Updating our house tour has been long overdue, not necessarily with new pictures but with old pictures. I cleaned up the dusty portable hard drive and pulled some pictures for all of you.
Hope you enjoy
Before you start the tour let me tell you a little secret. Our whole house never looks like this for more then 24 hours. 3 boys, 3 dogs and a hubby that works from home it’s more like piles of laundry, dirty dishes in the kitchen sink, dusty railings, beds not made dirty floors, screaming kids AND a whole lot of LOVE and FUN!
When we purchased our home 18+ years ago it was builder grade with lots of carpet, tile and beige. We have loved making the house more functional as our family grew.
One of our first projects was turning three small rooms (living, dining, family) into one large great room. This created a space that was 100% usable and functional which was so important for us, now the kids can run and be wild, not that I love that but lets face it, that’s what kids do.
We surrounded the fireplace with Stacked Stone in Mountain Blend, you can see more pictures here.

Our old living room became our dinning room and we opened up the bottom of the staircase and turned it into a small wine cellar.
The Kitchen renovation was one of our biggest accomplishments. . It took us about 5 years to complete but we are so proud of all our hard work. Sadly, we hod to tear almost everything down due to mold. We had a slow leak that we were not aware of, everything is a loss and insurance won’t cover it, it truly is heartbreaking. So here is our DIY kitchen.
What we started with
I still remember this day like it was yesterday, teaching my little ones to bake.
You can find all the details below
With three boys we were quickly running out of space. We converted a small storage room into a Craft/mud/play room which has come in very handy.
We recently completed adding wood floors to our Master Bedroom and updated the paint with a lighter shade and added sheer curtains.
Before
We worked hard at updating our bathroom by painting the cabinets, updating the backsplash, trimming out the mirrors and painting the walls.

Back in July of 2011 a candle burned our Guest Bathroom down, we were very fortunate that was the only loss, everyone was safe and we were able to rebuild.
We have had a lot of unexpected things happen to our home like this huge AC leak we walked home to on a hot summer day. Instead of dwelling on the negative we pick up the pieces and move on, besides it usually turns into a new type of project for us.
The beginning of 2012 I tackled the Loft by repainting the desk and bookshelves so I had a space to work. On the other side of the loft we added a sofa and TV which makes for a cozy hangout for the boys.
Before, I know right?
We have lots of family that stays with us on a regular basis so it was important to have our Guest room as comfortable as possible for them. Recently we replaced the floors with wood, prior to that we had carpet.
Two of our boys share a room and we are in the process of updating our oldest room.
We had lots of fun transforming the boys bathroom into a beachy escape for them.
The before
Living in San Diego we are blessed to have wonderful weather so we have created a space where we can relax and entertain in our back yard.
Hope you will stop by and visit us again soon, chances are a furry friend will great you!
I think that completes the tour, thank you so much for stopping in.
Ray and Kristin