Going Coastal

Kitchen is done, entranceway/office area is done, living room has been started. Two days ago I was totally over it.  I had hit that wall that most marathoners encounter at like mile 18, where you just want to lay down on the side of the road and poop yourself because you are so tired...yeah, th t was me.  However, with just the living room to go I have woken up this morning with renewed vigor.  Have to give a big shout out to mom.  I wouldn't have been able to do this by myself.  Well, not correctly and not in a week and a half.  I wanted to wait topost pics until everything was done and staged and looked like a magazine, what planet do I live on?  I have 15 mo old boys, so that won't happen until they are in college!  So here ya go!

Before

                             After. Paint-Antique White on walls, Banana Cream Pie on cabinets

                                                                 Dining Area Before

Dining Area After.  Paint-ontop, antique white.  Bottom-Banana Cream Pie

                                                                        Hutch in process

                                                                            Hutch after-paint, Hint of Mint

Kitchen ceiling before

Kitchen ceiling after

Foyer before

Foyer after-paint Grey Ghost

Cleaning the air intake-blech

Up next, the living room.  Stay Tuned!!!!!!!!

Well, hello everyone!  Mom conquered a grueling 18 hrs on the road just so I could put her to work and make her eat nothing but bologna sandwiches.  That's love.  Her incentive was getting to play with the boys.  However, after tackling the kitchen, I don't even know if repaying her with grandkid hugs is enough!  First she said, "we have to paint the ceiling". I nodded politely but internally was kicking and screaming.  Does anyone really look up?  The house has that lovely popcorn ceiling. Has anyone tried to paint that?  If not and you eventually do...wear safety glasses, the popcorn pops off the ceiling a little and can/will get in your eyes.  I'm so glad we painted that ceiling though.  It looks sooooo much better.
Here is a picture of where I stopped and still have to pick up when we reach the dining area.  Which will be after the cabinets.

Okay, so the cabinets.  As of now they have been cleaned, sanded, wiped, and got a coat of antique white.  Today we are going to get some color, all be it  very slight, on them.  The worst part was sanding them, I talked mom into just leaving them on and we did it by hand.  I just couldn't imagine having them off and two little boys resisting the invitation to get into everything.  I finished up the coat of white on 3/4 of the cabinets last night at 11pm. here is a before and
mid transformation pic

This was two days worth of work.  We work when the boys are napping, here and there after they wake up, and for about 3 hours after they go to bed.  I can't wait to get color on the cabinets! 

Oh but, like with any home remodel project, you come across something that stops you in your tracks and makes you say, "ew".  Mom popped off the fridge grate at the bottom. Now, I vacuumed it when we moved in and a lot of crap came out.  But when we looked to see the coils, we couldn't!  It was so full of pet hair/dirt/whatever that we have no idea how it was still working.  Gross with a capitol G!  I wish I took pictures.  I wanted to vomit and shower immediately.  For sure it was never cleaned out since it's been installed.  FYI, like 90% of all service calls for fridges ends up as just needing to clean it!  Some depending on what type of fridge you have, I order you to go pull it out, pop off the grate, and VACUUM!!!!  Okay, I've said my piece. 

Back to work for us!  More pics to follow.  We should (fingers crossed) be done by the end of tomorrow.  I hope, I hope, I hope!

This post is just a "checking in" post.  Jamie leaves very early tomorrow morning for 3 months.  So to occupy my time since my bestie is leaving and I won't have to cook (bonus!) I am focusing on painting the house.  Luckily Grandma Robin is coming down sometime this week to help.  We will also enjoy the visit and hopefully get to a couple antique shops or find a salvage yard.  I have big plans for a headboard that involves an old door.  Anyway, I must accomplish painting the living room and kitchen and taking wallpaper down in the main bath.  I hope to tackle the kitchen cabinets while she is here as well.  Last on my list of redesign is the master bedroom.  I just re-read what I wrote and I am reminded of those crazy people on HGTV who buy a house and think the can renovate it in like 2 weeks and it ends up taking them 6 months.  My first room is going to be the living room because it only needs a paint job and I really need instant gratification at this point.  Then the dreaded main bath. 

In other news, I love area here and running over the hills and through the woods is a great change from flat hot nothingness and doing it against 40 MPH headwinds no matter what direction you are going. 

Please stay tuned as I hope to have the living room done by next week, yay!