New Curtains

I have been saving for a while for new curtains in my living room. I found them quite awhile ago, but...as many or you know, I have champagne taste on a beer budget, so I had to save and save.

I think they look fabulous!

What do you think?

Before:

Living Room


Dining Room

After:

Living Room

Dining Room

These rooms are 2 rooms, but they have no wall in between, so I wanted the rooms to coordinate. I think they turned out really well!

Now, if you look really closely in the before pictures, you will see the sconces that are holding the valances (I know, hard to tell because all the bland color blends together).

My mother-in-law had the brilliant idea of using them as small sconce shelves on this tiny wall in the dining room (we also spray painted some of them gold for her house and mine. When I get those up, I will post those too.)

I think those turned out fantastic too!

Redecorate Jake's Bedroom - Check!

Remove nasty blinds/window treatments - check.

Strip Wallpaper - check.

Find SECOND LAYER of wallpaper - check.

Strip second layer of wallpaper - check.

Remove everything from room, except necessities - check.

Scrub wallpaper glue off walls - check.

Clean baseboards - check.

Repair walls and baseboards - check.

Choose new wall color - check.

Purchase WAY TOO MUCH paint - check.

Paint ceiling - check.

Paint walls - check.

Decide blue next to the shocking orange would be a bad call - check.

Paint these walls with ceiling paint - check.

Paint ALL woodwork (and there is A LOT) - check.

Caulk all woodwork - check.

Replace all outlets and covers - check.

Move Furniture - check.

Hang cool Container Store desk unit - check.

Choose new window treatments - check.

Hang new window treatments - check.

Hang stage curtain (you'd have to know my som to fully understand this)- check.

Take way too long trying to get stage curtain right - check.

Reload 10 year old son's junk into room - check.

Clean up - check.

Take photos - check.

Whew!

Here it is!

Before:

After:

Not Yet

The repairman came today...

The heating coil shorted out...

They don't keep them on the truck...

Another week without a dryer...

Another Project Complete

We recently completed another project...

2 down, 3 to go...

We have a small room upstairs that houses my husbands drums and sports memorabilia.

The previous owners were obviously Packers fans.

Here is the room before:

A sample of the hideous wallpaper border that was on top of the NFL wallpaper.

Now, not that I would choose what we did for any room in my house, but it makes a good 'man cave'.

Here are the after pictures:

With this one finished, we will not start the next one until after the holidays...our son's room is next.

Finally Finished!

I finally finished the project!


Here are the before photos:

What these before photos don't show you is the hideous striped wallpaper that I took off before I took the photos

And here are the after:

One of my most favorite things about the makeover...the fun toothbrush holder from Pottery Barn

My gorgeous new ceramic tile!

The things I accomplished on this project:

• strip wallpaper and glue


• demo cabinet/sink


• repair tub tile and grout


• rip up nasty linoleum


• rip out rotten baseboards


• pull up toilet (and sit in tub until ready to reattach)


• take down 2 morrors


• texture walls


• paint walls
• spray paint medicine cabinet and a/c vent
• change light (cause you know how I am about lighting)


• lay backerboard and tile floor (something I had never done before


• cut and attach new baseboards (something I had never done before)


• paint baseboards


• put in pedestal sink (something I had never done before...and it took forever!)


• clean and reset toilet


• find and hang artwork


• hang new mirror


• caulk around baseboards and door frame


• hang towel bar, toothbrush holder


• take pictures and post on blog

PHEW!

In Case You're Wondering...

Putting in a pedestal sink is MUCH EASIER said than done!

It only took me, my husband, my mother and my step-dad 6 1/2 hours to get it done!

UGH!

Still working on the Labor Day project. Can't wait to post pictures!

Labor Day Weekend Project

My family and I spent the long weekend pulling ugly wallpaper off the walls upstairs.

Jake's bedroom and bathroom had some hideous striped paper. David's drum room was covered in Green Bay Packer wallpaper. Yuck!

So, we pulled wallpaper and completly gutted Jake's bathroom!

Then, I did some texturing, priming, painting and tile repair in the bathroom.

When I save the funds, I will purchase the new sink, mirror and tile for the bathroom.

I will post before and after photos when the project is complete.

So...what did you do Labor Day Weekend?

House Update #6

In case you haven't figured it out yet, lighting is very important to me!

I changed lights in the kitchen before we even moved in...

I've changed this light...

and these...

Well, now I decided this one was ugly...

And this one was pretty. Especially since I found it on the sale rack!

So, this weekend I changed it out. This light is in the stairwell that leads to my son's room and now it is nice to look at.

I also decided that the kitchen table light and the dining room light both needed one of these...

The kitchen switch went in without a hitch.

The dining room one, not so much.

Well, actually it went in really well.

It worked really well...

as a matter of fact, it dimmed the whole entire front of the house!

Yup, all the living room lights...

and both porch lights!

Great!

Well, I called my step-whatever (for those of you who don't know, that means my ex-step-mom's new husband. Makes sense, right?).

He was trying to walk me thru how to fix it when his son, the electrician, got to his house!

Hooray!

Barry saved the day!!!

I now have a dimmer switch that only dims the dining room light!

Fantastic!!!

On another note, don't forget to help out the Panda Family! Check out the button on my sidebar.

House Update #5

Would you like to see a thing of beauty??

No, really, are you ready?

OK, Here is it...

This is the most beautiful thing I have seen in a long time!

I know, you are saying 'that it is just a laundry room with some ugly cabinets' but remember... beauty is in the eye of the beholder...and to me, those are beautiful!

Here's why...

The week we moved in, I noticed these cabinets on the floor of the laundry room. They took up a lot of floor space and I wanted them to hang above the washer and dryer in order to provide more useable space.

I thought this would be an easy fix!

The problem, the wall above the washer and dryer used to be the outside of the house. It is brick. Not fun!

So, I called my dad and asked him to hang the cabinets.

He tried.

Twice.

They still weren't hung.

My husband was so frustrated that he wanted to hire it done.

I didn't think it was that hard.

So, I called another friend.

He said he would hang them...and wouldn't leave until they were hanging! Fabulous!

So, he and his wonderful family came over Friday night and viola!

A thing of beauty!

Then, I hung the bar today and it is a wonderfully useful laundry room!

Makes my heart sing!

House Update #4

This is the previous homeowners idea of beautiful track lighting.

This is my idea of beautiful track lighting.

The small changes thrill my heart!

BTW, for those of you who have been wondering...it only took the Mormons 2 1/2 months to knock on our door! (If you have not clue what I am talking about, we live about 3 blocks from the Mormon, way-too-big-and-goddy, on-the-highest-hill-in-town church!)

House Update #3

We used these guys to move us. Well, let me say now, DO NOT USE THEM!!! THEY WERE AWFUL!!!!

These idiots sent me 'the new guy' that had lead in his pants! Even his partner told him to speed it up!

They broke my dining room table, they broke the glass mirror out of the back of the china cabinet, they broke a leg off of a kitchen chair (yup! 2 pieces!) and they broke the knobs off my tv cabinet! The guy had the guts to tell me that it wasn't their fault...the truck shifted...WHAT?!?!?!? You should have seen my head spinning as I called the company on moving day!

The poor girl that answered the phone didn't have a chance! I started by saying, 'What do you expect me to do with these clowns that you sent me today???' I screamed my situation into the phone...all the broken furniture and the 2 clown movers...and she said she would call the owner and see what she could offer me.

She called back and said...get this...that I could pay for 1 1/2 hours less than they were here, not make a claim on my furniture and have it repaired myself. Now, mind you, I was only paying $75 an hour, so this gives me about $110 to fix my furniture? You have got to be kidding me!

I said to that poor girl, 'I can't believe you even called me back with that offer!'

After some bantering, I got about $300 with which to fix my furniture. I also signed a 'statement' that I would not make a claim with their insurance for my furniture.

That's fine...but I did not sign a statement that I would not bad mouth them til the day I died and tell everyone I could NOT TO USE THEM!!!!!

Anyway, all of that to say, my dining room looked like this...

until a week ago because my table was broken.

And now, it looks like this...

because I used these guys to fix the broken furniture.

The furniture repair company was FANTASTIC and I would recommend them to anyone!

Save Money...and the Earth

I have to say (at the risk of making a few of my friends and readers mad) that I am not really concerned about my 'carbon footprint'.

I am, however, a miser (learned well from my step-mom). I like to save a buck. I like to not pay too much for things.

I also like to feel like I am beating the system (like buying something on sell with a coupon so I pay very little for it)!

Sometimes, I get the opportunity to do things that save me a buck and are good for the environment and that gives me a sense of fullfillment. I am trying to do things like these.

Things I am currently doing:

Recycling. I now live in a neighborhood that will collect recycled items! I have always recycled aluminum cans...mostly for the $. I just can't see throwing cans away when someone will give me money for them.

Use a Sprinkler System. I LOVE IT! I no longer forget to turn the sprinkler off and waste water or money!

Save Energy. The new house has 3 AC units. One of them is off 95% of the time. The other 2 are on 80 during the day. We also use ceiling fans more than the AC. This is a win-win for my electric bill and the environment!

Reverse Osmosis. I never thought I would care about this, but the new house had one already and we are lovin' it! I no longer buy water bottles...which, saves money and the landfills!

Keep Things Unplugged. I unplug things that aren't in use...curling irons, coffee makers, lamps...if we aren't using it at the moment, I unplug it. Saves energy and money, yet again!

Things I want to start doing:

Plant a Garden. As soon as I get the inside of the house in order, there is a small area behind the garage that is waiting for a garden! I can't wait to get some veggies planted in there! Again, save a buck and help the environment!

Save AC condensation. What? Yup, you read it right. I just recently learned that the condensation that your AC makes can be collected and then used to water plants. I think this is a fabulous idea and can't wait to figure out how to do it and impliment it. Once again, my 2-fold plan...save $, save the earth!

It is interesting how I was not that interested in my carbon footprint, but when I work on saving money, I also help save the earth!

What are you doing to save money and the environment?

House Update #2

Ever since we saw the house for the first time, I thought, 'It needs a red door.'

Everyone that came to see the house, I would ask their opinion of a red front door.

It just felt like it should have a red door.

Well, I spent last Saturday and most of today painting the door red (yes, it took about 12 hours!) and putting up a new front porch light.

What do you think of the outcome?

Before:

After:

House Update #1

Today, I went and bought this...

because, right now, my livingroom looks like this...

Let's just all stop and thank George W. :)

An Update...

As you know, our offer was accepted on the 2nd house. We will close this Wednesday and move in Saturday. If you don't hear from me in awhile, it is because we are trying to get situated! I will be back soon.

House Offer Accepted!

Woo-Hooo!!!!

'nuff said :)

Lost and Found!

Haven' t posted on this in awhile, but in case you are keeping tabs...we are still in with the in-laws.

I cannot begin to tell you what a crazy ride this has been!

We have been put off by Countrywide in every way possible! You see, the seller has been trying to do a 'short sale'. She lost her job a few months back and wanted to sell the house before she was foreclosed on. Well, we placed our offer on February 6th and Countrywide still has not answered us. First, the file was in the wrong department, then the bank wanted to do an appraisal, then the bank wanted to do another appraisal, then the file was taken to the correct department, then the file was still tagged for the other department and sent back, then...as of April 1st, Countrywide has a new policy that loss of job is not reasoning for a short sale. WHAT???? So, now the seller has to re-apply to see if she is eligable for a short sale. HUH??? So, it looks like that house will fall thru! Thus, Lost!

Alas, when I heard the last bit of news about the new ruling effective April 1st, I told my realtor that I wanted to look at houses again. We went today and boy did I find a gem. This house makes the first house look like a cardboard box! It is beautiful!!! It needs very little work and it is only about a half a mile from the original house. Thus, Found!

I, once again, am amazed at how God works. If everything would have gone thru with the first house, I would have never seen this one...which truly is closer to what I always thought we would have. Also, for the first house we would have to work money differently. Now, after being 'homeless' for 6 weeks, we have money in the bank and are in a better place to do what we need to.

Thank you Lord for knowing exactly what we need!

Made the Move

Well, we packed up all our belongings, shoved most of them in a storage unit and came to the in-laws.

David, Kaylee and I are sharing a room while Jake is bunking in the living room. He has an air mattress that is well made and in the middle of the floor. Although this is true, last night, this is how we found him sleeping!

We all stood around and had a good laugh!

BTW, still no definitive news on the new house. We know that things are moving in the right direction, but we do not have a 'yes' to our offer as of yet!

On a side note, since we are all here together and have a support group, my mother-in-law and I are on the wagon again!

No, not that wagon...

the weight loss wagon :)

I will let you know how it goes.

All Packed Up and No Place To Go!

My husband and I spent an incredible amount of time packing today! I don't know where all this stuff came from! To think, we already filled a 16 foot POD when we put the house on the market and it still took about 9 hours to get things packed today!

We close on the sell of this house on Thursday! And we don't know much about the house we made the offer on.

Here's what we do know...

1. We are the only offer the bank is looking at. Noone else can make on offer unless ours comes back denied.

2. The seller's realtor wants this to happen almost as bad as we do. She is going to walk-thru with the appraiser and point out all the work that the house needs...in order to help make the appraisal low so that the set price stands.

That's it! What we know in a nutshell!

Our realtor does feel that we have a good shot at getting the house. I have to believe her.

Keep praying!

Not Yet!

Just wanted to update you on the house...

Basically, we still know nothing!

What we do know...

...the bank is involved with the seller. She has defaulted long enough that they are now involved in our offer.

...we are the only offer on the table. I called last week and thought we would recant our offer if we were sitting there with a few investors. Well, we are not! We are the only offer! I can't believe it!

...short sales take a lot of time (I think that is funny! It is called a 'short sale' but takes longer than a regular sale!).

So, in the meantime, we are frantically packing around here! After all, we close on the sale of this house on Wednesday! We are squeezing in with the in-laws!

Keep praying!