Our House Tour – Our Third House

our-house-front

We lived in our last house from 2012 to 2016, when we grew out of it!

We moved into this house in December 2012 – just 10 short days before hosting family for Christmas. It is a three-bedroom back split and larger than our last house – 1,350 sq. ft. versus 1,050 sq. ft. It is located on a quiet family-friendly court, which means no through traffic and lots of space for the kids to play.

How We Got Here

In the fall of 2012, we decided we had outgrown our little bungalow and it was time to finish up some projects there and start looking for a new place to call home. We took to MLS.ca almost daily and looked through a couple of houses before we hired a Realtor to take us on other house tours.

Initially, we thought we’d work on the remaining bungalow renovations over the winter and list in the spring, but MLS just kept drawing us in. We rushed through a few projects like finishing up baseboards we had never gotten around to.

We spent several evenings driving through several neighborhoods and specifically past this house one night while the kids were occupied at church. As much as we loved the neighborhood, the Realtor photos kept stumping me – the kitchen looked so tiny and the parquet was a total turn-off. Not to mention the old orange-y wood doors and baseboards.

We waited a couple of weeks.

I thought I wanted a more finished house this time around.

God had other plans.

We walked through three houses on a Friday evening with our Realtor. I thought for sure it would be the first house we loved. But it was a mess inside. And the second house was even worse – and far too big and expensive for us.

Honest to goodness, the second we walked in the door of this house, I knew – parquet and all – that this was THE house.

The bungalow was sold and the back split was ours just over two weeks later!

Front Yard

We began working on the gardens and front porch in May 2013 with the help (and a plan) from our brother-in-law, Adam. (Who totally rocks, btw!) The curb appeal and outside work will likely be a long work in progress!

before curb appeal

aka design house summer 2015

aka design front door summer 2015

Front Porch twinkle lights

aka design front porch with twinkle lights

The Entry

We finally got to replacing the light fixture in the entryway! Hallelujah!

before entryway

AKA DESIGN ENTRYWAY BEFORE DURING AND AFTER

COUNTRY CHRISTMAS ENTRY

DEER HEAD PILLOW

WOODLAND FOYER

Home Made Lovely black and white entryway

AKA-DESIGN-entryway-holiday-decor

The Living Room

We adore that this house has both a living room and a family room – something we’ve never had before.

living room before

living room may 2013 south view

living room

RUSTIC CREAM LIVING ROOM

AKA DESIGN LIVING ROOM

CHRISTMAS TREE AND PIANO

rustic living room trellis rug industrial shelves

Actually, in December of 2015, we swapped the living and dining rooms, and although each room is a work in progress we love the new layout!

acheson pillow on couch custom

living room to dining room

white sectional ikea

living room from dining room

dining room to living room

Dining Room

Let’s face it, if you’ve seen the dining room in our last house, you know why we loved it so much! We sold the old dining table, chairs, and hutch to the buyer of our last house. They were totally suited to the space. Which gave us a blank slate to decorate again. Dean built the farmhouse table and I finished it. We also DIY’d most of the other accessories in the room. We moved the white Eiffel chairs to the kids’ desk and a craft table in the basement and added a new hutch in the fall of 2013.

dining room progression

spring tabletop birch lane and aka design

dining room hutch spring

HUTCH WALL DINING ROOM

Spring Table in Grey Dining Room

Okay, as I mentioned above, we swapped the living and dining rooms in December 2015. And we are loving the new bigger dining room!

Home Made Lovely Dining Room in the Spring 2016

farmhouse industrial dining room

Spring Home Made Lovely Dining room

And we also switched out the table in early 2016.

dining room to window

bookcase in dining room

dining room to living room

birch lane dining room chandelier

dining room to stairs

dining room closet stairs etc

french industrial dining room

Related: 4 Ways to Create a Stylish Home Office in the Living Room and Elegant Home Office Area in the  Dining Room

dining room from entry

Kitchen

This kitchen’s realtor photo threw me for a real loop. I just couldn’t imagine such a tiny kitchen for a family of five. What didn’t show up was that there was a good 8 feet between the fridge and the closest wall! We painted the cupboards, added a breakfast bar, and had to switch to a newer fridge in Spring 2016.

Kitchen before

kitchen fridge

kitchen stove

ROLLING KITCHEN PANTRY SHELVES

A VINTAGE STYLE RED AND WHITE CHRISTMAS KITCHEN

Open Kitchen Shelves

Open Shelves, mini fridge, breakfast bar, large wall clock

Subway tile, crystal chandelier, stainless counter, open shelving

Subway Tile Wall Rustic Coffee Bar Kitchen

side door open pantry

breakfast bar

white kitchen breakfast bar stainless steel fridge

breakfast bar black stools chandelier

white kitchen stainless steel counters

Family Room

This is currently where the big tv and the Wii live. And for that reason, the kids spend a lot of time down there. We painted just before our school year started and added some much-needed color! It functions just fine as a kids’ hangout…something we didn’t have before! There is also a pullout in the sectional, which has proven wonderful for having company over!

family room realtor photo

Family room progress

family room couch wall 2

family room games table corner

Master Bedroom

Our master bedroom is the room that was most finished first. It is usually the last room most people work on, but with the kids getting older and taking over more of the rest of the house, it was important to me (Shannon) to have our bedroom looking great!

bedroom in realtor listing

rustic chic master bedroom

aka design master bedroom

tallboy dresser

Also in spring 2016 we switched out the yellow accents for blush pink.

Spring-Bedroom-Refresh

Pale-pink-faux-flower-arrangment

Master-Bedroom-Refresh-with-Blush-Pink

Blush-Pink-and-Grey-Master-Bedroom

Click here for our Master Bedroom Source List

MASTER BEDROOM SOURCE LIST

 

Boy’s Room

Our son’s room was also one of the first rooms to be nearly complete, simply because it was already blue when we moved in and we had plenty of hand-me-down furniture to put in here. Like the old tv cupboard that works perfectly as a dresser/armoire for him. We still have to redo the flooring and trim.

s room before

s room east wall

s room map and foto pendant

gallery wall

We have since moved our son to the basement and given this room a huge makeover for one of our daughters. See below…

Gamer Art - Nintendo Controllers

Nintendo Controller Poster Art

Gamer Art Home Made Lovely

Girls’ Room

We finally finished our the room our girls share after almost two years in the house. It’s a little more colorful than the rest of our house! And now only one of our daughters is in this room.

girl's room makeover before and after

DIY BUNKBEDS

BUNKBEDS AND CLOSET WALL

BEDDING PILLOWS ART GIRLS ROOM

BUILT IN DESK AND SHELVES

Girls Room #2

In 2015 we moved our son to the basement and redid his room for our oldest daughter. Here’s what we came up with for our teenager…

Home Made Lovely Girl's Bedroom Makeover Feature Image

grey headboard teen bedroom

pink and aqua bedroom

gallery wall

To see more of this teen girl’s bedroom click here. 

Bathroom

We did a mini-makeover on the only bathroom in our house in the spring of 2014.

vintage industrial bathroom makeover a

vintage industrial bathroom makeover collage 1

vintage industrial bathroom makeover collage 2

And a complete overhaul in the Spring of 2016:

White bath tub subway tile surround farmhouse accents

oil rubbed bronze shower fixtures

farmhouse bathroom

Bathroom Window wall

bathroom vanity and oval mirror

bathroom tower and vanity

bathroom concealed trapway toilet

bathroom art

Back Entry

We had a side entry at this house by the stairs, that we used to access the backyard.

white painted stairs distressed runner

We also used it as a family command center

_______________

aka design paint colors

For a full list of our paint colors go here.

AKA DESIGN'S HOUSE TOUR | WWW.AKADESIGN.CA

For more photos of this house, see our small house tour here

You can see our FIRST house here. 

And our SECOND house here.

And our THIRD house here (you are here).

And our FOURTH house here.