House Guests {Migonis Home}

I am so excited to have Jen Migonis from Migonis Home here to share her home tour! Her lovely, classic New England style home is a treasure and so inspiring to me. Jen is one of my favorite bloggers and I know she will be one of your favorites, too! 

Hi Everyone!

I'm Jen from Migonis Home, I'm thrilled to be sharing my home tour today. Thank you so much, Amy, for asking me to post.

I was in love with this house the second we drove by, it was in the perfect little neighborhood for raising a family and it seemed like a feasible project. In fact, nearly every day after my husband, AJ, and I found the house I drove by it on my way home... I was smitten, large bushes and peeling paint did nothing to deter me.

...but we couldn't afford it (don't you hate it when that happens?). My mom told me about friends who had written a note to the seller and ended up getting a great deal on their home. So I wrote one to give to the seller with the offer. Our offer was accepted the next day with the only contingency being that she wouldn't lower the price if things were found in the home inspection. This is what we had prayed would happen...we saw it as a miracle because we offered $45k less than the asking price!

Once we moved in on February 1, 2010 we took down the bushes because they were blocking all sorts of natural light. For almost four years we did nothing to the rotting front porch, but then we were able to save some money from real estate commissions (AJ and I are both agents on the side) to fund the porch renovations.

I can't wait for spring to come so we can paint the house and plant some bushes!

I'm itching to get some furniture out here... AJ and I are already planning a summer "porch party" to christen the new space with our neighbors. :)

We plan to put shutters on the windows, redo the window boxes and add a window in the center of the house but as you know, everything costs money.

We added pea gravel over our existing very beat up driveway pavement for a more coastal and charming feel and then dug up some awful grass in the backyard to create a patio.

AJ is the gardener in the family and planted all these gorgeous flowers here... my job is to weed, mow the lawn and trim the bushes. :)

Here is the view from our driveway leading into our back patio:

Here are some before and in-progress photos from the past four years:

BACK ENTRYWAY

This past previously held the fridge... right in the back entry. AJ made a door to the right of the photo into the living room and it made the house so much more functional.

BATHROOM BEFORE

BATHROOM IN PROGRESS

We have done most of the renovations to this room but it's not complete... yet... finish details are still on the list.

Our kitchen was not very functional... the stove was from the 1950s and took nearly an hour to boil water. Needless to say it was really hard to make dinner in any timely fashion. 

Once we found out we were expecting shortly after moving in we moved up the timetable on the kitchen reno. About four years later the kitchen is nearly complete. We need to finish up some molding, make the island feel more substantial, add curtains and a chandelier (and probably replace the pendent lights) but we have made great progress in here... 

I need to take a bunch of photos in this room without seasonal decorations up but when you have two kids who love making messes you take pictures in stages. :)

This was my son Drew's room on the day we purchased the house with the 1800s wallpaper:

He's three years old so when we moved him out of his nursery to make way for our daughter we wanted to give him a room he could grow older with without being too grown-up. He loves his room, mostly because his bed is perfect for jumping on, he has a wagon full of books and all his trains are in one spot.

This photo shows how cheap I am... the bed was a hand me down from a friend, the trunk a side of the road find, the rug a $20 West Elm score on Craigslist and the headboard something my mom's stepmother found at the swap place at the dump (I've recovered it).

I made a map of the United States out of super thin plywood and AJ and I hung it on Drew's wall. We are itching to replace the drywall and horrible floors in here... we are shooting for this summer since it'll be a big project.

His closet organization project has made organizing his clothes a dream come true for me...

My daughter, Elle's, room was Drew's room before she was born. The "before" was taken from the listing website before we purchased the house.

Above the crib I framed portions of my favorite children's story, Miss Rumphius. The room will be in lavender, white and gray... with a big pop of blue that you see on the pillow... I'm thinking of recovering this chair in the blue color.

 MASTER BEDROOM BEFORE

Picture a linoleum floor in yellow. Yellow walls. Yellow trim. And then picture all of it incredibly dirty. This photo sort of does it justice.

MASTER BEDROOM IN PROGRESS

We still need to finish boxing in the beams on the ceiling, add built-ins to the closet and design nightstands but the room now is a far cry from what it used to be thanks to completely new drywall, paint, decor, windows and flooring... not to mention utilizing the under the eves area and making them into two closets that are incredibly useful now!

Bed frame: made by AJ and myself here |  Headboard: made by myself here | Shams: West Elm Shower curtains (post here)

Curtains: West Elm shower curtains (post here) | Frames: AC Moore (post here on the photographs)

Thanks for joining me on a tour of our home! I'm so glad you have stopped by! Please, send me an email (jen.migonis@gmail.com) and introduce yourself... you have no idea how much your emails make my day... and maybe it's because I'm at home with a toddler and a baby and I want adult conversation. :)

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