So my husband and I literally bought our house the day before we were blissfully wed. We had a super awesome realtor who happens to be a family friend and she's a super awesome person as well. We signed the papers on a Tuesday, were married on Wednesday and Thursday at our reception, Sue handed me the key to our new mansion (ha ha ha ha - it's funny cuz it's so small - ha ha ha). When Sue showed us the house, the three of us walked through and pointed out all the things that needed to be fixed and thought of ways to update the place and so I have been especially excited to post this because I want her to see everything that we did.
We started on the house back in March, I think. The walls looked like crap because the previous owners didn't want to bother with fixing walls the right way in the beginning. So there was a lot of mudding, patching, A LOT of sanding (see below), re-texturing and UGGH I never want to do any of that again. The sanding was THE worst part - dust everywhere that was so obnoxious to clean up. The actual act of sanding sucks, too. Lucky for me Paul did all the sanding because, well, I hate it and I like to mud. I wanted to do the mudding myself anyway because I have done it before and he never has and so that automatically makes me the expert (i was the 'expert' in everything FYI because my way is alway right heh heh heh. Besides, my husband is an accountant. Translation: he didn't have a construction bone in his body when we started this. Enter me because I was raised by a construction dad and he taught me everything I needed to know to do this years ago...which is a very good thing because my husband has no patience for any of this stuff, anyway. Just ask him - he won't deny it. However, I must give props to my husband because he learns fast and he is smart, DUH he married ME!, and he can do anything better than I can...except fold the laundry...and make the bed...and clean the toilet...and anything to do with the house because I am a control freak...and oh yeah construction. And if you're wondering when my ridiculously long parenthesis is going to end, it's right...now)
The two troopers in the Sand Storm.
(if you click on Bacardi's picture, you can see all the footprints from the dust!)
So after we fixed all the walls, we ripped off all of our trim and casing. It was old and ugly and 1980's and it would be so much easier to paint the walls without having to worry about taping off trim that wasn't worth saving. Paul and I primed and painted everywall. We also ripped out the tile by the garage door. After the painting and the tile was done, my dad and Spencer both helped us put up our new trim and get ready for the carpet. This was over Pioneer weekend. Can I just say it was a long weekend? Paul and I moved our house into the garage. My dad or Spencer would take turns coming over to help. They would work with Paul and cut the boards down and I would go behind them and nail them. Then I spent a good chunk of time fixing mistakes, filling the holes, caulking and putting one last coat of paint on every piece of molding. It doesn't seem like all that much as I am writing but it is time consuming. I was so happy with how it all came together with the carpet that I think I did cartwheels. Thanks to everyone who helped, especially my Pa - he drove out to help us A LOT.
Alright - so I didn't get around to taking pictures before we actually started so you will see pretty much how things were when we bought the house, only there are mud patches everywhere and our stuff is strewn about. Strewn is a funny word, I just decided.
The Front Room...
I don't have much space to be able to take a picture of the whole room together so it's in halves.
Do you like my green curtains? Ha, Loser! I don't. They aren't staying long.
The Stairs...
Who wouldn't love that carpet? Answer: me. I am much more fond of our new stuff.
The Kitchen...
the kitchen from further away:
See that little wall under the kitchen floor next to the stairs? That used to have carpet going up it, so we tore that off and put up drywall and painted it. And then that little corner where the ceiling slants up? That had ceiling texture all over it and we hated that so we mudded and re-textured it so that it would look like the wall.
And I took off that dumb, pointless banister.
The Cabinets...
Did you catch the change in my cabinets? You should - they are amazing. (just kidding - I only repainted the inside borders cuz I couldn't stand the ugly poo brown that was there. So I repainted it with a darker more sophisticated brown...cuz that's me...sophistacated all the way).
The wall behind the stove was left unfinished because next year we are putting up a backsplash of colored glass tiles. It's bee-itchin'.
The Family Room...
Yes, I painted my walls orange and I love it.
Do you love that border or what? Elks and Bears and Eagles, oh my...it ain't happenin'. Oh, and did you catch that I got rid of those beautiful curtains and traded them in for some mahogany bamboo blinds? I lovest them.
This is our new tile. I forgot to take a close-up of the old stuff but just imagine the plain old white ceramic tile with peach grout -blegghh. Paul's friend Spencer helped him lay new tile, then Paul and I grouted and I sealed it. I love the way it turned out.
Okay, let's backtrack and go upstairs, shall we?
The Hallway...
We went with a nice neutral tan throughout the whole upstairs. No outrageous colors to be found up here.
The Bathroom...
...is not done. We really wanted a break! When we decided to buy the house, I was really depressed because this is the one room I know I can't do anything to that would make it appear larger. I can't do anything with it except re-paint and re-tile which BLOWS. I feel claustrophobic when I am in there and I need space or I freak out. That being said, the walls are done but the floors and trim are not so there won't be after pictures until after we are finished with that...hopefully sometime this winter.
The Office...
Formally known as the pink room but now it is 'the office'. It's a tiny little room. If I lived there alone I would totally pimp it out and make it my closet. Ooh...maybe...naw, Paul can keep it.
Those are all hand prints from my niece when she was helping me prime upstairs. She was bored...very bored.
The Spare Bedroom...
Formerly known as the race car room (pardon all the junk - that room is still under construction in a different kind of way).
The Master Bedroom...
It's so big, isn't? he he. Warning: my walls look a little bare because I haven't decided exactly how I want things and I don't want random holes on my brand new walls.
You can't see a whole lot of difference from this angle but trust me, it's there.
This is before we put the furniture back in and put the closet doors back on. I am hoping to replace the closet doors with something that's not, oh I don't know, mirror. And the fan is being replaced.
The Old Trim...
vs The New Trim...
Much better, eh? I had to paint all the new trim myself because somebody really sucked at it. I mean, really SUCKED. He was a sweet heart though and he would offer to help me even though we both knew that he couldn't be allowed to touch anything if we wanted the house to look good. It was a tiresome project.
And the Hired Help...
So that's pretty much it. We are almost completely done. We are in the middle of having all the electrical outlets and light switches replaced with newer, whiter ones. There are several light fixtures that need to be replaced cuz they are just old and ugly and we can't be having that. Of course, we still need to finish the bathroom as mentioned and the backsplash in the kitchen...and eventually I will get all my stuff back up on my walls so I don't look like I just moved in.
