You’ve seen the front and back of our new house. It’s about time we went inside, no?

When you first come through the front door, you see the staircase on your left, the living room on your right, and a hallway directly in front of you.

We’re keeping the little wooden table, but I’m definitely going to paint it. I’m leaning toward white at the moment – maybe with a dip-dye effect, like this? I’m open to suggestions!

The entryway and hallway have tile floors, which extend into the kitchen. I hate them. When we have the money, we’re going to put down hardwoods through the entire first floor. And the ceiling in the hallway is lower than the rest of the first floor, for some reason, so we’re hoping we can raise it at some point. Plus, why the hell was there a door there?! We’ve already taken the door off, and the frame needs to go at some point, too.

While we live with the tile floors, I’m thinking of putting down a runner. We’ll also need to replace the light fixture, but until then, I’m thinking maybe I can use some Rub ‘n Buff to dull the shiny brass finish, like in this post.

On the left of the hallway is our “powder room.” We had one of these in our first rental home, and we loved it. They’re so much easier to keep clean for guests!

Eventually, we’ll want to replace the toilet, vanity, mirror and light fixtures, but for now, we’re just painting the room Champion Cobalt by Benjamin Moore. It looks like this (featured by West Elm!):

After the bathroom is a coat closet, then a short hallway to the garage. Yes, that’s a doggy door.

We’ve already ordered a new door. Macy hasn’t figured out how to use the doggy door yet, but she will eventually, and we do not want her in the garage. Macy + chemicals + sharp tools + potentially open door = Not a good combo.

After you pass the hallway to the garage, you reach the kitchen.

It’s not huge, and it’s not particularly pretty. We’ve got big plans for a total overhaul in the future, but we’ve got some saving to do first.

It does have fairly new appliances, though, and a pantry, so we’re not complaining.

The gas stove is brand-new, and it has FIVE burners. Five! What are we going to do with five burners?!

And of course, I’m obsessed with the window over the sink. I’ve always loved sink-windows, and I’m especially thrilled that I can put plants in there, and my kitty cats can bask in the sun. My parents’ house had a bay window over the kitchen sink, so I think it’s a nostalgia thing.

There are so many changes that we want to make to this kitchen, it’ll need its own post. But since it’s going to be at least a few years before we can gut the thing and start from scratch, we’ve got to make the place livable in the meantime. This weekend, Brad and his dad took down the cabinets blocking the view out of the kitchen. That will get its own post, too, but here’s a sneak peek:

It makes such a huge difference. The kitchen doesn’t feel anywhere near as cramped anymore, and so much more light gets in there! And you can talk to people in the dining room! It’s wonderful.

There’s a truly horrible fluorescent light on the ceiling, so we may want to replace it with an inexpensive fixture, like one of these from Lowes.

one | two | three

The cabinet hardware is already antiqued brass, so I’d really like to paint the cabinets dark gray, for a look like this:

Via Cote de Texas

Via House and Home

The wood is super grainy (is that a word?) and pretty banged up, though, so I’m not sure if painting them is within my DIY ability. We’re going to ask our painter how much he’d charge to paint them for us, and then we’ll assess whether that’s worth it. He and his crew are starting today! I can’t WAIT to see how the house looks with all the light blue gone! The entryway and kitchen will both be painted in our perfect light gray, Benjamin Moore’s Alaskan Husky.

So, that’s it for the first interior portion of the house tour. Next up: the dining room. We already bought our dining set, and I’m so excited to show it to you!

As always, PLEASE share suggestions for home updates, renovations, decor, etc!