That 70's House

So much has gone one since the last blog post... almost a month ago. We've gone through a lot of really personal stuff I hope to be able to share soon, but on a more exciting note we bought a house in Decatur!!
When we started looking at homes in Decatur we noticed several things, TAXES, Illinois has some of the highest property taxes in the entire country.We will literally be paying over 5 x's the amount of property taxes with out new house. The second thing we noticed was that there seemed to be a housing boom in the 70's and then one again in the 90's but nothing in between and finding a renovated house is like finding a needle in a haystack, and if you did find one it was sold in days.
Pat and I had a really hard time finding a house. I looked at so many they were all starting to look alike. We were finding homes at the tip-top of our price range, but still I wanted to change lots of stuff, and homes that were comfortably in our price range and I still wanted to change a lot. So in the end we decided that finding a structurally sound fixer upper was the right move for us! Anyone who knows me knows how badly I have always wanted to buy and renovate a house and here I get the chance to do it. I could not be more excited! We found an amazing home built in 1977. When it was built it was like the top of the line home, no expense spared, were talking custom fixtures galore! The only bad part is that it has not been renovated cosmetically since it was built. Hence... That 70's House, our charming nickname for our new purchase!
I have decided to include some pictures for your viewing pleasure...

This is our new guest bath, what you cannot see is the custom gold toilet and shower which match all the tile and the lovely counter top.

The powder room with custom made low black toilet. This toilet is sure to be the new thorn in my side because my husband thinks it is the absolute coolest thing on the planet and swears we are not getting rid of it...

Foyer, complete with lovely wallpaper, yellow and orange stained glass, and dont forget to look at the doorbell above the stairs. It lights up when the doorbell rings.

Our luxurious new master bath... blue toilet included.

The living room complete with stucco walls. They actually hurt if you run into them!

The kitchen. Big plans for this room!

Sink, chandeliers, hood, and appliance are all up for grabs! Any takers?

The paneled family room. This room offends me the least of all. I dont know why. I kinda like it!

The beautiful outside! It may sound like I am ungrateful or dumb for buying this house, but I really do love it. The square footage and floor plan are exactly what we wanted and the neighborhood is awesome! I cannot wait to throw myself into updating. This could not have come at a better time for us! Way more pictures to come...