Join me today on a walkthrough of our new home! I’m sharing all of our before photos (complete with unpacked boxes and paint samples splotched all over the walls), and I hope you’ll join me on our journey to turn this house into our next home!

A little while back I revealed on my Instagram that we had moved! The beginning of this next chapter of our life has been exciting, overwhelming, and incredibly busy, but we are settling in to the new abode and making long-term plans for life on the other side of town. Moving into the new house is a massive change and we do want to make sure we are all set, so we’ve had a look at some alarm system Home services in our area that can provide what we need to keep us all secure if the dogs decide to have a rest from guarding one night.

Though we always wanted a cabin in the woods and were planning to invest in a tiny home, we have kept that as our next goal as we already have our farmhouse. However, this move into the big house was sparked by the need for more square footage, and the desire to live in a more secluded area with a bigger plot of land. We found our little slice of heaven in between two inland lakes, and although we are not technically on the water, we are lucky enough to have a bit of a lake view from our windows!

Unfortunately, the house isn’t without its faults. It’s slightly further away from shops and grocery stores than our last home but luckily they’re on the same route as my husband’s work so it’ll be easy for him to pick some stuff up. We’ll need to update the home security as well – I have a friend over in Australia who moved recently and made sure to change the locks on their home right away. They got a local Locksmith Caulfield has to help them with this, and since then they’ve felt a whole lot safer and happier in their home. We may do the same here, though time will tell on that front. Also, it’s an older property that hasn’t seen some love for a little while so there are some maintenance issues that we’ll need to address in the near future. I know the roof has seen better days so we’re keeping an eye on it and will replace it once it reaches a point of no return. I heard that mechanically seamed metal roofs are longer lasting than other roofs so we’re definitely going to be looking into that option with companies like the one at carolinahomespecialists.com!

The house itself is quite a change from our old home. The style is much more contemporary, and I was surprised how quickly I fell in love with it as I am much more of a transitional farmhouse kinda gal! But we can see the potential in this home, and we can’t wait to make it our own! Come along with us on our “before” tour!

First up, the entry way! I love the entry of this home, with the open tread staircase and entrances to the office, dining room, and kitchen simultaneously. It feels nice and open, and includes a nice large coat closet, which is definitely appreciated after our last house!

To the left when you enter is the original dining room, which will one day be walled off with a set of beautiful French doors to become our office, complete with built-in bookshelves.

Right off the foyer is a small powder room too, perfectly situated for the first floor. I have some awesome plans to put painted shiplap in here one day!

To the right of the entryway is what was originally the living room of the house, but we are transforming it into our dining room. The original dining room did not have vaulted ceilings and was just not a very welcoming place for a dining room to be, in our opinion, and we much preferred the vaulted ceilings in this room for a dining room. I can envision a super pretty chandelier, a handmade rustic wooden table made by the hubby, and countless dinner parties over the years!

The new dining room has a nice flow too, leading right into the family room. But first, lets talk about my favorite part of the house: the kitchen!

We don’t have much to change here besides the floors. I would eventually like to reface the cabinets to a shaker style, but that will probably be a few years away for now. Since these photos were taken, I have switched out the cabinet knobs and pulls and it totally transformed the space already!

Off the kitchen is a mudroom that includes laundry, and we would love to renovate this space into storage, space for the puppies, and a general catch-all for items deposited when we come home from work. (You know what you are, items.) In addition to having a beautiful space that I’m happy to fold laundry in! Can we pull all that off in this tiny space? Stay tuned!

(Also has a tiny little powder room here too. What to do with that sink? Hmm…)

Before we move upstairs, let’s also check out that family room. I love how spacious it is and how much light comes in with those double sliding doors. On an unrelated note, anybody looking to purchase a whole wall full of California river rock? Because it’ll be up for grabs sometime… hopefully soon!

Eventually that half wall in between the kitchen and the family room will be ripped out, so the whole space is nice and open.

Moving upstairs, we have the master suite and three other bedrooms with their own full bathroom.

The light from the windows in this house is absolutely incredible. It’s one of the things that sold us on this house, that regardless of what time of day it is or what the weather is like, the house is so full of light! Not to mention the fact that the girl’s absolutely love all their nature sightings through these beautiful windows!

Now onto the second most important part of the house after the kitchen, of course: the master suite! This is another aspect that sold us on this house. We love the vaulted ceilings, the extensive closet space, and the wall to wall sliding doors throughout the master bath and bedroom. I have such great ideas to turn this into modern-farmhouse-meets-hotel-chic!

And did I mention the double bathroom doors? Like Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City, if there is ever a burglar, I can just “zoom!” through the other door and be gone!

The light in the master suite is just… to. die. for. I love waking up in the mornings! (Okay, not that much, but still, it’s lovely!)

Last but not least, I’ll share some photos of the backyard. It’s a very large yard that could do with a few upgrades. We’ve already started looking into swimming pool contractors and landscapers that would be able to help us out and we’re excited to see where it takes us! The house does have a lovely large basement with plenty of storage, the perfect place for the hubby’s fish tank, and a nice little room I’m going to turn into my studio, but it’s so jam packed with boxes that I was too embarrassed to photograph it for y’all. #movingprobs

This is a party deck if I’ve ever seen one. I can’t wait to have family and friends over and sit out here chatting, drinking, eating, and making the best kind of memories.

And there you have it! Our beautiful new abode, full of light and potential and future memories. I am so excited to share these before photos with you, and I hope you’ll stick around for the *likely long* journey to make it our home!

I would love to hear from you what your thoughts are! Which room would you want to renovate first? What are your plans for this modern farmhouse reno? Share with me by commenting below, or follow along on Instagram for all the latest updates!