Island House Tour
When we moved here, about 16 months ago, a far away friend suggested that I do a new house tour, like the ones I did years ago of our previous home, in Colorado. I have posted a lot of these rooms before, but this is all of them in one place, and all taken today because we got ready for visitors…who did not end up coming…but that is ok because I ended up with a cleaner than usual house. 🙂 So, time for the super duper long tour!
Come on in! If we see you coming, we will get the gate for you. 🙂 We used to always keep it open, but in an effort to keep kitties in, we close it now. (Kitties still leave, but we think we are letting them know they shouldn’t by closing it!)
As you come in, you might be tempted to come to that door behind the planter box. Resist that! Please follow the path to the FRONT door. 🙂 If you come through the downstairs door, you are coming into our basement. Some of the kids friends think that our kitchen is UPstairs, because they see the basement as the main level. Anyhow, that is just our school room that you come into there and I invite you to come on to the front door and come into our entry and living room!
So, this way. 🙂
Come on in! 🙂
Come on up.
Our main living space.
We eat our dinners together here and I am often distracted by the view!
I spend a lot of time in the living room, usually in that chair closest to the fireplace. My “side” is usually much more cluttery than Rick’s, but of course I cleared most of that so there is no proof here. 😉
tMy view. Have I ever told you about our couch? I remember it being delivered to our house when I was about 5 or 6 years old! It is in amazing shape for its age (37+ years!), probably because most of the time we weren’t allowed to actually sit on it. 🙂 Since becoming ours, about 20 years ago, it has seen more use, but still looking pretty good. Although probably not what I would think to pick out, it has worked with any decor I have used it with (including the very pink and frilly “cottage” look I started with early in our marriage!) and I love it and plan to keep it forever.
This fireplace insert is probably my favorite improvement we have made to this house so far. It keeps us toasty warm and our heat bills more reasonable.
Pretty view from the living room (on a beautiful, clear day).
Also on the main level is our master bedroom. It is cozy, but so was our bedroom when we chose this furniture about 17 years ago, so it fits just right! We did change our bed frame a couple of years ago when Rick made this lovely one for us. It is one of my favorite things.
And our guest room. I wish we had a guest SUITE to offer peeps, but we don’t. This is it. It gets hodge-podgy because I put some of my favorite quirky art pieces, junk store finds and such in here. 🙂
The main floor bathroom. This was kind of a wreck when we moved in! I painted the cabinet black (someone had tried to match the cabinet to the blue sink/tub and toilet!), added updated hardware, painted the walls, put in new lighting and mirror and new flooring. I have some more wishes, like hex floor tiles and maybe a new vanity and counter top, but overall, I think it turned out pretty cute for the tiny amount that we spent on it.
I know it is weird to take a picture of the toilet! But it is kind of special being blue and hanging on the wall instead of sitting on the ground and all! Don’t you think? LOL One day a county assessor type person came over to get updated info on our house and take pix and reassess our house and she wanted to know if we had updated the bathrooms or still had “those old blue fixtures”. I am pretty sure she even made a face when she said blue. Ha. I like them.
There are two doorways into the kitchen, one from the living/dining room, and one from the bedrooms. This is from the dining room doorway.
Here you can see the doorway to the bedrooms (and kind of the doorway to the living room). I have complained here about my kitchen before, but really, it is all good. We make it work and I am thankful for all the storage space in here. It looked pretty different when we moved in. We have put in the new flooring (temporary though, hoping to get a couple more years out of it), painted the cupboards, changed the hardware, built the little snack bar and replaced all of the appliances. We also added that dresser because it was just a big hole there and that was actually weirder than a dresser. Ha.
This is the stairway to the back door and also to the lower level of our home. Kid zone!
When you come down the stairs (or in the side door by the big planter!), you are in our school room. There is a mudroom type area at that one end, the rest we use for our school supplies and work area and such.
From there, there is a door to this family room. Or all purpose room really. A LOT goes on in here! You can see Bella in the corner there- that is her art desk and it spills over and there is art paint on the wall behind it, but I try not to bug too much about it because art is her thing.
Kids also use this room for playing L*gos and army guys and petshops and watching TV and playing Wii and computer games, and and and…
Then the other side of the room is sort of my craft corner. A sewing desk and a corner of crafting supplies. The funny little half slider door thingys are storage. Very awkward, but very needed, storage.
Hallway to closets, laundry, kid rooms and bathroom.
Levi’s room.
Girl’s room. They each have a “side”. 🙂
Now, I will say, while I like the blue fixtures upstairs ok, I would be open to changing these out to white. There is just a lot going on with the green mosaic tiles I think. Anyhow, I have ideas for this bathroom, but we have a long list ahead of this.
Out back, between house and forest.
Also out back.
My favorite. One of them anyway. I wish the lilac blooms would last and last because it is my favorite scent on the planet. I even buy perfume oil to make my own self smell like a big ole lilac bush. lol
Front yard.
Peeps spend hours out here.
I moved these rocks from Colorado. I probably snuck them on the truck because Rick would not have been on board with that!
Kitties make a house more homey. We love them. They hang around outside all day and come in for snuggles at night. During the day they HUNT and play and are so funny to watch. They hop around in the air and lounge in the sun and get this, they run to greet us if we leave and come back during the day. So cutie pie.
Another fave.
To one side of our house is a path to two outbuildings. So far, they are just outbuildings with potential, but we are hoping to make one of them into an office for Rick and the other into (at least) a rec room for the kids.
A good place to sit with a friend for a chat and a tea.
Come visit for real, any time.
xo, Tiffany
Valerie
You live in PARADISE!! (and a VERY cozy, well decorated one at that!!) 🙂