It was just a few months ago that I posted photos of the interior of our new house. Of course, that was before we moved in, and before we repainted (the previous owners seem to have been inordinately fond of dark brown walls). Although the place is still not 100% ready for prime time, a few rooms are web-worthy and so, without further ado, I am happy to present them to you.

Zach's Room

First up is Zach's room. This was the previous owner's son's room. The boy's name was Tommy; Zach knew him and had actually been in this room when Tommy lived here! This is what it looked like when we first viewed the house:

Zach did the cleanup himself, even helped paint; and he also had a major say in the decorating (with some help in the actual mounting of pictures and documents). Here is what it looks like now:

The documents mounted on the wall at right are Zach's various awards from Cub Scouts and school. The painting of the lighthouse on the wall behind him is one he chose and requested to be hung there. (Thanks, Jack and Brooke!)

At the time of this posting, Zach doesn't know the corner stand will be replaced Christmas Day by a new desk—and matching computer! In keeping with his seaside motif, Zach selected the poster above his study desk.

Zach's dresser is located next to the door, and above it are his karate and MMA (mixed martial arts) awards, with space pre-allocated for his two remaining color belts, red/black and black.

The retro-looking stereo on his dresser can play anything from 78s, 45s and 33s to cassettes and CDs. Zach likes to listen to New Age CDs when falling asleep. (He prefers Hip-Hop while awake.)

And, yes, he is trying to learn guitar.

Although you can't see it in the photo below, Zach has a nice view of the Superstition Mountains from his window, as well as of the golf course that lies just behind the house.

Jenny's Room

Jenny's room is just to the east of Zach's. Here's what it looked like when we first looked at the house:

The day we took possession, Jenny took down the little girl window treatment (this had been Tommy's sister's room), painted the walls white, and added her own special touches to the wall.

Upstairs Bathroom

I'm sure the previous owners were wonderful people (they did take good care of their home) but some of their wall color choices left us baffled. One was the iridescent blue they used in some of the upstairs bathroom.

Since this bathroom would be used primarily by Jenny and Zach, she went right at it, lightening all the walls and installing a curtain between the toilet and tub areas so that they could both get ready for their day concurrently.

Michael and Paul's Bedroom

Our bedroom was another one that was a color that didn't work for either Michael or me, a shade of yellow.

I chose three shades of taupe to replace it, a color I knew would complement both the winter and summer colors of bedclothes we already had. Please note, we plan on getting a new bedroom set in a few months so have not yet put up any pictures.

Loft

The upstairs hallway widens into a loft area. Here's how it looked in August:

The same area now looks like this:

That odd structure at the right of the photo is a cat climber that Zach and Jenny built. It's not as sturdy as they'd hoped and the cats don't like it, so it will be replaced soon.

The love seat, which can certainly be used by humans (it's actually twin recliners), is more typically in use as a very expensive dog bed for Amber.

By the way, the wall behind the love seat was originally dark brown. Making it a light green made the area look much less like an old castle and much more like a spacious home.

And incidentally, I replaced the light bulbs in the sconces with LED bulbs, which use virtually no electricity at all; so we can keep them on all night at no measurable cost.

Family Room

The Family Room had been painted the same dark brown as the upstairs hall; and the built-in TV nook was designed for the big tube-type sets of the late 1990s.

My son, John, took out the lower built-in shelf so the nook would accommodate our big-screen, HDTV; and we painted the walls two light shades of tan to allow an accent wall yet still open up the space.

The rooms aren't all done yet, but I figure if I wait until everything's perfect there will never be any pictures at all! So, enjoy this work-in-progress; I'll post more as we get more rooms done.