Not In Jersey!

Today is day 2 of guest posts while I am busy starting class, and unpacking boxes. Enjoy, and come back on Friday for a giveaway!
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Hi, I’m Dara from Not In Jersey! When Myranda put out a request for guest posts having to do with moving, I knew I could contribute. Three years ago my family and I made a cross country move to Kansas from New Jersey. Yes, it was stressful and no I never want to move again! We love our new home and one awesome thing about Kansas versus New Jersey is that the housing prices are much lower, so we were able to get a house with 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms while previously we lived in a house with 3.5 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Today I’m sharing some pictures of our house when we first moved in, as well as some pictures of the same rooms now!

This is the outside of our house. It mostly looks the same but we finally replaced the rocky front with mulch. It’s still a work in progress! We also don’t have that red car anymore and the other side of the garage isn’t filled with boxes!

Living Room

This is the living room. It pretty much looks the same now with a bit more mess and clutter! That empty book shelf is totally full now! I sometimes consider painting the brick and the dark paneling but haven’t decided for sure yet.

Kitchen

This picture was taken before we moved in, but I can’t seem to find a before picture that includes our things! We replaced the counters, backsplash, stove, fan, and cabinet hardware.

 

Dining Room

When we moved in our dining room was carpeted. I was completely not a fan of carpet in a dining room! I also didn’t like the chandelier. Some before pictures:

   

After:

At Gabbie’s birthday party

Gabbie’s Room (age 7)

Gabbie’s room when we first moved in. It looks a lot different now, especially since she is 3 years older!

 
Read about the decor above her bed here, her gallery wall here, the mirror I painted for her room here, and more decor I made using her old clothing here.

Zachary’s Room (age 5) 

When we first moved in, Zachary was sleeping in the nursery, which is now Simon’s room. He later moved upstairs. We just this year finally got furniture for him!

Before.

 
More about his furniture can be found here and his gallery wall can be found here.

Simon’s Room (Age 2)

Like I mentioned, Simon’s room was originally Zachary’s room when we first moved in. It is mostly still the same – the cool thing was that the color it was painted matched our crib set perfectly!

Above his crib on the blank wall you see above, is now this.

More about making room decor from clothes here!

Guest Room

The guest room was completely empty but now it has two beds in it. One of the beds was moved from the master bedroom when we upgraded to a king size. We also got a bedroom set. But I never took before or after pictures! The plan now is to move Gabbie into the guest room, make Simon’s room the guest room, and move Simon into Gabbie’s current room. Confusing enough?

Basement

We wanted a finished basement and we got one! Our basement is huge. Which allows toys to take it over.

When we first moved in:

 
Read more about organizing the basement mess here.

I didn’t share the master bedroom because like I said above, I don’t have any before or after pictures. I also didn’t share the bathrooms, but if you want to check out our Wizard of Oz themed bathroom you can see it here!

I’m excited for Myranda to move to her new place – an empty house is like a blank slate! Hopefully she will share her house with us! I also hope you will visit me over at Not In Jersey, where you can read about my long haired boy, running a half marathon in Disney World, 35 things I want to do before I turn 35, the books I’ve been reading, and our family adventures!