New Home Tour: The Highlights

First of all let me just say how incredibly gorgeous Louisiana is.  I seem to fall in love with it more and more on a daily basis.  Its hard not to with views like the gorgeous Caney Lake that Jimmie Davis State Park is situated on.  This is just a short drive down the way from our home, and Louisiana is chalk full of a plethora of other incredible scenic views, friendly people, and great food.  I do believe that Louisiana and I will get along just fine.

Now on to the rental.  Let me just say that we were blessed to find our rental.  The price and size were right, but lets be honest our last house will be a hard act to follow.  So I thought I would share some before pictures with you all before I start making very many tweaks.  Lets just say this place will be super duper awesome when I'm finished.

Lets start with the Living Room.  Where should I start.  I mean there's the blue carpet with mystery pet stains, and the sea foam green walls.  The girl horde was clearly enjoying it pre-furniture.

Also in the Living Room is the front door.  I happen to really love this front door.  It doesn't have hideous stained glass, and the frosted pattern on the window is really rather lovely.  That being said the previous residents managed to paint it the exact color of dinge.  As in dingy, or old bandaid if you will.  Of course the rose and cream linoleum really compliments the old bandaid paint color choice that is repeated Through Out The House.

Then there are the nice blinds in the Living Room with this faux finish.  Up close its not so bad, but from a distance it just makes them look dirty.  Thats right folks old bandaid paint accents, and permanently "dusty" blinds.  Did I mention the curtain toppers in there that match the old bandaid paint too?

Yup.  Those are holes.  All I can say is if this is how my cable provider ran my cable I would be LIVID.  However, this to can be fixed with a little bit of spackle and paint.

These little built in bench seats are actually pretty cute (old bandaid paint aside).  They flank the front door, and are the prime spot for pretend naps for the 6 and under crowd that hang out around here.

The best thing about the Living Room is the fire place (something our last home lacked).  It actually makes this room feel narrow, but as you can see there was joy that Santa will for sure find us this year.  Be sure not to miss the awesome french doors painted in...you guessed it, old bandaid.  There must have been a sale on that color or something.

This is what is covering all of walls in the dining room.  I'm going to be really honest here folks.  Other than the fact that this style and pattern was only popular for like a nanosecond during the 90s it also gives me a headache if I look at it directly.  So, much like the sun, I don't recommend full-on retinal exposure with out worrying about permanent damage.

My master bathroom makes me want to go sailing.  Not sure why...

The only thing classier than the 90s-tastic dusty blue counters is the crackle painted counter surround.  I would suggest that before attempting this at home that you might want to brush up on your math skills because this here folks is a prime example of how to use math in everyday life.  If you don't measure, and cut precisely you might end up with weird gaping corners...

The guest bathroom is covered in, wall paper. <sigh>  The mirror in this bathroom, however, does have an adorable white frame, a nice neutral white tile, but nothing is perfect as is evidenced by the rose veined faux tile linoleum.

Now on to the bedrooms.  This dingy wall is in our master bedroom.  It is clearly where a wall paper topper had been, but has already been mercifully removed.

There's that old bandaid paint again, but the ladies couldn't have cared less.

The lacy curtain toppers add just that special touch of whimsy that this room needed to set off the wall color...said no one ever.

All joking aside however, this home has incredible bones.  The trim work in this house is beyond compare, and all of it is absolutely beautiful.  I've also learned that I'm far to fickle a woman to handle wall paper.  I've always steered away from tattoos because I get tired of paint colors and furniture styles after a few years so I'm pretty sure that I would hate body art just as fast, but then I would be stuck.  My new philosophy is that wall paper is the tattoo of the decor world.  It makes a statement, yes, but its incredible difficult and time consuming to remove.