Homeowners!

At the end of August, we bid on a house and "won" it after only being inside for all of 5 minutes. In reality, we probably paid mainly for the location, but we truly have the best spot in Bergen (in our opinion). The house was built in 1923 and needs a bit of love, but we have decided to take on little-by-little.

While Marius was preparing the apartment for sale, I took on the first project myself. Our foyer was a nice shade of yellow, but I painted it white. I finally figured out why Scandinavians paint their interiors white.. With so little daylight in the winters, it is necessary to have the indoors be as bright as possible to combat the long dark days from November to March.

[The previous yellow color of the foyer around the light switches, and the new white color]

We've also started freshening up the living room. Before it was a shade of beige, and now it will be...white.

I touched up the kitchen by getting rid of the flower wallpaper and painting it white. We plan to paint the cupboards and drawers under the counter top a different color...but we aren't sure yet. I also painted some shelves in the kitchen red (they were also yellow before).

[Kitchen after ripping off the wallpaper]

[The wallpaper was oddly similar to what I had in my room as a baby]

[I got crafty and decoupaged the cabinet knobs]

[Marius painting the living room. He hates painting the edges..lots of swearing, naturally]

Our first big project was the upstairs bathroom. We expected it to be an easy cosmetic job, just some painting and putting up wall panels, but upon further inspection we decided it was probably for the best to gut the whole thing and start from scratch to avoid water damage and remove any potential for mold that is already in the walls.

[before]

[after some gutting]

And last but not least, we have our names up on the house...a rather typical Norwegian thing to do.

Lots of big plans for our little old house, but we just have to take it one step at a time.

[My present to us for the house]

[The view from  our road]

[Happy puppy]