Well, the day has come, Picardy is for sale. In a weird way, I’m really excited. Probably because our savings account would like a friend at the moment considering how much money we’ve spent right off the bat at our new house getting all new services for things that are broken and not working. Also, for as attached as I usually am to animals or inadiment objects instead of people, I strangely am more ready to let Picardy go. Which is really refreshing. I think what ties me to it more is just that Zoe has said that she misses her old house, but I know that will just take time. We’ll still get to see out friends, we’ll still visit the street, we just have a new house.

I thought it would be fun to sort of do a “Before & After” post of when we first got the house, to how it looks now that it’s for sale and staged. Some of the photo angles won’t match up because the pictures I took 7+ years ago aren’t of the same angle as the staging photos. Let’s get to it

The front of the house before

And after

This makes me so happy. I loved the house’s architecture when we first saw it, but it definitely wasn’t shining as much as it could have. I love the paint we used and the landscaping I think is still one of my favorite projects of all time just because how successful it was.

The dining room

After

We of course used this room for our TV room, but I definitely feel that it’s better served as a dining room. I wish the photo on the website showed the hutch we built. But all the windows that are open to this room are also a really big plus.

Nook

This one is probably the most underwhelming, just because besides paint and a new light we didn’t really do much. But the room was awesome to start really.

Kitchen

Got damn I love that room. And god damn I think we did a really good job. It was so closed off before. I love how open we made everything. Love that. And I still love the color and the green granite. I will ALWAYS love those glass bin pulls.

The Den

We used this room as Chris’ office, but staged it as a den/office. I’m glad we didn’t repaint this room. I like the dark color in contrast with all the windows and light this room gets. And that round fireplace is still awesome as ever.

The front room (this is my favorite staged room)

Other angles

This room looks really, really beautiful. We used it as a junk pile room, lol. But this staging does it justice. It’s a beautiful formal living room and someone will hopefully love and appreciate this room for just that.

Our bedroom

I don’t love the staging in here, it’s too bulky and dark for my taste. But this room feels a lot lighter, and that’s awesome because it felt so cavernous before. And of course we added the bathroom that used to have the entrance off of the laundry room to be an en suite – one of my favorite things we did to the house…

The master bathroom

Hot damn that bathroom is pretty 🙂 And WAY better than the disgusting mess it was with plywood floors when we moved in.

The main bathroom

I’ve come around to liking the light color I picked more. Though I still think it’s a little too cool. But it does make the bathroom feel really light and airy, so that’s good. I love this bathroom too. I like the mix of modern and traditional that we went with. And I still feel like even 5 years later after we renovated it, it doesn’t look too shabby.

The kid’s room

We staged this room with two twin beds to show that kiddos could share a room. I didn’t like the light color when it was still my office, but now I actually think it’s a great kid’s room color. And the little porch off of this room that was Zoe’s room adds some square footage to this space…

The animal room before (named that way because it was DISGUSTING and smelled like wet dog)

Super cute little play area for kiddos. This is nice because the bedroom that the kids would share (if there were two) isn’t giant, so having this little space to add to it as a playroom, or work area when they get older is really nice I think.

The laundry room

Light, airy and practical. Everything I would want in a utility space. I really love this room.

The garage

It definitely looks sad without all of our tools in here anymore. But hopefully someone who tours the house really likes woodworking or DIY and they put this space to good use because we’re leaving so many of the storage and workspace elements behind.

And lastly, the backyard

I wish we painted over where the smoke is from the BBQ, but what are you going to do, ya know? I love the backyard. I love the paver patio, the raised beds, the grass, the cherry blossom, the painted garage, the fact that there isn’t a garbage pile anymore 🙂

Well, what do you think? How do you like it?

Pretty crazy that it’s for sale now. If you’re a local the last open house is this Sunday, feel free to go look – I know I would, lol 🙂 Last weekend at the open house our agent said that she had well over 100 people, and she said she feels like a good open house is 60-70 people. Lots of neighbors had awesome things to say because they knew what it looked like before. It really gave me a great sense of pride and I really felt awesomely proud of ourselves. I am usually incredibly hard on myself and have a hard time saying, “I did a good job,” but I really am proud of Chris and I. And it’s weird to think this project is “done.”

Offers are due in the middle of the week next week. So think really good thoughts for us! And of course, I’ll keep you updated 😉