Tax return home improvements!

This year we decided to put our tax return to good use and do a little home improvements with it. We're trying to learn from our previous experience with owning a home: when it came time to sell our townhouse in Maryland, we had to spend lots of money to fix it up right before we put it on the market. It seemed so unfair to invest our money in things like new carpet and kitchen flooring, just for the new homeowners to enjoy! So we resolved that if there were improvements that needed to be made to our current home, we would do them at least several years before we have to move (which is inevitable), so we can enjoy the upgrades too!

Our white laminate countertops in the kitchen and both bathrooms were stained and chipping in places, so that seemed like a good place to start. We had granite installed, along with a tile backsplash, and new faucets and sinks. We love the end result! Chase is pretty pleased with it too... he keeps taking us to his bathroom and saying, "Do you love my new sink? It's so beautiful!"

Here are the before and after pictures:

The kitchen:


close up:our bathroom:the kids' bathroom:


and since I had the camera out, I decided to take some fun bath pictures too! I'm new at this collage thing, so bear with me!