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Life  /  May 24, 2019

Home Renos of Our First Home: Before And After

by Jennifer Preston
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Disclosure: this post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something; this is at no extra cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting Flour & Floral!

This blog post is all about our first home, the–agonizing–home renos we did, and my new favourite home accessory: my bObi Classic vacuum! (I don’t know if I could ever live without a robot vacuum again.)

This is actually hard for me to post because our home is definitely NOT finished. Our “Before and After” should really be called “Before and Waiting-on-more-money-to-accomplish-all-our-projects”. I’m definitely trying to stop focusing on all the flaws/unfinished projects in our house and striving to remember how far it’s come and how much Jarryd and I have learned along the way!

With that said, don’t expect too much because 1) the home renos are more on the minimal side and 2) we DIY’d everything (except for the bathroom plumbing) so it’s far from perfect. Enjoy!!

Our First Home

Home Renos before and after home makeover

When Jarryd and I moved back to Canada, we decided we’d move into my parents house while we were on the hunt for our first home. (Thanks Mom and Dad, sooo much!) In October of 2018 we got possession of a house that checked all of our practical homeowner boxes such as: natural gas heating, central air conditioning, garage, fenced in backyard, safe location, ect.

It’s a 1,100 sq ft split level home that was built in the 1970s–the carpeted walls in the basement certainly prove that, haha! It’s also not too big and not too small, the perfect size for our little family of two.

We immediately began home renos and decided it would be best to move in only after we were done the renos. So we FINALLY moved into our house at the end of January. We’ve been living here for four months now and it’s finally starting to feel like home for us. Hanging pictures on the walls and tossing throw pillows here and there definitely helps.

Our biggest home renos took place on the upstairs level, so I’ll show you that first!

The Office

Before…

  • Home Renos before and after home makeover
    BEFORE
  • Home Renos before and after home makeover
    DURING

The beautiful before, featuring popcorn ceilings, an outdated ceiling fan, old baseboards (practically come off themselves), gross carpet, and layers upon layers of paint colours.

AFTER!

  • Home Renos before and after home office makeover ikea desk
  • Home Renos before and after home office makeover ikea desk
  • Home Renos before and after home office makeover ikea desk
  • Home Renos before and after home office makeover

As you can see, we replaced the flooring with laminate, installed new baseboards, I scraped off ALL the popcorn ceilings, we installed a new LED ceiling light fixture, and most obviously: gave the walls a fresh and bright coat of paint!

And see that circle chair?? I bought that back in the midst of high school and it’s officially back in style. So glad I kept it all these years. 😉

Anyway, I have alot of hopes and dreams for this office. I’d love to hang some artwork on the walls!

Master Bedroom

Before…

Home Renos before and after home bedroom makeover

What is with the two-toned walls? And why are they the worst colours on planet earth?

  • Home Renos before and after home bedroom makeover
  • Home Renos before and after home bedroom makeover ikea bed

The carpet was super stained and ripped so that definitely had to go. Jarryd and my Dad worked so hard on the floors, ripping out the carpet, scraping off the old underlay, getting rid of–almost–all the squeaks in the floor, and installing the new laminate! New flooring made all the difference in our home renos.

AFTER!

  • Home Renos before and after home bedroom makeover
  • Home Renos before and after home bedroom makeover

We sold ALL of our furniture back in Maryland, US so we’ve had to buy new everything. The full-length mirror I got for $10 on VarageSale (I was so pumped!), and two white chairs for $50!

And our new remote-controlled ceiling fan from Canadian Tire was a splurge for us, but absolutely worth it. (I love air movement while I sleep.)

I also can’t WAIT to get an area rug in here–I need my bedroom to feel more cozy!

Before…

Home Renos before and after home bedroom makeover

After!

Home Renos before and after home bedroom makeover

Another thing I did was I spray painted all the outlet covers registers, and the bathroom fan covers a nice glossy white. (And they look brand new too!) It definitely saved me a few bucks from having to buy all new ones!

So, not everything got painted white 😛 I painted our bathrooms light blue! The door on the left is our ensuite 1/2 bath, and the door on the right is our walk-in closet which we tore the shelves out of so I have clothes in boxes on the floor at the moment.

Ensuite Bathroom

Before & After

  • Home Renos before and after home bathroom makeover
  • Home Renos before and after home bathroom makeover ikea vanity
Home Renos before and after home bathroom makeover ikea mirror

We are really happy with how our ensuite bathroom turned out! Tiny rooms like that feel a whole ‘lot bigger when the popcorn ceilings are scraped off and the walls are painted a lighter colour.

Upstairs Hallway

  • Home Renos before and after home makeover
  • Home Renos before and after home makeover

Classic wedding photos. I may hang a full-length mirror there one day…

Heading Down to the Main Floor…

Before & After

  • Home Renos before and after home makeover
  • Home Renos before and after home makeover

We ripped out the gross carpet on the stairs, and I painted all the walls a Simply White by BM. Getting our stairs finished is definitely on the to-do list for us…

Living Room & Dining Room Area

Before & After

  • Home Renos before and after home makeover
  • Home Renos before and after home makeover open concept

I love having a fireplace, but I feel like it’s in a very awkward part of the house, you can’t really centre furniture around it because it’s right between the two rooms. So instead we have to have our couch right in front of it 😛

And shoutout to my brother for giving us his old couches!! This was a huge money saver for us!

  • Home Renos Before and After RugsUSA Bosphorus Centerpiece Rug
  • Home Renos Before and After RugsUSA Bosphorus Centerpiece Rug

(After publishing this blog post, our new area rug arrived at the front door, so of course we had to do some rearranging in the living room and take new photos!) We are LOVING having an area rug! It truly makes all the difference in the cozy-and-comfortable-meter for me.

  • Home Renos before and after home makeover fireplace decor
  • Home Renos before and after home makeover fireplace decor
Home Renos before and after home makeover fireplace decor

Having a fireplace and a mantle I can decorate is super fun–we’ve never had that before!!

Also, maybe y’all can help me with this: I’m considering white washing the fireplace one day because I feel like its’ sort of grimy looking. I feel like white would make it look cleaner. What do you think??

Kitchen (Where the magic happens!)

Before & After

  • Home Renos before and after home kitchen makeover
  • Home Renos before and after home kitchen makeover

I’ll never understand it…why would someone want brown-orange toned floors, orange cabinets, orange curtains, orange fireplace, and orange walls?!

I seriously couldn’t WAIT to get my hands on those walls and get them all white–which I think really compliments the maple cabinets. Speaking of, we got really lucky with this house in that the kitchen got renovated right before we moved in! It has a beautiful faucet, lots of counter space and SOFT-CLOSE drawers and cabinets! I love my kitchen!

Home Renos before and after home kitchen makeover

Perfect For Food Photography

I love the openness of this area and how bright it gets in the afternoons/evenings! Our apartment kitchen back in Maryland was sooo dark–I always had to have a light on to see decently, but here it’s definitely not the case!

I actually take all of my food photos between the dining room table and the french doors because the light is SO good! This location is super ideal because it’s right next to the kitchen, and any food photographers out there know that sprinting between the camera and the kitchen for more ingredients is an normal occurrence, so the shorter the sprint the better! 😉

Check out my How to Style Food for Food Photography post if you’re interested in this topic! 🙂

  • Home Renos before and after home kitchen makeover
  • Home Renos before and after home kitchen makeover

A very unique kitchen island, that’s for sure. Also, am I the only person left on this earth who doesn’t mind white appliances? Stainless steel ovens, dishwashers, and fridges are ridiculously annoying to clean–especially once kids are in the picture!

Home Renos before and after home kitchen makeover maple cabinets

My view from where I do all my baking. I love to have Spotify playing on the TV or a good show while I bake desserts.

Taking Care of Our Home

Everyone, Meet bObi!

bObi Bobsweep floor cleaner review

Picture this: you’re sitting down and enjoying your first sip of hot coffee in the morning and someone ELSE is sweeping your floor FOR you! An intelligent floor cleaner, formally known as bObi by Bobsweep is something I never knew I’d rely on until I had one.

I absolutely LOVE my bObi. Even as I write this blog post, bObi is busy sweeping up the floors around my feet in the office. It’s awesome.

 bObi Bobsweep floor cleaner review

Disclosure: Bobsweep sent me a bObi vacuum cleaner to review, and all of my opinions are honest and straight from the heart! I’ve been using her consistently for two months now and I’m so pleased with the results!!

Why I LOVE My bObi Floor Cleaner:

As someone who spends ALOT of time in the kitchen throwin’ flour and sugar around, bObi is a lifesaver for me! And besides the fact that I never have to sweep and vacuum my floors on the regular anymore, there’s many reasons why I just LOVE having my bObi around:

  1. bObi is the perfect height, she fits under our couches AND our bed. Meaning, no more forgotten dust bunnies collecting underneath those places ever again!
  2. You can program exact dates of the week and times that you want bObi to clean.
  3. She’s quieter than an actual vacuum cleaner/central vac.
  4. Once her juices (batteries) are at a low 15% , she automatically goes on the hunt for her charging station.
  5. STAIR DETECTION. Oh my word, the first time bObi headed toward the stairs I almost had a heart attack because I just assumed she’d go crashing down–but nope! She’s smart and senses danger. 😉
  6. You can control bObi using her touchscreen buttons or using her remote! You can control her speed, her cleaning, and even move her around with the touch of a button.
  7. Large dust bin–I empty it maybe once every other week? (It helps not having any pets.)
  8. bObi has a UV light that sterilizes the floor as as she goes–whaaat!?
  9. Long lasting battery (mine’s going on a run-time of 2 hours!)
  10. She doesn’t just pick up small crumbs and dust, I’ve seen full-sized Doritos and Pretzels inside of her dust bin. Impressive, I must say. 😉
  • Home Renos Before and After bObi Bobsweep floor cleaner
  • Home Renos Before and After bObi Bobsweep floor cleaner

Good To Know Things:

With bObi, you definitely need to prep the room before you send her cleaning, like move anything she could get tangled in. I hang my little rugs on the chairs because the rugs are super thin and even have tassels which bObi gets caught in.

Even my curtains I like to hang up because they’re super long and lightweight, cheap curtains from IKEA that bObi could easily get a hold of. If I had more heavy-duty curtains it’d be nothing to worry about!

If I have alot of crumbs under the dining room table, I’m better off getting all 6 chairs off the floor because otherwise she’ll spend all her time and juices trying to go through that maze of chairs!

You can read more about the bObi Classic model here!

In Conclusion of the Home Renos…

There are still some rooms (including the backyard!) I haven’t shown you guys, mostly because they’re REALLY far from done, so what’s the point? It’s something to look forward to I suppose. 😛 And like I said, there’s still so much we want to do to our humble abode. (I’m always accepting monetary donations hahah–kidding?)

During this home renos adventure, I definitely confirmed with myself how much I do not like DIY. (I did one DIY project before this, which actually turned out pretty great!) And to be honest, I never wanted a fixer upper, I always wanted a move-in-ready home that I didn’t have to do ANYTHING to. But this house was calling our names and it fit the budget. All I know is that I hope we never install our own flooring or trim ever again because it messy, stressful, and the results weren’t as flawless as we’d hoped for.

SAY HELLO!

I’d love to hear from you!! What were your thoughts on our home renos? Are you a lover of all things DIY or someone who has fixed up their own home? HOW did you do it? Do you also own a bObi vacuum cleaner? Tell me all about it in the comments below or message me on Instagram or my Contact page. Thank you so much for stopping by!

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Jennifer Preston Flour & Floral food photographer cake decorator (1)

Hi! I’m Jennifer and I LOVE to bake, style, and photograph beautiful desserts–I also have an eternal weakness for pastels, berries, and silky buttercreams.

What brings me even more joy is sharing my love of baking with others. Whether that is through recipe development, decorating how-tos, or food photography tips, I want to share everything I have learned with YOU!

I believe in creating food with high quality ingredients and making it look GORGEOUS. I also believe that every dessert deserves a photoshoot, and that food is meant to be shared.

And butter; I believe in lots of butter.

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Instagram post 2197439555461027933_2846339548 Hi! I’m Jennifer! I created the Flour & Floral blog after falling in love with making beautiful--AND—delicious desserts and taking ridiculous amounts of pictures of them! I’ve learned so much along the way and I love sharing it all with you guys.⁣ 💕
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Now for some fun facts!⁣👇🏼
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▪️The cake I’m holding in this picture is still one of my favorite cake designs (and it’s my number 1 pin on Pinterest too)!!⁣
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▪️I loathe going outside in winter, although a visit to a dreamy German Christmas Market is sure to get me out there!⁣ 🎄
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▪️I once worked at a candy factory and it was sooo not glamorous at all, but getting to eat candy straight off the line was fun.⁣ 😬
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▪️I had a baby boy in September!! 💙 Food photography is 10x harder to do with him around but his little smiles make it all worth it.⁣
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▪️Hospitals used to give me the creeps, but ever since having a baby and my surprise gallbladder removal, I actually enjoyed my time there (and kinda sorta didn’t want to leave haha). My nurses were amazing in every way and I got so much rest too!!⁣
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▪️I’ve never baked a cheesecake before! Not even in culinary school. Isn’t that insane?!⁣
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▪️My all-time favourite recipe on the blog is my carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Ohhh man, go check it out if you haven’t already! 🤤🥕
Instagram post 2195340442514989319_2846339548 ’Tis the season for GIVING! 🎁 I believe that some of the best gifts are the edible kind: I’m talkin’ the salty, sweet, ooey gooey caramely, chocolatey, minty, nutty, and crunchy kind.⁣ 🤤
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With @SaveOnFoods being the holiday headquarters for all things sweet and confectionary, I’ve come up with the most delicious Christmas gift package idea that your friends and family are gonna LOVE to receive!⁣
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The package is a perfect balance of both homemade and @WesternFamilyca treats made of quality ingredients:⁣
🖤 Western Family Swiss chocolate bars.⁣
🖤 Western Family Cherry Candy Canes.⁣
🖤Western Family Hot Chocolate and of course, mini marshmallows.⁣
🖤Deliciously chocolatey homemade Puppy Chow.⁣
🖤And last but not least, homemade 3-Ingredient Pretzel Turtles!⁣
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What I love about this confectionary gift package is all the variety! And to make it even MORE fun, wrap things individually so that your friend has endless things to unwrap. It’ll be a hoot!⁣
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Also let’s be honest, it feels amazing to receive a gift that was HOMEMADE, tied together with string and finished off with a heartfelt card that oozes all the warm and fuzzies.⁣ 🥰
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Check out my Stories to see how you can make the 3-ingredient Pretzel Twists! I hope you feel inspired to be creative this Christmas season and GIVE all the sweets!⁣
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What are some things you would put in a confectionary gift package like this one? I’d love to hear your ideas!! ⁣😍💕
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#SaveOnFoods #mywesternfamily
Instagram post 2193804392625858154_2846339548 Back when James was just 10 days fresh and he cried through 3/4 of his newborn shoot. 😅 Anyone else have a newborn shoot that didn’t go as planned?
Instagram post 2192485615418175256_2846339548 Once upon a time I ate an Oreo donut and was very happy. The end. 🖤
Instagram post 2191024236228055847_2846339548 An exciting challenge!! 🎉  These cookies were made in part of @Rodellevanilla's "12 Days of Baking" challenge, where you will be entered to win a $200 prize package filled with all the goodies from @Rodellevanilla!⁣
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Be sure to tag your post when you make my Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies with #RodelleBakingChallenge and follow @rodellevanilla. Official contest rules at www.rodellekitchen.com “Rodelle Baking Challenge”!⁣
⁣
I’m so excited! The recipe for these Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies are officially up on the blog! 😍 And they’re so so good!⁣⁣
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I love these cookies not only for their taste but because they’re made with buttercream frosting that has that delicious buttery flavour. 🤤 Vanilla + Butter + Sugar is just so magical.⁣⁣
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⁣(Also, have you entered in my Vanilla extract GIVEAWAY yet? It’s not too late! You can enter a few posts back on the sugar cookie stop motion video! Are you baking sugar cookies for Christmas?! 💕
Instagram post 2189578767996288253_2846339548 It’s the perfect day to make some Banana Oat Chocolate Chip Muffins (with walnuts for that lovely much-loved crunch)! 🥰⁣
Recipe is on the blog of course!⁣
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P.s- these cute homemade baking cupcakes are so easy to make! Just cut out 5” squares of parchment paper, and shape them by pressing them into muffin tins with a small can! Easy peasy. 👍🏻⁣

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