Welcome to Fort Kickass

At last - a project I didn't have to do!

Sadly, we said goodbye to the house with the TARDIS-blue door and the repainted kitchen and converted closet-desk and... *sigh*  There was a lot invested there in addition to three years of memories, but for various reasons, we decided to downsize.

Meet various reasons.

Parker was joined by brother Archer mid-June! In anticipation of our new arrival, I determined we should make our lives as simple as possible, by first making things as difficult as possible, lol.  Last year we began our house-hunting, and located a house with 1000 square feet less than our mid-80s rental, for purchase.

Our new house!

I'll try to reign in the excitement and spare you the frustration we went through in trying to secure this house.  Just know we are all moved in and happily settled, caring for our boys and pets in this lovely historic dwelling.

The house was originally built in 1935 in the mission revival style common to the area of town called Ortega.  What you can't see here is the abundance of stores and stuff within walking distance - Parker catches the bus on the corner that I can see from our porch, and we have a gas station, grocery store, dollar store, Dunkin Donuts, ABC (hey, it's important), game store (for reasons) and elementary school less than a 2 minute walk from our front door.

In addition to the great neighborhood, the house itself has so much character!  Original hardwood floors revitalized to their former glory, a non cookie-cutter layout, and enough updates and upgrades to bring it current without losing it's charm.  Here's some before & afters...

Front Before: Drab and in need of some color.

After - painted doors and overhangs really makes the front pop.

Main room before: gotta love that mustard yellow - yuck!

Main room after - white door and trimmed fireplace with versatile gray paint and a new ceiling fan.

Main room before - who thought this was a good color? Baby poop yellow?

Main room after - looking towards the sunroom, one of my favorite parts about this house!

Kitchen before - Nothing matches! Is that red or orange or rorange?  So glad I never saw it like this in person.

After = WOW.  Sleek dishwasher repositioned next to a stainless sink, marble countertops, travertine back splash and dark wood cabinetry.

Yeesh.  Dated white appliances clashing with oak cabinets and very 80s countertops.  And that light tile with dark grout - whoa.

And again - WOW.  Sleek, chic and unique, without compromising the overall feel of the house.

Another of my favorites - an honest to goodness butler pantry between the kitchen & dining room.  Classy.

Dining room before - um, can you pick a color? And those shutters aren't doing any favors, either.

Dining room after - not a great pic, but trust me - it's a zillion times better.  New chandelier and one color throughout.

This bedroom became Parker's room - not much to redo, but the improvements were welcomed.

New ceiling fan/light, removed dark shutters and fresh coat of paint - fantastic.

Upstairs Hallway Before - I don't have an after, but they tore our that awkward light fixture and painted the back of the built in bookcases white - looks 1000% better.

This is our sunroom with French doors leading to our front patio. Atop the sunroom is a balcony right outside our master bedroom, where I can reach over and snag grapefruit from the tree in our backyard.

Our sunroom has become sanctuary for our pets food, water and litter boxes. Unfortunately, our dogs are touched in the head and like to bark at any and everything that moves past the windows, including a one-eyed cat that's made our porch his summer home.  I snagged these window clings at Walmart for about $25 per roll - they're not stickers, they go up with water and get "squeegeed" onto the glass.  Solved our problem and they look gorgeous to boot!

The house itself is pretty much set up and painted the way I like it - my next projects will likely be redoing our dining room set and an IKEA trip for new living room furniture (once our bank account replenishes itself following my maternity leave).