When we bought this house, it needed a lot of work to make it "us." So before we ever moved in, we re-did the entryway, living room, hallway, master bedroom, and office. Re-did means we: removed flowery wallpaper and border from every square inch of wall; applied Kilz and one to three layers of paint (depending on color and need) to the walls, trim, and doors; removed the worn-out mauve-pink carpet to find beautiful 1964 parquet wood flooring underneath; and sanded and applied 2 layers of polyurethane to the wood flooring, sanding again b/t the layers, of course. We then moved in.
Last April, we re-did the full bathroom. It has tile flooring so we were off-the-hook there. But, the wallpaper had been applied straight to the sheetrock so as we removed the wallpaper, it also pulled off chunks of sheetrock with it. That was a fun room to re-do. :) ha!ha!
Finally, since we never did anything with the spare room before, we had to re-do it now to make it the new office. With lots of help from my parents and Keith's parents, it is now done and here are some before and after shots.
The first two shots are of my favorite part of the room (nice, new, full-width blinds that completely close now and new curtains with hold backs).
Before:
After:
The second two shots show a section of Keith's favorite part of the room (the accent wall that is full of Chicago Cubs stuff, with more to come). I don't have a shot of the entire wall, but you can get the idea from this.
Before:
After:
Those of you who have ever done any of this kind of work know what we've been through and why it took about 2 1/2 weeks to complete this room from start to finish (first we had to remove all the furniture, and this floor ended up taking 3 coats of polyurethane).
In case any of you are wondering, we use Behr paint, the accent wall color is Cerulean, the color of the other walls is Coconut Husk, and the trim color is Classic Taupe.
Through this process, not only have I been able to spend time with my parents while they were over helping, but I've also been spending the night at their house quite a bit. Because, if you've ever smelt polyurethane you know it's strong and takes a few days to vent out of the house. So with each coat, I would spend 2-3 nights at their place. I really do enjoy getting a hot breakfast made for me every morning when I'm there (thanks Daddy), b/c over here it's a bowl of cereal or fruit. My being there many nights is another reason I haven't been posting much lately. They have dial-up internet, and I work so late over here that when I get over there I just want to shower and go to bed.
Now we've begun work on the nursery. It shouldn't take as long, and we really hope it doesn't, but I'll post pics when it's finished.
So, there's the update on what we've been doing. I will post again when I get the chance. Until then!
