The Outside

Okay, I finally found the before pictures of our backyard. The front yard looks basically the same as before and since I still can't find a before picture of the front. Just picture a dead tree in the middle of the front yard. that is all that has changed.

The Front Yard

The Back Yard Before

The Back Yard Now

Okay, so maybe it is not a dramatic transformation, but it took tilling up the dirt twice to get grass to grow at all. Have you ever tried to grow grass through three-year-old dead sod? The sod was placed on a net...have you ever tried raking soil through a fish net. It sucks. I think my Grandpa Stewart would be proud of our progress - minus the lack of flowers. Don't mind the dead spots there by the sidewalk. I am pretty sure those are piddle spots from Reno. At least he has grass to piddle on. Now, we need to decide what to do with the perimeter of the yard. The front yard I am not too worried about. Any suggestion on shrubs or trees for the back yard?

Finally a Blog Post: The House

So, two and a half years after getting a blog page and after six months of owning a house, I am finally getting around to taking pictures and posting pictures for our friends and family to see. We have had a few visitors since buying the house, but for those you who have seen the house (Grandma Stewart, Stevie's mom, Logan's mom, Ashlee, Tanner, Meghan and Hannah), there have been some changes.

The house we purchased was very generic, as many subdivision homes are. And while the house was a bit oversized for the three of us (Reno included), the market was almost too good to be true. We have been able to take an ordinary beige-upon-beige home (linoleum, tile and carpet was all beige and walls were ALL white), and make it something that suits us perfectly. For now, we are done making upgrades, but come spring, the kitchen cabinets, linoleum and countertops will be the next to go.

Unfortunately for many, the recession has been a very negative event in history, but for the Ipsen family of Elk Grove, we have been quite blessed. Two people our age would probably rarely be able to purchase a home in this area of the country but we are very grateful that things have worked in our favor.

Below I am posting before and after photos of most of the rooms so you can all see the dramatic differences. Unfortunately I wasn't great about before pics when the house was empty. I only have the main living areas before. Other before pics were taken after we just moved in and were getting ready to paint and others before pics never got taken at all.

For those of you who don't know, it was a foreclosure and had been treated rather unkindly. But it was relatively clean compared to a lot of foreclosures we looked at. It was also broken into after we signed on the house and all of the appliances were taken, so you all get the pleasure of seeing exactly how much fun this house was to clean.

Enjoy!

Entering Our Home

Entry Area

This is Logan tearing out the tile earlier this week. What a pain...for him. The after result looks pretty good!

Kitchen: pre-disgusting and post-disgusting.

Also note, when appliances are missing that post-robbery. When we bought the house there were appliances but they were stolen by vandals. We are probably better off with the new appliances provided by the bank.

Family Room

Logan's Office

Downstairs bathrooms

I never took a before picture of the 1/2 bath, but they look basically the same as before anyway.

Formal Dining Room

Formal Living Room

Workout Room

This does not show the room from the beginning. We painted it a long time ago. This just shows what the new floor looks like.

Master Bedroom

This shows our room after we moved in but before we painted. I apologize that it isn't exactly clean. The suitcases are a permanent fixture in our room. Why bother completely unpacking when we will just be leaving again?!

Master Bathroom

Again, not exactly clean. The colors are now chocolate brown and mint green. The only brown wall is the only wall you can see.

The following rooms do not have before photos. But you can guess what they looked like -- white and dirty.

Guest bedroom #1

Guest bedroom #2 -- still white, any suggestions?

Upstairs Guest Bathroom

Loft

This room is very large and very empty. All we have in it is a chair and magazine holder, so again, I am open to suggestions. No Pooltables Allowed!

Well, for anyone still reading this novel of a post. That is our house. If you are ever in our neighborhood, we would love to show it to you in person. And if any of you outside of the Golden State would like a West Coast vacation, we would love to have you stay with us. We have oodles of room.

As for future blogs. I will try really hard to make blogging about our lives a priority. I write and work on Web sites all day at work, so it is not the first thing I look forward to when I come home, but I will certainly make more of an effort than I have to this point.