House Tour Blog

House Tour

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This past Easter we moved into a new house, a forever home. After renting through medical, we realized that we had outgrown our flat along with all the rentals in our area. After working with a spectacular realtor, we found a gem- the perfect house for our family. The floor plan is ideal; we have room to grow; and it had no must-fix projects. Now that we’re mostly moved in and settled (except for those last boxes. . . .), I thought I’d give a virtual house tour.

Before I begin, I want to say that we have been incredibly blessed by hand-me-down furniture, fixtures, and household accessories. When we moved into our flat when Mark started medical school, my mom was downsizing and gave us a lot of furniture. And this past winter, Mark’s parents moved into a new house and passed on what they weren’t going to use. The town where we live is also a fabulous location for alley-picking, and we have a great Buy Nothing group.

Let’s start at the front door. When you walk in to the house, to the right you’ll find the library. This is my favorite room. It’s peaceful and prayerful, a no play zone of the house. I still find it hard to believe we have a house with built in bookcases. It feels utterly extravagant and luxurious. In the corner is my big prayer chair, and in front of the fireplace the kiddos have their own little chairs. We also have a desk and plenty of space to sprawl out and study. G and I often do her history and geography work in here.

house tour, library
This is my favorite spot in the entire house. Isn’t it just the most cozy?
I promise it’s not always this tidy . . .
The kids’ prayer corner
On the mantle are items from my grandparents: my Nana’s pink vases and my grandpa’s carousel. The orange chairs came from Mark’s Great-aunt, who had fabulous taste.
North American saints work
G learning about the process of canonization sprawled on the floor.

Across the hallway from the library is our living room. It’s long and lovely. The house’s previous owner had great taste and her color scheme for the house is so warm and inviting. We arranged the furniture so we could have Gram’s chair in front of the big picture window, where she can people watch to her heart’s content. The kids have a bookshelf, Will’s box of trains, some puzzles, and their Pikler triangle in the room, but all other toys are kept elsewhere (in theory at least if not in practice). Mark’s mom has fabulous taste in rugs and throw pillows. We’ve only hung one picture up so far in here. I haven’t quite figured out what to do with the rest of the wall space yet . . .

  • Left side
  • Right side
Gram’s chair and table. We live on the corner lot and there’s a bus stop across the street, so there’s lots to see.
Fireplace and Pikler triangle.

Off of the living room is Gram’s room. Our one “must have” item when we were house hunting was a first floor master for Gram. It’s such a cute room, complete with a purple accent wall, but she won’t let me photograph it, so you’ll have to imagine.

I did manage to sneak into her bathroom, which is my favorite in the house. It has what William calls the “airplane tub”, so named because it has jets.

Here’s the tub side of the bathroom. It also has a walk in shower, which makes it perfect for Gram.
Aren’t the tiles just incredible? The whole bathroom is this salmon and turquoise with these sweet bows.

Continuing back from whence we came, we reach the dining room. It’s serving dual purpose now, as my sewing machine resides there, with our current pieces resting on Mark’s Grandma’s hope chest. My mom gets the credit for the arrangement of the furniture- she has a great eye for it.

house tour dining room
There aren’t always roses on our table, but it was our anniversary, and I have a husband with a romantic streak.
Fun Fact: the Salvation Army is a great place to get frames

And lest you think that my house is too neat to be real, here are two rooms that are often a mess: the kitchen and the sun room (which doubles as the kids’ playroom)

house tour, kitchen
This space is usually cluttered and full of half-finished tasks I’m trying to complete. And coffee. Always coffee.
The kitchen overlooks the backyard and walks out to the patio, which I love.
This is the current state of our playroom. Total chaos. But look at that fabulous backyard!

Our downstairs powder room is adorable and pink.

That’s it for the downstairs. Upstairs we have 3 bedrooms: the girls share a room, William is in another, and Mark and I are in the 3rd. There are two bathrooms as well. Here are a few pictures of the bathroom tiles because they are spectacular, and shots of the master bedroom, which is the only one that doesn’t have sleeping children in it right now.

The Blue Bathroom
The Green Bathroom
Throw pillows courtesy of my MIL (I told you she had great taste). The painting on the wall was in my Nana’s room growing up, which makes me smile.
This was the first thing hung up when we moved in. My Uncle Tom made this cross for my grandparents in high school, and it always hung in their room. I’ve had it for years, and love it, and the way it reminds me of him.
Rebecca’s St. Michael hangs at the top of the stairs, which is a great place to remember to pray, especially when walking up to put a kid back in bed for the umpteenth time.

So there you have it. The Pressprich family abode. I hope you’ve enjoyed our little house tour and that you’ll stop by again soon.