So we bought a fixer!

So, Joe and I took our (ok, my first) step into the real estate market this winter and bought a beautiful 1 1/2 story house in Des Peres, MO. For those of you not familiar with St Louis, it's right at two major highways - I64/270.

I have been dying to purchase a home for a while. I love looking through real estate websites and going to open houses. I'm pretty sure if I wasn't a nurse practitioner, I'd definitely be in real estate! It is so much fun.
After months of searching, I finally got Joe warmed up to the idea of buying a house. We made our offer the week before Christmas and after a week of haggling with the seller, finally agreed on a price as Joe and I were driving back to Kansas City for the holidays. It was so fun to share this exciting news with our parents over the holiday break!

The house is approximately 40 years old. We purchased it from the original owner. There hasn't been much at all done to the house except some basic maintenance. We are talking original kitchen cabinets, lots of wood paneling (I mean lots) and a few green bathroom cabinets! Yikes! Plus, tons of wallpaper . .. EVERYWHERE.  I kind of like have projects to work on but the house is a little overwhelming at this point.

Here are a few pictures!

The Kitchen! (gotta love that peep through to the family room opening!)

The Family room! Joe finally got a fireplace!

Dining room . . . more green floral wallpaper!

Yay for gold 70s 1/2 bath!

Joe and I are tackling the kitchen renovation prior to moving in! Hopefully in the next 4-6 weeks it will be complete and I can post some "after" pictures! We are also fixing up the laundry room. Joe and I have spent the past two weekends scraping wallpaper, spackling holes and priming! Removing wallpaper is tough work. If you are thinking of installing wallpaper, ask yourself . . . .is this wallpaper timeless? :) Probably not. Are you going to want to remove the wallpaper in 10 years? We're sticking with paint for now! More pictures to come soon! Hopefully you will follow along as we work on "The fixer!"