Before and After

We've had several requests from family and friends to see what our house looks like on the inside. I had the foresight to take some photos when we first got here (before our stuff arrived), but I was waiting to take the "after" pictures once they could be a little more final. But then I realized that we have so many projects that we want to do that it could take forever to be "finished"! So here are the "for now / after" photos, which will still change more as we continue to settle in. :)

Oh, and here's a reminder of what the outside of the house looks like:

from the "front" driveway, looking northwest 

from the "back" driveway, looking southeast

Okay, now for the big reveal of the inside!

From the front door (on the deck), looking into the main living space (before)

And for now/after.  (We are removing the wall that goes down to the basement - on the left - to help circulate the heat/cold better throughout the year. Also, I had just taken a bunch of clothes off the line outside - otherwise we don't normally keep full baskets of laundry on our couch! And please ignore the pile of art behind the table. We have a lot fewer walls now, so we're still figuring out where to hang things.)

The reverse view of the main living space, looking back at the front door (before)

And for now / after. (In addition to the open wall to the basement - which will eventually just be a post and railing, I also LOVE our new dining room light fixture!!)

And a final view of the main living space. The front door is off to the right (before)

same view, for now / after:

Kitchen and hallway to the bathroom (kind of straight ahead), pantry (to the right behind the kitchen), and Rose's room (to the left) -  (before)

for now / after. (Please ignore the fridge being pulled out, since we're in the middle of fixing it - long story. Also, eventually I want to replace those track lights above the stove, and also make it into a live-edge bar between the kitchen and dining room. Eventually.)

Bathroom/laundry room (before)
And I didn't take "for now / after" shots because it's still basically the same, other than more stuff on the shelves. (To do: paint, put in shelves and a drying rack around the laundry side of the room, and fix the fact that NOTHING in this room is centered  - not the mirror above the sink, not the light fixture above the mirror, and certainly not the shelf between the washer and dryer!!)

Looking up to the loft from the living room (before)

for now / after (notice the awesome new ceiling fan? And eventually the railings on the stairs will be updated and will match the future railings up on the loft and also the future railings down to the basement.)

The loft (before). This is standing right at the top of the stairs and looking out toward the Juliet balcony, which faces south.

for now / after. (we'll eventually remove the studs on the right and make the whole right side open. I think the left side will stay closed because that will eventually be my closet in back, but I plan to paint it white since I don't like wood paneling at all.)

the "summer bedroom" - aka my room  (before)

and for now / after (Mike's first project, once he gets electricity out in the Quonset, is to build me a nice bed frame. I CAN'T WAIT.)

and my closet (before)

for now / after. (clearly it's on the docket to eventually build some more shelves and to put up a clothes rail. One of these days...)

Before:   this quarter of the loft will eventually be storage for wrapping paper, suitcases, office supplies, etc.

For now / after:  it's just a mess of boxes that need some shelving in order to be put away!

Before:  this quarter of the loft will eventually be my quilting area.

For now / after:  Mike is eventually going to build us a new dining room table, and then the current table can become my sewing table. And we'll eventually build some shoe storage in the basement, so those will get moved downstairs eventually.

Okay, back down to the main floor again...


The hallway pantry (before)

and for now / after. (I love the pot rack that we hung up instead of that huge  cupboard on the top right. The previous owners must have been much shorter than us, because that cupboard corner was right at the level of my forehead. OUCH.)

The back pantry (before)

and for now / after. (eventually the winter gear will all be in the entryway down in the basement and this will just be pantry/storage. And I will paint the ugly paneling white at some point.)

Rose's room (before)

she loves her TWO closets!

Rose's room (for now / after). This is also our guest bedroom, for anyone who comes to visit! :)   (we'll also get frames for those beds eventually too!)

And now down to the basement...


Basement entry (before)

for now / after (eventually this will have a bench, storage for winter gear, etc. But we are able to watch TV now! Priorities!)

Basement bathroom (before)
I also didn't take any "after" pictures of this room since basically nothing has changed. We took down the valence (just like in every. single. other. room.) but that's about it.

Basement TV area (before)

and for now / after. (Mike did offer to clean up for my pictures, but I told him that we could go for candid, "real-life living" in these shots.  But we will clean up if you come visit us, I promise! And we will also even out those pictures because they drive my OCPD crazy!!)

The summer bedroom - aka Mike's room (before)

and for now / after. (yes, Mike's bed is backwards. He wanted a nice breeze from the window, so the long-term plan is to cut down the headboard a bit. But the short-term solution was just to turn the bed around backwards. It would drive me crazy, but he says he doesn't mind!)

And that's the whole house!

Here's a bonus picture of the view while sitting at the kitchen table :)

We have a guest bedroom now, so let us know if you ever want to visit!!

we finally have internet!

We made it to Montana, successfully bought our new house, our stuff got delivered (a week late and almost not at all, but that's another post for another day), Rose started kindergarten, and Mike and I both started work (as a homesteader and a psychologist, respectively).  Whew! It's been a whirlwind. Obviously many more blog posts are in order, and eventually I'll get them posted here and/or at https://midlifemovetomontana.blogspot.com. But in the meantime, here are some pictures!

Good bye to our old house in Minnesota!

We stopped to visit Mike's grandparents in North Dakota. I'm so glad we did, because his grandfather passed away just a couple days after we left. We weren't able to make it to the funeral, but I'll always cherish those last memories of Rose with Grandpa Borho.

Rose on a combine (not a tractor)

Then we finally made it to Great Falls! We spent a couple nights at a hotel before we were able to close on our new house. Doug and I had some great morning walks by the Missouri River.

After we closed on our house, we made a massive trip to Costco to restock!

And here's our house! This is the view from the "back driveway" (which is technically not on our property, but historically the neighbors had let the previous owners use it since it's so much nicer than our real driveway).

Here's the start of the real ("front") driveway. Before we had internet service at home, we would walk down this driveway a couple times a day to get reception on "cell phone rock."

Cell phone rock

It has been INCREDIBLY smoky here from all the fires to the west and south of us. We are all praying for some rain (no lightning) soon.  Despite the smoke, we have still had some beautiful sunrises and sunsets!

We celebrated our 14th anniversary in our new house!

On our of our trips to Helena (about 45 min to the south - we are equidistant from Helena to the south and Great Falls to the north) we went out to dinner and happened to meet Miss Montana. A real princess! Rose was obviously thrilled.

As already mentioned, our stuff arrived a week later than expected. And they actually had to send it up on two trucks! (It's a little shocking and embarrassing how much stuff we own.)  Here are the trucks in the front driveway and the back driveway. 

As we unpacked, Rose enjoyed playing around. Here she is dressing up in some old curtains. (I'll do some more "before" and "after" pictures of the interior once we're a little more unpacked/organized.)

I bought myself a label maker, and it was the best gift I've ever given myself! I had so much fun once we finally got unpacked enough that we could start organizing things!!

And the most exciting news of all is that Rose started kindergarten!!!! In just three days of classes she already seems older and wiser. She is thriving so far!

We went in person to register her the week before classes started.

Waiting for the bus on Day One!

Mike and I were both so excited for her to start school, but we both started bawling after the bus pulled away. What a monumental milestone!!

Well, that's a quick overview of what we've been up to recently. Thanks to all who have sent emails, cards and/or texts - now that we finally have internet, hopefully we can stay more connected!