Craft Room

A while back I updated my craft room. The previous owners used it as a girls room - maybe teenager. The room was painted green with a jungle motif. It even had a large tucan bird. It was something. It's really sad that I dont' have a picture because words just can't do this room justice. But, I do have a picture of it now. This past weekend my wonderful husband helped me put up some shelves and a new light. Whew freaking hoo! The light makes it possible to work in there at night - it was just toooo dark before. And the shelves let me keep the desk clean so I actually have some work space. I took this picture before doing my organization overhaul (no, I haven't done an organization overhaul yet, but I plan on doing it along with my spring cleaning). Oh - and my wonderful husband had an amazing idea for my spinnig wheel bobbins. Check it out. You'll probably have to enlarge the picture to see it - it's between the shelves and the bookcase (the black thing on the left).

Anyway - here's the picture:

Shades

Back in November I had nasal surgery. I have had reoccuring sinus infections for several years now and finally did something about it. Well, in the winter we use the front window room as our living room because a) on a sunny day this room turns into an oven - good for winter, bad for summer and b) this is where the fire place is. So, after my surgery I had limited movement and was heavily drugged. So, I sat around watching TV all day. Anyone who has ever "tried" to watch tv in a very sunny room can tell you - it sucks. Well, it sucked big time. I was miserable, drugged, in pain and I could barely even see the TV because of all the glare. So out of desparation, I begged for help. I picked out what I wanted online and made a shopping list. My dad (also assigned to "make sure she doesn't do anything stupid on drugs" duty) kindly agreed to make the purchase. Aaron tried to put them up, but this is a big tall room and not for the faint of heart. Of course - I was still on drugs and could do little to help. Even asking me to hold the ladder was sketchy. So our friend, Bryan E., came over and helped. He's got lots of ladder experience, so it was no problem for him. So, three men and two hundred dollars later - I got my blinds. In this picture - it doesn't look like it does much good, but I promise - it does! You can actually watch movies in here now.

Guest Bath

This isn't anything new, I just never posted it. Well, the rug is new. The story of this room (why does every room in our house have to have a story?).... Apparently the previous owner used to enjoy having company and asked her guests to write on the walls - you know "Emily Wuz Here" and such. So, when they got the house ready to sell, they asked some local men from Mexico to paint the walls. When the painters asked what color they preferred, no color was specified. So, they picked green. Not apple green. Not mint green. Not moss green. Mexican flag green. Bright beautiful green, the last color I would ever pick to paint a bathroom, but it was done and that's how it looked when we bought it. If/when you come for a visit you can still find traces of the green poking through around some of the trim. Here's how it looks now (trust me - it's much better). Oh - I also painted the mirror frame, the vanity base and the closet door a shiny black.

Hallway / Laundry Room

The last unpainted paneling in the house is.... finally painted. Whew Hoo!

Aaron thinks this is the most improved room. I think whatever room we did last is the most improved - it's a moving target.

Anyway - what we did was take everything out including the wire shelving, clean, prime and paint the paneling and the cabinets. Then put the stuff back in along with a new-to-us chest freezer and some new plastic baskets.

Here's 6,000 words worth of results:













* the following picture was doctored using a photo editor because it came out way too dark. And you might notice in another picture that there was a flourescent light in the room before (note - it's not there in the after pictures). This just emphasizes the drastic difference in how dark the room was before and how bright it feels now.

Thank You Dave!

My friend and coworker, Dave, recently gave us a fireplace insert / wood stove. Actually - I forced Dave to take some money for it, which, unfortunately I have yet to actually give to him (sorry Dave!). And we brought it home and cleaned it up and put it in. And now with all the fallen trees on our property - we can heat our house for next to nothing.


Here is the before picture:



Brass knobs (before and after):



In progess front view:



In progress top view:



And... After...

New carpet

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves... (note you can click on the pictures for a bigger view)