A little better, eh?

I'm really just in this for the before-and-after pictures, you know :)

(Look out, couch (and random displaced faux flowers), I'm coming for you next!)

Since March (and, more accurately, in the last few weeks), we have:

- Removed kitchen wallpaper
- Removed stairwell/hallway wallpaper
- Replaced all outlets & switches in the house
- Hung, finished, and painted new drywall ceiling in the den
- Painted all of the trim in the house
- Painted 6 rooms (kitchen, living, dining, den, 2 bedrooms) and the stairwell/hallway
- Ripped out 6 rooms worth of carpeting
- Removed the built in desk in the den
- Removed window coverings

And, of course, had the new carpeting and hardwood floors installed (upstairs and downstairs, respectively).

I'm excited (ok, honestly, giddy!) about the progress to date.  But don't worry, we've left plenty of projects (besides just unpacking!):

I'll try to keep you updated with more pictures, but be forewarned about the sappiness that might come next week when we finally get to be ... HOME!  For good!

The Good-bye Tour: The Living Room

Maybe I should just rename my blog "Excuses, Excuses" since the bulk of my posts seem to be about why I haven't had time to write any other posts!  This one today has been in the works for over a week now, sidetracked by Holy Week and Easter celebrations, a rush trip to Pennsylvania for a sick family member (who thankfully had a bad case of pneumonia and not the suspected heart attack), and then my own bout with a nasty cold/laryngitis.

Anyway.

I read somewhere [online, which Justin says must make it true] that Catholic families traditionally would do spring housecleaning on the Monday-Wednesday before Easter - both as a sort-of spiritual purge before the Triduum, but also as a practical preparation for the priest's home blessing, which apparently was also a traditional part of Holy Week celebrations.  I thought that this was a really great idea, but then I tempered myself, having just seen my wise sister's find on Pinterest:  "People overestimate what they can do in a single day and underestimate what they can do in their whole lives."  I realized that it wasn't realistic for me to do a deep clean of every room in three days, so I thought I'd do one per day and continue in to the following week.  As a bonus, I realized, I could finally take some good "after" pictures of the house.  This blog, after all, is really about our transformation of the house, and I left off with a lot of the rooms once we stopped tearing down walls.  I want to make sure we have it well-documented, for our own memories, for Anna's future enjoyment, and - well - for you!  Also, now that I have my new camera, I can actually take pictures with which I'm pleased.

So we'll call this the "good-bye tour" of the house.  I"ll try to post each room as I finish the cleaning and get some good shots, and I'll also update the "House Tour" tab as I do each room.  I'm hoping I can pick up the pace a little bit, since at this rate I won't have everything done by the time we move!  Provided I don't try to clean any more heat ducts (and subsequently get large dust bunnies lodged in the vacuum, putting progress at a stand-still until my patient and awesome husband takes it apart and puts it back together), we might be in luck.

Here's the living room / entrance way when we started:

EVERYTHING was saturated with smoke (both visibly, and very clearly by scent) and lots of dust.  That's probably my biggest memory of the "before."  We couldn't wait to get the smelly carpet out of there.  You can't see the peeling ceiling paint in the pictures, but if you look closely, you can get a glimpse of the old kitchen!

We refinished the floors early, and then focused on other projects while I basked in having a house to decorate for our first Christmas (no, seriously, I remember feeling so proud of how this looked - even making sure we had a red blanket over the mattress-on-floor "couch" to be festive!)

Note that this was during the desk-in-the-kitchen period (because we were still sleeping in the den and the upstairs was a major construction zone).

Then we really moved up in the world and got a real couch and I decorated and again couldn't get over how beautiful everything looked (I was so, so proud - no exaggeration):

And THEN, finally, years of little tweaks came together, and we have a room that I'm proud of (again) and call "finished."  Maybe I'll look back on these again someday and laugh at my simplicity in the moment, but at least I've found happiness and satisfaction all through the journey ;)

And now a lot of detail shots because part of this exercise is learning to use my camera:

How can I not include this sweet accessory for any room?  She came up and rested on my knee while I was taking close-up shots and said "cheese!"  Then she proceeded to get her play binoculars and join me in taking more pictures of the room....

For a (not-so) quick overview of what we did in this room (all DIY, except for where we bribed family & friends to help):

- Ripped out the carpets

- Refinished the floors

- Painted the beadboard & walls

- Refinished the heat vents

- Painted the front door

- Added wood slat blinds and a fabric roll-blind for the door

- Refinished the ceiling / replaced the light with a ceiling fan

- Added furnishings, pictures, new pillows, and my miles-of-sewing couch throw

And, just for kicks - one last side-by-side of the transformation!

I honestly often forget what the "before" was like, or even (somehow) all the blood, sweat, and tears (mostly sweat) and the hours upon hours that we put into this house.  It makes me happy to see the progress side by side :)  One of the other reasons I'm taking all of these pictures is so that we can have them printed into a photo book to take with us, as a reminder of our first house and all that went into making it home!

The final frontier

When I last left you hanging, I showed you all of the furniture pushed to the center of the living room.  With all that has been going on (more on that in a moment), I completely forgot that I should update my faithful blog followers about the progress!  A dear friend asked about the project this weekend, and then I had to chuckle when Facebook sent me an automated email today with tips on encouraging people to join my "Finding Former Glory" page.  The first tip was to post something.  Point taken, Facebook.

At any rate, the furniture was moved because we (more accurately, Justin) were putting the finishing touches on the tile ceiling project.  We started the project with our close friends - who apparently find it relaxing to spend their summer trip to Ithaca doing manual labor (remember when they took our kitchen apart & put it back together with us last summer?).  Justin finished the tiling and quarter rounds a few weeks ago (ironically, I think, the day I wrote the last post).

So we've been enjoying our finished ceiling since then.  It's significantly more charming than the paint chips we had going on before (see below).  And you know that the pregnant lady has been loving the ceiling fan!

Before - this fuzzy picture doesn't do justice to how large & obvious the paint chips were!

Before - the old light (not terrible, but it didn't cool me down!)

Ahh, AFTER!

With the completion of this project (the true final renovation frontier), we can officially say that we've redone every floor, wall, and ceiling in our home - all 7 rooms worth (8, if you count the stairwell).  Although we have plenty of little projects to keep us busy, we are very happy with our two years of accomplishments!

Aside from enjoying the ceiling fan, you may be wondering what I've been up to recently.  I have been completing many house projects (many of which I hope to show you soon, now that I discovered that my camera was in the case where it belongs for the entire last month I thought it was missing).  I also, after 9 days of my stay-at-home gig, went back to work.  Unfortunately, the replacement I had trained was unable to stay, and they asked me to come back until a second replacement could be hired & trained.  Thankfully I'm only back part-time, and the second new person started today for training, so I will only have a few days left.  Today I worked an entire day, though, and man - I don't remember how I ever got anything done at home!  Granted, I wasn't always an unwieldy 8-months pregnant, but I'm still amazed that I kept our household (mostly) running with normal tasks and renovations and my full-time job.  I'm already very spoiled (and incredibly thankful) that I can focus on our family & household full-time when Anna arrives.

Speaking of Anna, the other biggest (literally) things I've been doing recently is growing.  According to our most recent appointment, she's now over 7 pounds, and on track to be well over 9 pounds when she is born!  I take comfort in knowing that my tiny mom successfully delivered 3 big babies (one over 10 pounds) without complications!

Here's the most recent belly shot, taken with her "cousin Spalding."  I couldn't resist a photo opportunity when my brother lovingly/mockingly stuck his basketball under his t-shirt this weekend!  The size comparison is accurate!  Now...if only Anna's delivery will be as easy as Spalding's!

Coziness

As the weather continues to turn toward cold, I am excited about the prospect of a cozy house.  Last year this time, the only warm & fuzzy that we had came in the form of dust bunnies.  All of the year's progress certainly contribute to a much warmer, homey feeling (having walls tends to do that), and I'm having fun with craft projects that further my vision of a warm, welcoming, and comfortable home.

To that end, I have FINALLY finished a blanket for the living room couch.

I found a great tutorial at dana-made-it.com for a faux chenille blanket.  She describes it much better than I will be able to, and she also has a great tutorial in case you are interested in making one of your own, so go check that out here.  Basically, it is several layers of flannel with many (MANY) rows of stitching.  All but the top layer of fabric are cut, and once it is washed, the edges fray and curl up, leaving a very soft chenille-like blanket!

Now that I look back at her tutorial, she does mention upwards of 10 times that it is a time-consuming project.  Somehow, in my excitement to tackle this project, I missed the warnings about how long it would take, but miles of sewing later, I'm very excited to have it done!  I'm happy with the fabric choices, which tie together the colors of the den, living room, and kitchen (brown, green, and orange).  This blanket not only keeps us warm, but it also is the first step in the accessorizing that makes the orange and green walls a little less circus-like.

Please ignore that striped pillow, it came with the couch, and it needs to go ASAP.  Some new throw pillows will hopefully be joining the blanket as part of Operation: Cozy sometime soon.  Also a new lamp, another chair, and hanging family pictures around the "family tree."

So although we haven't yet reached my final vision, it's reassuring for me to look at pictures from last year.  Here's a shot from last December.  I remember I was really proud of the red fabric "slip cover" draped over the twin bed.  It made a nice temporary couch, but not half as cozy as what we've got now :)

The evolving revolving door

You may have picked up on the fact that we've been quite busy lately.  After hosting Easter guests, we were off & running ~ for 5 consecutive weekends.  Along with our big bike trip around Cayuga Lake, we made 5 trips to Pennsylvania (3 together, and one each in separate directions).  Between the two of us, we visited Scranton, Levittown, Altoona, and Bradford.  If you know your PA geography, that's all four corners of the state.  Not to mention the time we spent in Milton and Harrisburg (our respective hometowns) in central / southcentral Pennsylvania.

With 6+ hours in the car (or on our bikes) each weekend, renovation time has been severely limited.  Don't get me wrong, I've had a fabulous time visiting with lots of family and friends, but that much road time really gets exhausting.  Perhaps another reason I tired of so much coming and going was our super ugly front door.

Here is was, as of our purchase date:

And the inside (as of this week) still looked awful as well.  Between the residual orange paint, the many dings/scratches/random marks, the crazy weather stripping, the can't-be-cleaned smoke film from the previous owner, and the really dirty blinds, I had really had enough.  I basically avoided our living room (and our nice new couch) because I couldn't stand the front door.

Here's a close-up, just in case you couldn't see before just how ugly it was:

Is everyone thoroughly convinced that it was B - A - D?

Not any longer!  :)

I used leftover paint from the sewing room dresser to freshen up the frame and both the inside and outside of the door.  It's technically just interior paint, but since the front of the door is protected by a storm door AND a covered porch, I figured it would be OK.  

I also made a snazzy little roll-up curtain using two pieces of fabric.  I simply cut two rectangles of fabric 1 inch larger than the measurements of the window, sewed them together with a 1/2 inch seam, and then flipped them right-side out, stitching around the edge to hold it in place.  

Here's the curtain when it is down:

However, I like it even more rolled-up!

The tabs are the only part attached to the door.  I wanted to make sure I could take the curtain down to wash and/or iron it in the future, so I added button holes to the tops of the curtain, as well as to the end of the tabs.

When it's removed, it looks like this:

It's attached to the door via a highly sophisticated method known as the staple gun.  I temporarily thought it might be cheating, but it was easy, and the buttons hide them, even if you're up close.  And no one will ever be this close:

I was also inspired in all of this door renovating to make a wreath for the front door with a grapevine wreath, some dried flowers, and ribbon from Michaels.

The wreath is also attached to the door using my friend, the staple gun.  I just stapled the ribbon to the top of the door.  Even if I change the decor down the road, no one will see tiny holes on the top of the door.  It's the same method I used to hang my yarn wreath in the sewing room, which has worked well thus far (with lots of opening and closing of the closet).

Not a bad weekend, overall!  It was nice to spend a weekend at home; especially one that will make our future comings-and-goings more sweet!

Annnd...because as I wrote when I introduced this blog, do-it-yourself house projects make me want to shout from the roof-tops and tell the world....I'm linking my project to the DIY Project Parade at The DIY Show-off.

It's easy being green

In the past few days, I've gotten several hints (some subtle, many not) that a post was long overdue.  I also realized that the blog is probably 3 months behind the house in terms of actual improvements.  There are lots of "done" things that haven't been photographed, uploaded, narrated, and posted.  In an effort to catch up, here's a post I wrote several weeks ago.  I didn't take the final pictures until tonight.  Hopefully this update will tide you over until I finish my secret sewing room project I hinted about here.

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Kermit may disagree, but I'd say it's easy being green.  At least, it's much easier on my eyes, now that the living room walls are green.

As much fun as mauve walls coated with 20+ years of cigarette smoke can be..

....I'd say a nice fresh coat of green is much nicer!

Thanks to Maura's spring break project, the beadboard was already painted, so it just took me a Saturday afternoon to paint the top half of the room.  This was my first experience with flat paint.  Typically, I choose eggshell for a little extra sheen, and a little protection from smudges.  However, due to the sheen, eggshell also shows some of the imperfections of the walls.

Given that the walls of the living room have the topology of a mountainous region, less sheen was definitely a perk.  We could get away with the risk of smudging, because honestly it will be a bit of a challenge (yet a challenge I imagine we'll somehow accomplish) to smudge the wall four feet off the ground.  The flat paint was easy to paint with, and the difference in covering imperfections really is incredible.  I am pleasantly surprised at marks that were highly evident pre-paint are now nearly invisible from a distance.

So, a few lessons learned from this project:  1) flat paint is great for covering imperfections in the wall, 2) if you're going to spackle nail holes, do it less than 6 months in advance, because you'll probably grow even more tired of smoky mauve walls if they have white splotches, 3) same goes for paint you scratch off the trim, 4) getting your sister to paint half of the room while on spring break is an excellent idea!

In addition to the new paint, we also bought a couch (hooray!).  In a nerve-wracking, semi-crazy move, I purchased it online, having never seen it or sat on it.  However, the measurements were perfect for the space, and it has a fold-out bed, which was a near-necessity since our guest room only sleeps one.  It turns out that the couch is both comfortable and looks good.  Since it wasn't a bought-online nightmare, I can now brag that I got it for more than 50% off through a combination of sales and coupons!  Woo!

The striped pillows came with the couch, and while they match decently, you know I'm itching to make some more!

We (here the royal we...really, just Justin) installed some beautiful dark wood blinds in the living room and den.

That table was a gift from some dear family friends.  They rescued an antique sewing machine treadle and a tabletop and made that especially for us!  :)

A few other remaining projects in the living room include installing ceiling tiles (the peeling ceiling paint is far beyond repair) and painting the front door.

But while many little projects remain, there is definitely progress around here!