Our “New” House Makeover (Before & After Pics)

I am so excited to share pictures of our “new” house makeover!  We bought an older house (built in 1977) and have been working on it now for about 6 months.   And yes, it has been a LONG road, but it is looking better with each remodeling project completed!   Of course, it will definitely need some more work still.  And I’ll share those changes as they happen.   So, let’s get to it!  Our “New” House Makeover (Before & After Pics).

• Plus, you’ll want to see our “new” addition too!

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Our “New” House Makeover (Before & After Pics)

We have completed a lot of projects with a ton of challenges, but it is finally beginning to feel like home.

Thank goodness!

So I wanted to share some before and after pics of what we have done up to this point, but will eventually do a post on each project separately.

• I will add the links when each post is done!

But for today this post will be short and sweet with lots of pics 🙂

Changes Made:

1.  Removed Brick Wall (Entry)
2.  Added New Stair Rails
3.  New Floors Throughout
4.  Changed Out Backsplash (Kitchen)
5.  New Lighting & Fixtures Throughout
6.  Removed Wallpaper (Powder Bath/ Master Bath)
7.  Painted Entire House Indoors (& Garage)
8.  Painted Entire House Outdoors (Brick/Siding/Doors)
9.  New Showers (Guy & Jael)
10.  New Vanity Tops (Sadie & Sophie)
11.  Removed Wall (Wet Bar/Breakfast Area)
12.  Added New Wet Bar & Island
13.  Removed China Cabinet
14.  New Landscaping (Front Yard & Back Yard)
15.  Surpise NEW Addition!

So who’s ready?  Let’s get to Our “New” House Makeover (Before & After Pics)!

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Our “New” House Makeover (Before & After Pics)

Before we get started I just wanted to say that the house is still a work in progress.

• So the pics of the rooms will not be all decorated yet (but I will show more of those pics soon)!  
• In other words, you might be wondering where the ta-da is!!  LOL!!  Baby steps 😉

#1)  Removed Brick Wall (Entry)

We decided to remove the brick wall in the entry to open up the area that flows into the living room and to allow more light in. 

I also wanted to be able to see all of the French doors on the back wall of the living room as you walked into the entry.

 

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#2)  Added New Stair Rails 

We dediced to change the stair rails – hmmmm – because we had to – lol. 

• The old stairs were not to code (only 30″ H – yikes), so we had them redone to 40″H.

 

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#3)  New Floors Throughout

The floors were definitely the biggest project (besides the wet bar). 

There was :

• a TON of brown tile downstairs, patterned carpet on the stairs and in the office, reddish-brown carpet in the master bedroom, light tan carpet in the girls rooms, and 2 other groovy tile patterns in the master, laundry, and girls’ baths.

Carpet & Tile – to LVP

 

Carpet – to LVP

Master Bedroom

Old Tile – to New Tile

Laundry Room & Powder Bath

 

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#4)  Changed Out Backsplash 

OK – so we did not get to redo the kitchen yet 🙁 

This 1977 house has these “fur down” areas where it houses the AC vents in the ceiling.  They run here on the top of the cabinets and pantry in the kitchen (and other areas too) – ugh!

• We removed a couple fur downs in the two master baths that were easy to do, but the large one in the wet bar area (see #13), was very challenging. 
• So we were not able to get the kitchen done and have put it on hold until we can get some other ideas for moving the AC vents. 

But at least we changed out the backsplash 😉

 

 

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#5)  New Lighting & Fixtures Throughout

We changed out all the lighting in the house – and it was so much fun to do!  Even though the 1st electrician quit and it took 2 months to complete – AFTER we moved in!  So Fun (eye roll here)!

• But I truly loved getting to “pick out” all of the lighting! 
• Click the link above to see all of the new lighting.

Dining Room

 

Powder Bath in Laundry Room

 

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#6)  Removed Wallpaper (Powder Bath & Master Bath)

Take be back to the 70’s!!!  Yes we DID remove this groovy wallpaper – on the walls and even the ceilings!  

I actually wanted to put wallpaper back in this powder bath – but my husband was having wallpaper flashback nightmares – so that’s on hold too (for a little while)!

Powder Bath in Hallway

 

Powder Bath in Hallway

 

Master Bath

 

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#7)  Painted Entire House Indoors (& Garage)

We had every.single.thing in the house and even garage painted.

The majority of the house is painted:

• SW Alabaster (walls, ceilings, trim, cabinets, fireplace surround, and interior doors).
• SW Tricorn Black (exterior doors, stair railing tops, and firebox).

Except for the office which is painted:

• SW Peppercorn.  I love this room!

 

Living Room

 

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#8)  Painted Entire House Outdoors (Brick/Siding/Doors)

We had every.single.thing painted on the exterior of the house also:

• SW Alabaster (brick/siding/ceiling/soffits).
• SW Tricorn Black (fascia, exterior doors, gates, and garage door).

 

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#9) New Showers (Guy & Jael)

This house is a little unusual in that it has 2 master baths and closets – inside the master bedroom area. 

• I know one day we will incorporate Guy’s bath with the office – so that it is a bedroom with an ensuite bath combo.
• But for now – we are both REALLY enjoying having our own space – #marragebliss – LOL!!

We were able to actually remove the fur downs in both of our showers which gave them extra height.

It made such a huge impact!

Guy’s Shower

 

Jael’s Shower

 

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#10)  New Vanity Tops (Sadie & Sophie)

The girls were excited to have their own bathrooms again, but they did need a little sprucing.

So for now, whe changed out the floors, vanity tops, and painted everything to clean it up. 

• I’m sure I’ll change the oil-rubbed bronze hardware at some point, but I kind of like it right now.

Sadie’s Bath

 

Sophie’s Bath

 

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#11)  Removed Wall (Wet Bar/Breakfast Area)

So, the next 3 sections/projects were the reason our move-in was delayed for about 6 weeks!

• This wall (which is connected to the fur down on the other side) gave us quite a bit of challenges.
• But I would do it all.over.again – because I love how it turned out!  

Living Room looking into Wet Bar/Breakfast

 

Wet Bar/Breakast looking into Living Room

• You can see the fur down in the top left corner (below).  I’ll show more of it in #13.
• What a difference it made to remove that wall!

 

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#12)  Added New Wet Bar & Island

So this area was completely demo’ed and redone.   

• I’ll do another post on this soon – so you can what a challenge this was.

We really liked this original wet bar space/concept – it was just a little too narrow and closed off.

• Since the kitchen is behind this area (you can see it to the left below), we knew we needed a space that we could hang out in and still see the tv.  #priorites – lol!
• Now it is airy and open, and we are loving it!  It’s definitely the hub of the house.

 

Here’s a better side view – so you can see how narrow and tight it was.  

• Since this entire area was attached to the wall (and was covered by the fur down), it really made the space feel closed off too.
• Now it’s open and flows directly into the living room, kitchen, and entry hall.

 

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#13)  Removed China Cabinet & Wet Bar Fur Down

I went back and forth on whether to keep the china cabinet or not.  I have always loved them, and I knew that it would be really pretty painted.

• But I decided to demo it, and will most likely put some kind of “newer built in/china cabinet” in that space.

Plus, the contractor told me that it would be nearly impossible to remove the fur down without messing up the china cabinet, and I knew the fur down had to go!

• Can you see the fur down with the orange arrow (dropped lower ceiling over china cabinet and wet bar)?

 

Here’s a better view of the fur down over the original wet bar island.

• It made such a difference to have that ceiling raised to all one height!

 

Now you can see the raised ceiling below – with the wider view, and you can get a little glimpse of the china cabinet here too.

 

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#14)  New Landscaping (Front Yard & Back Yard)

Out of all of changes, this one might be one of our favorites!  

The front and back yards were full of those boulder rocks – that completed took over the entire outdoor areas.

• I can’t wait to show those changes – soon!
• But here’s a glimpse of some of the changes.

Front Yard

 

“Welcome to the Jungle” – literally!

• The back yard was so overgrown that we actually had it cleaned out twice!!
• Of course we did keep the rocks around the pool 😉

Back Yard

 

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#15)  Surprise Addition

Saving the best for last!!  Drum Roll Please!  We have a NEW addition to the Prothro Family!

• Boomer has a new brother – named Goose!

And who is crazy enough to buy a “new” house and get a new puppy at the same time – only us!  

• I think Goose was the perfect addition to help our family transition from our Katy house (19 years there) to this Houston house!  We just love him!

Well, thanks for stopping by and visiting Our “New” House Makeover (Before & After Pics)!! 

We are loving all of the changes + additions (lol) and can’t wait to begin decorating!

Have a Great Weekend!

Love & Hugs 🙂

New  Houston House Posts:

• Front Yard Landscaping Makeover (Before & After Pics)
• Our Whole House Lighting Plan:  Mixed Metals
• 12 Best Gold Mirrors

 

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