First "After" Picture: the kitchen

Honestly, we didn't do too much to the kitchen, so it's a relatively easy "after". We (Chris) cleaned, primed and re-painted the cabinets. I found some great, fairly inexpensive new knobs and pulls. (12 pulls and 29 knobs for UNDER $60!) A new paint job (Benjamin Moore Bennington Gray) and a faucet from overstock and that pretty much sums it up!

Before:



After:








Still on the "to-do" list: replace the very strange "outer space" light fixture

Exciting Updates...we're getting closer!!

Yesterday, the carpet was installed!!! And, on Monday and Tuesday, there were cleaners there ridding the house of all the construction dust and dirt. The kids and I dropped Chris off over there this morning so he could work all day and I snapped these pictures. It looks like a real house. One we could actually LIVE in. And we will be...very soon. We're probably making the move on Friday, but maybe Saturday.

As for the carpet, this was my first time picking it out and I'd probably do it a little differently next time. I love the styles I went with. The style that is on the stairs is a loop- looks like berber, but it's not. In our room, we went with a frieze. Right now, I'm feeling like the loop is a little too dark. It's definitely darker than what I had pictured in my head, based on that little 2x6" square sample!

The stairs: (still working on painting the ballisters and risers)


Aidric's Room:



Juliet's Room (still needs a chair rail)



Master Bedroom:


Oh, and we got a new roof!!

a very blue bathroom

I can't wait until I can post pictures of actual FINISHED rooms. Considering we're moving in next week, you'd think that would be now..but it's not. So, here's what we have for the kid's bath. I can't wait to see it come together!

I've been VERY safe about picking paint colors. I've gone mostly neutral (with a very dark neutral in the living room we have yet to put and see) except for the kid's bedrooms. And even in their rooms, I put up several samples to get the right blue and pink. But, when I brought the towels and shower curtain in to Benjamin Moore to get Kathleen's advice on a paint color, she chose this crazy blue and I decided to just go for it! I didn't even get a sample. I'm still not sure it was the right choice. (And chris has said that the whole hallway glows blue.) But, it's fun and bright and cheery and I'm glad we're giving it a shot!!

So...here's the paint. (Following Kathleen's advice, it's even on the ceiling)




And here is the IKEA sideboard that Chris has mostly assembled and put 3 coats of polyurethane on.


This will be turned into a vanity with this sink and this faucet.


Here are the bathroom "accessories".



And choices that were just made today...lighting. We needed one for the ceiling and one for above the mirror. (mirror choice hasn't been made yet..I think we're cutting the one that up and will be framing it)

quick update

Our new stairs! I love the banister and can't wait to see how it all looks once the wood is stained and the rest is painted.



You can see my Mother-in-Law in this picture..working on priming the ceiling. For the record, I am not the one who distributed jobs that day. How did she get so unlucky? Primer? And the ceiling?? Thanks for coming Mary!!!



Here is the progress on Juliet's room. I absolutely love it, even in this very early stage. The paint is Benjamin Moore Wispy Pink. The bottom is a beadboard style wallpaper. I had never wallpapered before, it wasn't as bad as I thought. Sooo glad I didn't have to do it alone though. Again, thanks Mary!!!



You can see her new closet(s) in this picture. Lucky girl!


We still need to do a baseboard and chair rail in here. The carpet will be installed a week from today!!

what a mess!!

I was over there working today, and while there is a lot of progress to be seen, it's just SUCH a mess!! I took these so that we can look back when it's clean and see how far we've come...









Here, we have progress amidst the mess. There will be a carpet runner going up the stairs- these are the endcaps going in.


And they are actually finished with the new hardwood stairs going down to the living room. They were already covered by the time I took the picture- they'll be stained tomorrow.