Hamilton House

We've been in Poplar Bluff for three whole months now, so I figured I'd show you what our "new" digs are looking like. Now, I don't have a lot of before pictures...primarily due to the fact that upon our first meeting, the house and I didn't become fast friends. Long story short, my wonderful hubby picked out the place all by himself, without me knowing/seeing anything about it before he signed the lease. In his defense (from me), I must add, we were on a super duper short timeline. He literally found out he was being relocated on a Friday, had to report to work that Monday, I visited him and the new town that following Sunday, we got married the next weekend, and the entire family made the move about three days later. Throw in two emergency room visits for Davin and you've got yourself a PAR-TAY!!! Just kidding...but, it was crazytown.

So anyway, when I first got to see the house, it wasn't my favorite. You couldn't get into the house from the garage. The floors were uneven (I'm talkin about roller-coaster-ride-uneven). There were a couple chipped/broken windows. And the bathrooms not only looked like they hadn't been updated in 30 years, but they didn't even have electrical outlets or anywhere to store towels, toiletries, etc. But it does have its ups. Its nice and open with ample living space. The kitchen has been updated and has great storage space. The laundry room is huge (actually bigger than both bathrooms put together). The master does have an on-suite. And we sit on a huge lot!

Once we got our furniture in (which was about a week and a half after moving...ughh...hotel living...uuuggggghhhhh), I started to feel a lot better about my honey's pick for our first place. Of course, I instantly went to work placing what we had and then making a wish list of all the things I felt like I wanted we needed. Haha.

I would like to warn you that I did NOT stage, prop or clean any of these spaces before I decided to take all of the pics, so...sorry in advance. I promise to update these with better, cleaner, properly staged photos as I dig further into decorating this place. So, without further delay..............

This is our first nest! I took this picture standing at our mailbox near the street. No, its not the Taj Mahal, or even our dream house by any means, but it does beat out my old apartment and my hubby's bachelor ROOM by a long shot!

This is what you see as soon as you open the front door. I'm so proud to say that that console table was my first DIY project in the new house! I built, sanded, stained and finished it all by myself! It took a bit longer than I would've liked, but polyurethane takes a while to dry. Anyhoo, I'll show better pictures of it later.

This is our living room (I'm standing at the front door). I love our TV stand and will definitely show some detail shots of it later (we got it after not being able to live the one I had in my old place...about a month after move-in day).

Here's our bomb-digidy Christmas tree!!! I'm kinda obsessed with it, so imagine my reaction when my little Davin knocked it over...yeah...I'll let you paint that picture...............sorry, I was woo-sah-ing. I've been afraid to touch it up since we picked it up off the floor. The base broke when it fell, so it starts to fall again when you blow on it too heavily. (Don't ask me how I know that.) I'll talk more about it, the ornaments and the non-existing topper later on this week. *Update: I'm already making new ornaments so the tree doesn't even look like this anymore. New pics coming soon.

That little reindeer is Davin's first "hand-made" ornament that he brought home from daycare. I'm contemplating making a whole bunch of them for a reason I have yet to determine.

Now, we're in the dining space and its pretty straight forward. Please, don't mind the mirror on the floor or the too-small wreath hanging above the credenza. Yeah, they really bother me, but not enough to do anything about it yet.

Here's the kitchen. It's pretty junky. Don't want to talk about it, really.

Yeah, more kitchen. And another mirror that you should ignore.

Here's one side of our ENORMOUS laundry room...

...and here's the other. Fun, right?

Ok, so this is our third bedroom. Most people would be embarrased by this space, but I'm actually proud of it. I have a space inside the house that we can just throw stuff in and then have a pretty good idea of where it is when we need to look for it again. This rooms holds all of my clothes, shoes, jewelry, hats, scarves, purses, belts, etc. that don't fit in our bedroom, all my arts, crafts, tools & stuff, Mr. Marcus's stuff that doesn't have a place in the house yet, stuff we haven't unpacked at all, and stuff that needs to be trashed or donated.

I love this space, cuz it's kinda a dressing room for me, so it's my own little space, kinda. But, if I never go in there, all I have to do is close the door and everything disappears! It's magic!!!

Here's the hall bath (or Davin's bathroom). I had to go and buy that shelf thing the day we moved in since there was absolutely NO WHERE ELSE to put absolutely anything! It's not the most stylish form for bathroom storage, but it works! And since this place is only temporary, I probably wont do anything to make it any better. Just no point.

Here's the other side of the hall bath. I had to call our landlord to make them have someone come out and put the outlet in here. I promise you, there was no where in this bathroom to plug up your air freshener, clippers or flat iron! Who does that??? Anyway, we got one. And it works. So no more complaining. 

This is Davin's room! Not cool for a three year old. : ( Momma is slacking in this room.

Luckily, Davin is like his daddy and doesn't really notice. There's a bed, a TV and a Wii gaming console. He's a happy camper.

And sadly, ladies and gents, this is the master bedroom. It kinda makes me cry a little bit to walk in here and see it like this every day. Of course it looks a lot better when the bed is made, but its still lacking A LOT! Like color, a headborard, and lamps that actually work.

Luckily, the marrital romance has not been affected by the room's lack of personality. But, like I said before, the hubby doesn't really notice that it's not finished. I think he's just happy to be able to put his clothes in a real dresser and not a tupperware container. (typing that just kinda made me giggle a little...why is tupperware so funny? oh, it's just me? got it.).

I tried loading pics of our master bath, but my laptop decided to go on strike. Luckily, the bathroom isn't special enough to even be shown to the world. I mean, it may make an appearance on the blog one day, but like it's almost identical brother, the hall bath, it won't be seeing any upgrades. Totally not worth it.
So that's the place. Again, I want to apologize for these pics and their quality. Trust me when I say, "IT WILL GET BETTER!" And, also, like I said before, I got started making a list of needs (wants) right away, and I thought it would be "fun" to share it all with you guys. Here they go!

Entry Area

• Runner or bigger rug

Living Area

• New sofa (preferably this one)
• Huge rug (like this one)
• Coffee table (this one exactly)
• A lounge chair or two
• Side Tables
• A couple lamps
• Lots of pretty stuff that ice the cake : )

Dining Area

• Bigger table (to hopefully seat 6)
• 2 cool chairs to use as captains chairs at the new table
• A bar cart (or something like it) to house our stemware & adult beverages
• 2 or 3 counter stools

Davin's Room

• Headboard (DIY, duh)
• TV stand/dresser (I really like this one)
• New rug
• Art
• Wall shelves for books (another DIY???)
• Some kind of window treatment (roman shade, maybe)

Master

• Headboard (a DIY must)
• Rug
• New lamps
• Art
• A bench for the foot of the bed
• Curtains
• More pretty stuff!

Yes, this list is crazy long, but you have to remember the following: #1. We're not loaded, so we won't be buying all this stuff at once. #2. I live on finding a bargain, so everything possible will be on clearance, thrifted, traded, or whatever to save as many pennies as possible. #3. The stuff we do splurge on will be things that will last us a good long while (5-8 years minimum). #4. I love nothing more than to make something out of nothing, so a lot of things I plan to do myself. And last, but not least, #5. If any of you are in the mood of giving, we welcome all gifts, presents, and other acts of kindness ($$$). Hope y'all can take a hint. ; )

So, since I didn't get the chance to "make over" my last place, I hope you guys join me as I work to make this place our home. Are you guys working on livening up your spaces? Need some help from a designer? I might know one that's available.