Movin' On Up

We've been in the new place for just under two months, so I figured it's about time for a picture update.  I thought about waiting until we have everything the way we REALLY want it, but then, if I held off for that, there would probably never be any pictures.  There's a lot of things I/we would like to do that will require saving up for.  So, consider this round the "in between" phase and just know that eventually, there will probably be another round of pics once we've made upgrades and changes to each room.  Also, I think I'll try and do this room by room over a series of posts, because otherwise it would be way too long. I'll also work through the rooms in the order in which you would see them as you walk through our home.

That means that first up is the kitchen/dining/living room.  Essentially, this is all one big room.  This is what it looked like before we moved in:

This is the view from the front door.  The perspective isn't great, but beyond the island is a dining area that isn't defined AT ALL in this pic because there's no light fixture.  Beyond the dining area is the living room.

Similar point of view NOW:

The room definitely looks longer now that we have furniture all moved in.  Everything fits nicely!  Definitely a relief.

A view of the kitchen, pre-move:

Better view of the kitchen.  So much storage compared to our old house!!  To the left of the refrigerator is the pantry - you can see the door handle here.

 A shot of what things looked like on moving day right:

 

This picture is deceiving, as it gives the illusion that the only boxes on the island are the ones you can see from this view.  Rest assured that there was another row of boxes behind what you see here.

And lastly, a view of the island and front door from the dining area/pantry, pre-move:

Similar shot, now:

A few shots of the dining area now (sorry, no pre-move pics of this space):
 

And a view of the living room, taken on moving day right after the movers left: 

We were a little nervous how things would fit in the space.  Luckily, we were able to part ways with a lot of stuff at our yard sale (a whole other post) and it all worked out.

Some current shots:

So what will change?  First and foremost, we want to get a new sectional sofa.  We actually found one that we both agree we REALLY like, which may come as a shock, given what I last wrote on the subject.  That will probably be one of the first things we pull the trigger on.

We also plan to invest in a new dining table and chairs.  What I think we will probably do is get the table and chairs from Crate and Barrel that coordinate with our hutch.  Still not sold on the chair situation (I don't want to be overly matchy), but we have a little time to figure that out.

We also want to get rid of the current coffee table.  Prior to moving, we had a yard sale and we sold the one we were using inside at the last house.  Now we are using the one that L had prior to us getting married.  It fits this living space better than the other one we had (that one was bigger), but this one is just not fabulous. 

I also want to paint the walls in here at some point and hang curtains.  Paint is daunting because it's a really big space to paint, so it'll have to be a color we really like.  This will most likely happen post-furniture purchasing.  The curtains are tough because the windows are so tall.  L's suggestions so far have been to just hang curtains at the top of the main windows so that natural light still comes in through the top windows or to get two curtain rods and hang a short set over the top set of windows and a long set over the long windows.  I know, I know - you're thinking what the rest of the world is thinking: WHY hasn't this man started his own design business yet??  Anyway, this will probably result in custom curtains of some sort because I really dislike the fabrics that are available in off the shelf options, but it's hard to pick fabrics when you're living with furniture you know you are getting rid of sooner than later.  However, plantation shutters are also a possibility.  We need to weigh costs at some point. 

Other items to tackle: finding something for the wall behind the sofa, upgrading the TV to one that can be wall-mounted, getting a new entertainment center console, and finding a light fixture to put over the dining room table.  We've looked a bit at light fixtures and we actually have found one we both like, but I kind of want to buy the new table before committing to a light fixture. 

So that's the kitchen/dining/living room of our new place!  Check back later this week for more pics of other rooms.