have it, four of the eight major projects are done! Six of the eight should be done by the end of this week! Oh, how I love marking things off my list. 

Everyone keeps asking when we will be moving in and I hadn't been able to give a good answer. Now I can finally say in about one week! It's been over a month since we closed so I'm very excited about seeing everything come together! I wish y'all could have seen the house before we started making changes. It's going to be like a new house and I can't wait to get settled in! :)

New Paint: Transforming Crazy Color to Cottage Chic

The second thing on our to-do list was to have everything inside repainted. I mean everything, the walls, trim, closets, it was all begging for a facelift. 

The previous owners had several bold color choices (blue in the master bedroom, yellow in the half bath, and two different greens in the kitchen/hallway). They had it decorated really cute with fun patterns and colors. We really didn't notice the paint colors the first time we walked through. I actually didn't mind the blue in the bedroom and the yellow in the bathroom but since all the rooms connected it was kind of a color explosion. Needless to say, we were wanting to tone everything down with nice welcoming neutrals and maybe in the future add more colors. Also, check out how the kitchen and hallway used to look with the chair rail and two different green colors. See why I'm in love with the beadboard?!?

The kitchen is painted Sprout and it ended up being a lighter green than we expected. It looks even lighter in this picture than it does in person. We realized that the little paint sample seems to change once it's put over a large area. But, it's starting to grow on me and I'm glad we decided to paint it a different color from the rest of the house.

Everything else is painted Barcelona Beige and I'm really happy with how it looks. Again, the picture doesn't really show how it looks in person. It's a very good neutral and it gives all the rooms a clean and cohesive look. All the trim and beadboard are painted Greek Villa and it looks great. The trim looked pretty yellow before so just picking a whiter color made it look brand new.

Oh, and here's a before and after picture like I promised. The before picture makes me like our paint choice even more. It was a little old fashioned and too minty before. What do you think? I know I'm a little biased but I think the new paint has transformed the crazy color to cottage chic. :)

Beadboard is up and I'm loving it!

One of the first things on my wish list for this house was adding beadboard to the kitchen and living room. We thought it would make the house have more of a cottage/farmhouse feel. So, with the help of an awesome family friend, my helpful father, and my sweet husband, the beadboard installation began last weekend. Please excuse my iPhone photography (my iPhone is always on hand, whereas my "nice" camera, not so much).

We're getting new carpet so everything is pretty rough looking right now. Progress usually isn't pretty. I only snapped a few pictures during the beginning stages of project when me and my mom were delivering lunch to the hard workers. Even with it not being painted yet, I knew it was going to change the rooms completely and I would love it.

It took about 3 days for the guys to finish up the project and they did a great job. The painters started this week so it has been primed and painted now. I will remember to take my "nice" camera to get some shots of the finished product and show some before pictures.

I have a feeling this addition will most likely be my favorite thing in the house for quite some time. Guests may find I'm unable to pull myself away from the beauty. Okay, that's a little extreme but I really am loving it. I can't be the only one who loves beadboard this much, can I?

Oh, and here's a shout out to my favorite beadboard guys, Mr. Charles, Daddy, and Colin (if anyone of you happen to read this): THANK YOU SO MUCH! Y'all did such a good job, I'm sure you wouldn't mind taking a couple weeks to install this everywhere in the house, right? Just kidding! Maybe... :)

Welcome!

First things first, welcome to my blog! Why, "Our Little Green Nest" you ask?

Well, after much deliberation, I decided this name fully captured how we feel about our new home. It's ours (woohoo!), it's little (a whopping 1,500 sq. ft.), it's green (which I love) and it's a nest (cuter than saying house...and I had a picture of a nest). 

I'll be posting pictures of projects we're doing for our own records and to keep family and friends updated. I'm hoping some good before and after pictures will be coming soon. Everyone loves a good before and after picture, right?