2 Years Later

2 years ago today we moved into our house, and we've basically been keeping Home Depot in business ever since. And in due fashion, we marked the occasion this last weekend by picking up some things at said store for a few projects that we intended to start 2 years ago, and probably won't actually get around to for another 2 years.

Something about this house held such charm for us (actually, just for me- the housing market was so crazy back then we put an offer down after 3 days on the market, and Mark hadn't even seen it yet), and there are days I still try to figure out what that charm was. Really though, I love our little home, even if I do daydream constantly about knocking out a particular wall, or obsess over what idiot thought it was a good idea to put the laundry closet in the worst possible place. I remember the first night we stayed here and it felt so strange, like someone was going to walk in the next morning and ask us why we were in their house. Partly that was because the paint colors were so out of control crazy that even had I been on crack I still wouldn't have ever picked them. I also remember thinking that, despite having a 3 year old and 9 month old, that I could probably have the whole house painted by the end of the summer. Yeah....so 2 months ago we finally finished painting! While we are by no means done with all our projects (yes, I hear all you more seasoned home owners laughing your heads off), I thought it would be fun to post our before and after pictures. Enjoy!

Let's start with the kitchen and dining area:

OK, seriously- what were they thinking? Coral orange with those cupboards? This was the very first project we tackled. Here is the immediate result:

This was tolerable for about a year and a half, and then I think I really did smoke that crack, because somehow I decided that painting the cabinets would be a fun project (this was just a few months ago and I was getting to be very pregnant. My sister Kristy came up to help me and without her it would have been impossible- thanks Kristy!) The final product:
All in all, it is like getting a completely new kitchen and I do love it! Next project: do something about those awesome circa 1985 geometric archways...


Next comes the living room:
Yes, that is a peach accent wall (and Sam, who looks so tiny!).

We hired someone to paint the front door, inside and out. The other side of the door used to be purple! Did I mention the really hideous colors yet?
Yes, we went with tan walls in here. Something had to be neutral right? This room is still a work in progress, as you can tell by the stack of books waiting for a bookshelf to call home. Notice my favorite Ikea painting, oh, and our free piano from Craiglist.

The Family room:
Would you call that periwinkle?

This was phase 1, before I decided that we had way too much blue in the house, and the furniture all needed to be moved to the Living Room (yes, I have a very patient husband). So for my final painting project, I decided to repaint the fireplace wall.

Well, after almost 2 years of painting, I was a little cocky about my ability to choose paint and throw it on a wall in a jiffy. We'll just say that what I thought would be a 2 day, $15 project, took over 2 weeks, $50+, and 3 different colors of paint. And even now, I love the green during the day, but not so much at night when it kind of makes you start craving double mint gum. You win some, you lose some, I guess.

OK, are you ready for something truly insane? Here is the Master Bedroom:

Yikes. Do you see what I mean about feeling weird sleeping here that first night? This was the hardest color to choose. I think I tired about 7 different samples. And I don't think I've mentioned yet that I also had to repaint all the trim and doors and window frames in the whole house, since they used 2 different colors. We discovered that while working on this room. Here it is now:

Hall Bathroom:

Luckily no crazy colors, but the paint was 20+ years old, peeling badly and the walls needed to be re-textured. Mark also installed a ceiling fan where there had been a heat lamp. This was my first attempt at painting cabinets.

Mia's room:

This yellow was so much more hideous in person. I also haven't mentioned the quality of the paint jobs the previous owners preferred, which apparently was no quality. They got paint everywhere, so covering the old colors was usually a nightmare. In Mia's room, it seemed to be the worst. We went with yellow again, but a much more subdued version.

Sam's Room: For some reason this room was painted with flat ceiling paint, and of course was all over everything. None of the trim or doors were painted in here, so this tiny room took forever.

There is now a "race car" bed in here in addition to the crib. It leaves about 3 square feet of floor space. Still deciding what to put on the red wall...

And that's all folks! The only thing not yet touched is the supposed remodeled master bathroom that we still have to redo, but that's a story for a whole other post. I guess you've now seen just about every nook and cranny of our house, which is a little creepy to think about. And if you were thinking that things look kind of nice, keep in mind that we do have children, and none of the pictures show the cheap Target and Ikea furniture that the kids have trashed and stained up close. Just in case you were tempted to break in and steal something, you would be highly disappointed. Also, if you happen to have some of the colors I insulted in your house... well, I 'm sure they look great on your walls.

I think this turned out to be the world's longest post, and it's taken me so long that is now the next day and not even the anniversary of our move-in day. I'm learning that this is a little more time consuming than I thought it would be. Still beats scrapbooking though.