laundry room: before and after

This is what the laundry/utility/mud room looked like when we moved in. Not very functional, what with the dryer on one wall and the washer on the other.

And this is what it looks like now, after Brian moved the outlet for the dryer. I spray painted some boring gray shelves from Lowe's for storage, and we plan to replace the current water heater with a tankless one soon. It's ridiculous how much I love my laundry room!

the dining room and gallery wall

The dining room is definitely one of my favorite rooms in the house. I love the mix of old and new pieces, the rough table with the clear chairs and the gallery wall is BOOM awesome.

This is a plaque from Brian's first assignment in Spangdahlem, Germany.

We bought the framed state postage stamps at Eastern Market in DC a couple years ago. Texas for Brian's home, Utah for mine and Virginia as our together home.

This is one of my favorite pictures of us. It was taken on the steps of my favorite place on the National Mall, the Lincoln Memorial, the day before Brian left on his final deployment in 2009.

I love my Utah pictures: the state stamp, Astro Burger (awesome burger place) and the Spinning Wheel Motel.

Brian took this last fall at Shenandoah National Park. I love the 1970's feel to it.

I love this room.

Joey enjoying his yard

side and back yard

Standing in the back door.

Back door, looking left. There's the vehicle gate and my car.

The world's tiniest garage.

Our back yard is U shaped. This is the bottom part of the U.

This is the side of the house (we're on a corner lot). Obviously we still have some trees to take down, but those will require professionals so we don't take out the power lines.

Standing at the vehicle gate.

Obligatory Joey photo.

Behind the garage, looking at the bottom part of the U.

This is the right side of the U.

Just outside the walk-through gate, the path leads to the front door.

Back door. 

yard work, before and after

The previous owner of our house was what our neighbors call a "naturalist" in that he didn't do any yard work. Ever. For over 20 years he let whatever plants or trees that wanted to grow in his yard grow. He sold the house to a real estate investment firm who updated the kitchen and bathroom, added a master suite and cut down over a dozen trees in the yard, but left just as many.

When we were house hunting, this house came up on our list several times, but we were always deterred by the "landscaping" and amount of work the yard would need to make the house look unhaunted. But we fell completely in love with the interior of the house, the neighborhood and the easy access to Old Town Alexandria, the beltway and the District. It had everything we wanted in a house: three bedrooms, two bathrooms, old/original charm (the original hardwood floors, great brick fireplace), a yard, parking for both cars and STORAGE. We scored with both an attic and a garage.

We've been in the house for 12 days now and this past weekend we spent HOURS working on the yard, cutting down trees, clearing out weeds and vines and garbage, removing dead bushes and making the house look occupied.

BEFORE:

Standing on the front step, these dead bushes lined the front of the house.

Standing across the street, you can hardly see the house. Not very inviting. PS: not our cars.

The yard was full of these scrappy, messy trees. When we cut one down a HUGE  flood of earwigs came pouring out. NOT. COOL.

Clearly the yard needs a lot of TLC.

AFTER:

No more dead bushes!

You can see our house! Again, not my car.

So much better!

I would love to plant hydrangeas along here.

new house! still unpacking!