Friday, February 10, 2012

Our Home Tour at Debbiedoo's

I am so excited to be participating in Debbiedoo's Home Tour series today. If you haven't been to Debbie's blog (is there anyone left who hasn't?), pop on over and visit me there for a tour of our home. Thank you!!


When Debbie asked me to give you a tour of my home, my first thought was, "Wow! That's so nice of Debbie to think of me." My second thought was, "Oh my word, I need to clean this dump up."

So I'd like to thank Debbie for having me over today. Thanks to her my house is clean, and I get to spend some time with the readers of her fabulous blog!

Welcome to Our Home...



I am blessed to be able to say that I live in my dream home. Do you have a house in your town that you stalk drive by and admire?  Well, for me this was the house that my car always seemed to drive itself by. I'd arrive early to pick my kids up at preschool, so I could turn into the neighborhood next door and spend a few moments checking out this house. I'm lucky the neighbors didn't call the police! I loved the architecture and the charming elements like the cupola and weathervane. Although the home was built in the late 80s, it has the character of an older home.



I was beyond excited when it went on the market and had an open house. Literally, the second I walked in the front door, I whispered to my mother, "I love this house!"



We left the open house, and my husband and I immediately began planning how we could get our house ready to sell and buy this house. As fate would have it, two days later I went to my first summer tennis team practice and who was on my team? The owner of my dream house! I found out she had 3 sons just like me (we would later add a 4th son to the mix) and she loved the house as much as I did and was sad to be leaving it. We both believed it was meant to be that our family would be the next owners of the house.

A few months later, our family was able to call my dream house "home."



The house has undergone some changes over the past 4 years. In the foyer, we put in new hardwood floors, removed the carpet from the stairs, refinished the stairs and painted the walls.


The living and dining rooms are a work in progress. We removed the carpeting and installed hardwood floors. In the dining room, we removed toile wallpaper and curtains and put up grasscloth wallpaper.




In the living room, we painted the previously red walls white and put in plantation shutters. I am currently working on decorating these rooms. I'm playing with furniture arrangement (as you can see by the pads under the piano legs!), and I've got lots of accessorizing left to do.



The "hub" of the home is our kitchen and family room.






One of my favorite spots is our sunroom.




In the master bedroom I tried to create a tranquil retreat to escape the craziness of a house full of boys!



I hope I afforded the same luxury for our guests.



The design of this room was born of the French Provincial furniture I inherited from my grandmother. Perhaps it's a bit frou frou, but I never got to decorate a little girl's room!


There's no shortage of "boy spaces" around here.




The room that received the biggest makeover was the master bathroom. Early last year we embarked on our first major renovation, which involved completely gutting the bathroom.


My blog began as a way to document the remodel of our master bathroom.


It is my favorite room in the house!


My kids' favorite hangout is in the basement.


Lots of pop-a-shot and ping pong tournaments take place down here.


But, in the summer there's only one place you'll find all of us...


Oh... this makes me want winter to end soon!

Debbie, thank you so much for featuring our house. You have been so supportive of my blog from the beginning, and I truly can't thank you enough!

29 comments:

  1. What a great story Carolyn! Thanks for taking the time out and giving us the tour of your beautiful home!

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  2. Your home is gorgeous! I'm visiting from Debbies and so glad to have found your blog! ♥

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  3. I love your house! What a great story about house stalking with a Happy ending!
    Debbie

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  4. Thank you for welcoming us and giving me this opportunity to showcase your gorgeous home. I am loving this feature. It has given me an opportunity as well to connect with my blogging friends on a different level..getting to know you/them a little more as well. Have a great weekend.

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  5. Just stopping over to say hello after the house tour at Debbies. Thanks for opening it up to us gawkers, you make it easy on us we don't even have to drive to pick up kids!

    As a mom of four boys myself I will have to stay and read your blog for a while. (But I also have two girls).

    ~Bliss~

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  6. Your dream home IS dreamy! Such great spaces and you have decorated them so well. Thanks for opening the door to your home to us!

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  7. Love love love Debbie's master bath. It's perfection!

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  8. Your home is beautiful, Carolyn! I've never seen your family room and kitchen before.
    Thanks for the lovely tour!
    ~ Wendi ~

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  9. So beautiful Carolyn! I can't believe you have four children, and boys at that, living in that beautiful home! Where is all their stuff? I think you need to blog about how you keep it all together. Thanks for sharing.

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  10. oh my gosh! It's no wonder it was love at first sight! I love the Cape Cod style. 2 houses ago, we had a Cape Cod (without the dormers) with a cupola and cedar shingles and I felt the same way when I first walked in the door. Sadly we had to sell when we moved to Ireland but that home will always hold a special place in my heart. Your home is gorgeous inside and out!

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  11. Saw your gorgeous home at Debbiedoo's, and I'm totally drooling as I write this. It is everything I'd love in a home. Congratulations on finding your dream home! Peggy

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  12. What a beautiful home. And that bathroom!!! Gorgeous!

    Jenny
    www.simcoestreet.blogspot.com

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  13. Your home is just beautiful, Carolyn! I have so enjoyed following you and seeing all the transformations you have made. I am so glad your dream came true!

    XO,
    Jane

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  14. Carolyn, thank you so much for the background story of you loving the house before you even owned it. You have done such a fab job!!!

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  15. Your home is beautiful! I love colonials.

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  16. I can see why this is your dream house- It is absolutely gorgeous and you have done a beautiful job furnishing it and making it into a home- xo Diana

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  17. Beautiful, beautiful. It's so nice to be able to live in your dream home AND make it truly yours. The bathroom is outstanding!

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  18. It's so much fun seeing your home in one tour! It's gorgeous!! Of course, you'd find me with cocktail in hand by the pool all summer long too - lucky gal!
    Kelly

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  19. What a fabulous home you have!
    A wonderful large home to raise your boys in. Their rooms are fantasticly decorated! I hope you have a great time this summer in the pool, and have lots of friends and family gatherings!
    Good luck in your beautiful home!
    Linda

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  20. What a lovely home! Your boys' rooms are great and your master bathroom is straight out of a magazine. I also love the Frenchy feel of your guest room. You really have done an amazing job. x Sharon

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  21. Carolyn, Your home is just beautiful. I'm sure you will have so many great memories of your boys growing up in their home.

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  22. Carolyn, I'm visiting from Debbiedoo's. Thanks for taking us on a tour of your beautiful dream home. It is a dream! Love the large entry and the fact that it has a back stairway as well. This home looks prefect for raising a family of four boys. ~ Sarah

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  23. Truly, this is a fabulous house! So glad I got to see it. And happy to be following your blog so I can share in all your projects. Love it!

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  24. I love your master bathroom, you all did such a great job in there! I love the pool too. : ).. Such a great looking house!

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  25. Your house is so gorgeous! I just love it. Thanks for the tour.

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  26. I just recently found your blog and have to say, your house is just BEAUTIFUL!! Love the color, themes, POOL, master bath, POOL...oh did I already say that? LOL! Love the story of how you came to live there too!

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  27. Love the "Frenchy" room! And, yes, I'm so behind in my blog reading, but I just had to comment. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

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  28. Your house is so gorgeous! I just love it. Thanks for the tour.

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