Sweat equity is a beautiful thing

We spent several hours this weekend doing some major overhaul and I think the results are pretty amazing!

Before:

After: (we removed all the wallpaper/adhesive in the living room/hallway/foyer too)

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After a coat of primer (still need to finish the hearth/some groutwork)

Next weekend we'll finish priming the fireplace and then paint it and hopefully start priming/painting the basement so we can then get new carpet installed!

Befores & Afters..the beginning!

Today my Mom and I headed down to the house to get a jump start on a few projects. It's amazing how much you can get done in a few hours when you're motivated!!

First, we took down the ugly valences in the sunroom - what a difference!

Then it was time to tackle The Great Wall...of paper that is! The bathroom, kitchen and living room/hallway/foyer are all covered in wallpaper and while that look might work for some people, it's not our "thing!"

Here are a few befores:

A closeup of the hideous stuff!

Little did we know that there was a 2nd layer of wallpaper underneath the first!!

Thankfully it just peeled right off, but we still need to use a scoring tool and some wallpaper liquid remover to take off the adhesive - but that is a project for another day!

Here's my wonderful mother hard at work!

And now, some more afters!

We figured while we were on a roll, we might as well see what the bathroom wallpaper was like. Not quite as easy to tear off as the kitchen stuff, but at least it was a much smaller room!

Here's a before: (with the previous owners stuff)

Close up:

Afters: (again, we will need to use a scoring tool/spray with liquid remover to get the adhesive off - thankfully there was NOT a second layer of wallpaper in here!)

We still have half a wall to do - our stomachs started growling so we needed to quit for the day!

Check back for more updates in a week or so!!

Lighting

Starting to think about what I would want to replace the current 70s/80s lighting fixtures with:

Drop ceilings =

GROSS!

At least that's what I thought, until I found this website: http://www.ceilume.com/

How cute are these ceiling tiles??

Our frames are brown like the ones above but I think I'd prefer to paint them white so everything matches..that is, if we opt for the white panels. I ordered 3 free samples: white, latte and sand because you never really know what color looks like online! And while the panels aren't cheap ($12 each), they would be for our family room downstairs where we'll be spending a decent amount of time, so I don't necessarily mind splurging a bit...but we'll see how I feel once the samples come in!

If I had a million dollars...

...or just an unlimited budget, I would buy:

(potterybarn.com)

(zgallerie.com)

It matches my china! (crateandbarrel.com)

(zgallerie.com)

(westelm.com)

To Do List

Brandon and I stopped by the house last night to get some measurements of the countertops/backsplash and we started to picture what our furniture would look like in some of the rooms.

Then we got to talking about our "To Do List" so it made sense to just post it here so I can go back and cross off things as we finish them! I think this will also help us prioritize what needs to get done vs. what we want to get done: (Oh and this list is by no means organized.. I am literally just thinking of what I want to do and listing it!)

1. Knock down the lower half of the partition wall

2. Re-do the floor in the kitchen

3. Tear down wallpaper in ALL rooms

4. Paint all rooms

5. Clean hardwood floors

6. Re-do backsplash in the kitchen

7. Get new countertops for the kitchen

8. Paint trim throughout the house (walls/ceiling/floor trim)

9. Rip up carpet on stairs (after we move furniture in!)

10. Rip up carpet in basement and install new carpet

11. Get 2 new toilets

12. Paint tile in bathroom

13. Rip up carpet in bonus room downstairs/install new carpet/flooring

14. Take out ceiling fans in LR/MB and replace w/ light fixtures

15. Replace light fixtures in kitchen

16. Sand and paint kitchen cabinets/get new hardware

17. Loam/mulch in yard

18. Plant annuals

19. Paint front door (?)

20. Paint basement

Edited to add:

21. Get a puppy/kitten in the near future
22. Fence in the rest of the yard for said puppy :)

Whew!! Check back later for an organized list and possibly a time line of when these projects will get accomplished!

Slowly becoming addicted to...

The Home Depot!

In the past 2 days I've spent 3 hours at THD and spent zero dollars! Yay for free paint, flooring and countertop samples! I took a few "inspiration" pictures too!