The House!

So, I kinda went back and forth on whether or not I wanted to post these pics b/c the house is, well....looking a little rough right now. But, I figured if I posted them, maybe I could get y'all to give me some decorating and painting tips and also, so you can see the before.
We finally got to go look around on Saturday morning and it's really not that bad. The outside is cute-it just needs to be pressure washed, the shrubbery needs to be cut back (luckily, my hubby knows a thing or two about landscaping:)) and that crazy palm tree has to go! (I still don't understand why someone would plant a palm tree in Alabama...)

The inside needs a little more help...as you will see, the paint colors are terrible, so basically every room has to be painted. The whole house needs a good scrubbing from top to bottom. The vinyl floors in the kitchen and bathrooms need replacing, and we need a new dishwaser and stove. There are obviously other things we want to do...but those are the things that need to happen before we can move in.

So, without further ado....here is our future home:)

The Before Pictures:

The golf course is to the left and the tennis courts are behind the house and to the right. (nice palm tree, huh?)

The view of the living room as you walk in the front door-Russell and Marissa are in the sunroom which is in front of the master and the door on the right leads into the hallway and kitchen. We would really like to do something with the marble fireplace...more than likely, we will just take it off and get a wood mantle. Luckily, the hardwood floors are in great condition!

The diamond-painted dining room-this is to the right-if you are standing in front of the windows in the living room, this room is to the right. The chair rail is nice, but the paint job has got to go...I can only imagine how long it must have taken the old owners to do that...

The kitchen and part of the master bedroom (I didn't take a better picture of the master...) You can see the sunroom through those "doors" of the master-it's kind of a wierd layout...I'm not sure how I am going to arrange it all b/c of the sunroom-I am wondering if there is someway to incorporate the sunroom into the master bedroom and just take out those doors and put up better (more private) curtains in the sunroom. Anyone have any ideas?

Marissa's bedroom (upstairs)-I love the window seat, it opens so we can store toys, etc in there.

The blue guest bedroom (upstairs)

the bright pink guest bedroom (upstairs)

And lastly, this is the room we are using for Allie's nursery (it is downstairs, next to the master). I think I am just going to get a crib and changing table, because I am thinking I can use the built-ins for storing most of her stuff, just buy some of those cute storage baskets. However, I have no idea what to do w/the fireplace...obviously it won't be used, so does anyone have any cute ideas on how I can cover it/hide it? I also want to get a pretty chandelier to replace the current light.

I didn't post any pics of the bathrooms or laundry rooms really because they aren't anything special. There are two bathrooms, one up and one down and the laundry room is behind the kitchen and it leads out to the backyard....which, the backyard, is FABULOUS! It is about 50 yards long and about 20 yards wide, it has a gate that leads directly into one of the tennis courts and there is a concrete slab that has a basketball goal and little fire pit. It will be perfect for the dogs and hopefully we can put a swingset back there sometime in the next couple of years.

Ok, so there you have it. That's our house! Russell and I feel very blessed that we get to live there, so don't let any of my complaining about paint color, etc. make it seem like I'm not extremely grateful for the opportunity to live there, so close to the course.

Well, please feel free to give me any and all of your advice on what to do and I will post more pics once some changes are made!