Hello! It’s almost the end of summer, and we’re trying to wrap up a few little projects outside and get ready for school for the kids. Things have been progressing fairly slowly in the house over the summer, but we hope to get back at it over the fall and winter.

Last summer we built an open concept raised bungalow, and we pretty much finished everything by the fall. The problem as an owner builder, when you also live in your house while you work on it, is projects don’t always get totally completed. So to keep myself on track with what still needs to be done, I’m going to take you on a tour of our home. I’ll give links to everything we’ve done so far, and list what we still have left to do.

House Plans

To begin with, I’ll remind you of our house plans. We built a 1650 square foot open concept raised bungalow with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, on 30 acres of land in the country.

Mudroom

Between the front hall and the garage is the mudroom. We wanted a large area we could use as a drop zone for all the kids clothes and boots, and hide it all away behind the pocket door. For now it functions well with hooks I hung up, but we would love to build a bench and add some cubbies. And we also need to paint the trim.

Front Hall

Going through a pocket door from the mudroom is the front hall. The front door is mainly used for guests to enter. All that’s left to do in the front hall is paint the trim and doors.

Living room

Up the stairs from the front hall is the open concept living area.

I can’t show you the entire living room though. It’s a well used room, and I just can’t be bothered enough to clean it to take a picture.

In the living room I made some industrial curtains rods from pvc pipe, and I dyed some IKEA curtains a shade of pale blue. Left to do is to paint the trim, and hang some art.

Kitchen

Behind the living room is our l-shaped kitchen. We opted for dark wood shaker style cabinets, a white quartz counter, and a mixture of black and pewter finishes. There are a few things to finish in the kitchen, including the crown moulding, baseboard around the island, and then tile the backsplash. Throughout the house we did a mix of high and low end light fixtures to keep us on budget.

Dining room

The dining room is at the back of the house and has large windows that look out over the yard. I made the curtain rods and dyed the curtains to match those in the living room. And you guessed it, we still need to paint trim.

Covered deck

We finished installing the handrail on the deck just before it got really cold last fall. I did a pretty fancy diagonal pattern with the deck boards that I think turned out quite well. We have big plans for this back area (who knows when or if it will ever happen, but it never hurts to dream). We’d like to extend the upper deck, build a lower deck, and hopefully put in an above ground pool. 

Main hallway

The main living area is connected to all the bedrooms and bathrooms down the main hall. This is the most finished area in our house. I did this hall makeover as part of the spring one room challenge, where my whole plan was to install and paint all the trim and doors in the house. We did finish installing all the trim in the house, but I ran out of time and didn’t finish painting it.

Main bathroom

We finished off the main bathroom last fall. We tiled the shower ourselves using large white subway tile. That was a big job and nearly broke me. The vanity is a dark grey, and we have a white quartz counter with shiny chrome accents.

Girls bedroom

The girls bedroom is another room that is pretty much finished. I painted three walls the same color as the rest of the house, but added a bright pink accent wall. There’s a fun mix of colorful furniture that I painted, including this toddler bed. I still need to paint the trim, and I would like to paint my daughter’s pink bed to clash less with all the other pinks going on.

 

Boys bedroom

If everything goes according to plan, this will be our next main project. Our little guy will soon be transitioning out of his crib, and we’d like to make this a fun room for both of the boys. Right now the room is pretty sad. I ran out of paint for the walls on the second coat, the room is mostly used as a storage area, that dresser has a broken leg, the curtains are too short, and yes, that’s a blanket that I’ve been using as an area rug. We have plans to build a loft bed with lots of storage, and a desk underneath. I think it will be a really cool room makeover, so stay tuned for that!

Master bedroom

Our bedroom will probably be one of the last ones to finish. There’s nothing wrong with it, other than it’s a little bland and boring. Again, I can’t show you a picture because it would take too long to put away all the laundry and tools that tend to accumulate there. All that it really needs though is some painted trim and a bit of decoration.

We also have a large walk-in closet that we customized to maximize the storage space.

Master bathroom

The last thing I showed you from our bathroom was our plans for tiling. The bathroom is pretty much done, but there’s a few more little things we need to do before we can say it’s finished.

Basement

We still need to finish the stairs down to the basement to match the stairs going upstairs. In the basement we will eventually build a wall between the furnace area and the rest of the basement. We would also like to put in a bathroom, two bedrooms, and a living area. This is a long-term plan, and we probably won’t even think about it for five years.

Outside

There is so much landscaping to do when you build a house. There is a lot to do and I’m sure it will take a long time to get a nice looking property. We also did some stamped concrete on our front step, and I planted a wildflower meadow at the front corner of our property. Outside we still need topsoil in some areas, and I’d like to plant flower beds at the front of the house.

That’s it for the house tour, thanks for visiting!

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