A Byrd's Eye View

The Byrds are Nesting in Beverly

As most of you know my family recently moved to Beverly, MA (suburb of Boston) to help with a church plant here (Netcast Church).

It is amazing to me how God has brought us full circle. Our pastor and his wife were part of our church plant in Quincy, MA ten years ago and now we are here serving under his leadership. God is doing a wonderful thing here and we feel humbled and privileged to be a part of it.

Now, a little about how we ended up in our apartment.
When we came to visit in July we looked at an apartment of some church members and agreed to downsize to 665 sq. feet since this place was in our price range. A few weeks before our move date the apartment beside our pastor came available and was double the size for the same price. We agreed to go with option B. Two days before we pulled out we found out the apartment needed to be rented for more money by a group of college girls, so now we are on to option C.
That is where we are today.
Some people from Netcast spent an entire Saturday stripping wall paper, priming walls, cleaning and clearing out a haphazard basement.
Still there was a lot of cosmetic work to do when we arrived but we were very thankful for all the help.

So...
Here are the before and afters of our apartment. It is 3 bedrooms and is about 900 sq. feet. We are still learning to all live in limited space but are thankful all utilities are included and we were able to make it feel like home.

Here is our front porch before...

and after.
I also have Adirondack chairs to the left and a wrought iron table and chairs to the right but our porch is under construction so I don't have pics of those.

Here is the hallway looking toward the front door. My after pics are from different angles but you get the idea.

Here is our interior door. There is a doorway to the right that leads up to our upstairs neighbors (7 college age guys...sometimes this can be very interesting). To the left we added pegs to hang our coats when we come in.

Here is the entry from the front door.

This is where I hang my purse and keys. The chicken wire basket for our outgoing mail, etc. reminds me of the Oviedo chickens : )

The bottom of my hutch makes a great landing place for seasonal decor and to display my address sign.

Here is the hallway looking toward the front door.

I changed out the two outdated sconces for these fun $5 ones. It looks like a jar on top.
I just love these.

This room is directly to the left when you walk in the front door.

We made it into our office/guest room.

I love the lead detailing on this front window.

We added a desk from IKEA to our bookcase.

The futon and chair make a great place for Dan to have meetings and doubles as a guest room when we have visitors (hint, hint!)

The next room on the left is our family room.
Here are the before pics...

Here it is after...

The family room leads into our kitchens...yep, that is plural. We have one room with some cabinets and our sink and then another room with our table, refrigerator and stove. I am still trying to get used to this...but we are making it work.

and after...

doorway to the kitchen area

...love my wrought iron gates here. They actually can close.

Here is one side of "the sink" room
I painted the walls and cabinets.

Here are the cabinets on the opposite wall.

This IKEA shelf on casters holds all our dinnerware, silverware, and my mixer, etc.

The black drawers were damaged in the move...i have plans to decoupage them (will post pics when I am done)

my crock-pot is normally not out but is cooking us a yummy dinner right now.

this is the wall with the sink.

And the wall opposite the sink.

Now we are in the room with the stove and fridge. Here is our table with one of my favorite decor pieces hanging above. Perfect space for it.

This is the stove and cabinet where I keep pot and pans and spices (the only cabinet in this room). I painted in here and a carpenter at our church was nice enough to change out fake brick veneer that was behind the stove with beadboard. So much better!

Here is the cupboard. It was covered in flowered contact paper. Nothing some cream paint with primer won't fix.

here is the wall by the cupboard before...

This is after. There is a door on the right that leads to the basement. I painted the top with chalkboard paint and the bottom is a piece of flashing recovered from the stove reno, perfct magnetic space for notes and reminders. It fit perfect...I just love it when that happens.

Here is a little area by the back door before...

and after...
We took down the brown door and it totally opens up that space.
Great to store cleaning supplies in the closet and Hershey's stuff. I also added a stick on calendar and some clips to hold our lunch boxes for school.

I found small shades at a local shop for $1 each and modified them to replace the outdated glass shades that were on all the ceiling fans.

My birdcage and over-sized bird on top of my fridge make me smile when I am in my kitchen.

bathroom before...

and after...

This is another view. Khaki paint did wonders in here.

This is the girl's room before...
(notice the dark paneling)

and after...
I found a five gallon container of oops cream paint with primer for $20 bucks. It made such a HUGE difference in this room!
I still have plans to paint the loft beds, accessorize and hang curtains but it is a start.