We are hoping, sometime in the next decade, to move to a new house. This house has been good to us. It's our first one, you know. But we're feeling the crunch of four people in a two-bedroom house. To prepare for the inevitable, we (meaning, mostly Greg) have gradually been doing projects to prepare for re-selling. The most recent project was the kitchen. This was a project I could finally help with. I'm the painter in this family. Greg does everything else (doors, floors, demo, installation...).
(I'm posting these for Janelle's benefit!)
Light fixture and drop ceiling, before
Appliances (I can't believe I had that much junk on my fridge!), and weirdly covered wall
More drop ceiling and really old light fixture
Greg had already removed the baseboards at this point, so that doesn't really add to the specialness of the floor. How did I live with that floor so long? I know. I was content. And happy to have shelter. And too frugal to spend money on a perfectly functional floor when there were other "needs" to attend to. It sure has been a treat to have a new floor, though. I kind of want to lie on it and do floor angels.
It always gets worse before it gets better. This was after taking down the drop ceiling. There was a strip of awesomely-bad wallpaper above it that needed an intervention. The rest of the splotchy stuff looked like spray paint. I didn't understand it.
Again, worse before better. Under two layers of weird wallpapers, Greg discovered this copper tile backsplash along the whole wall. He popped about 2 off...then decided we'd just cover it instead.
New appliances. Our realtor recommended stainless, so we obeyed. It would not have been my first choice, but we're really happy with them. There's quite a story to tell about the appliances. I did a lot of research and got us a really good deal. And got initiated on Craigslist with our old stove. There's the painted bead board backsplash. So much better!
New light fixture. So much prettier and brighter than the last one. And the ceiling! White and smooth!
And there's the floor. Greg laid the floor. I heart the floor.
And here we are...done! Light gray walls, new curtain, new chairs (the old ones would have scratched up the new floor).
Next project....the basement (I think). I hope painting isn't required.
3 comments:
WOW!!! I love it! We are thinking of doing a beadboard backspash too- I'm glad I got to see yours (but I liked the copper tiles too). Thanks SOOOO much for posting.. I've been dying to see!!
XOXO,
Janelle
LOVE it! It looks so great!
I found your 'laying on the floor and doing floor angels' comment hilarious.
It is SOSOSO exciting to finish a seemingly never-ending project, especially one in a room that you NEED. It looks great. And I'm with Janelle, the bead board looks great, but I liked the copper too. Getting it off was tough? ... now you know why it was covered twice. Sug and I discovered all kinds of 'shortcuts' that the previous home owners took in re-doing our house.
Anyway, congratulations! It looks fabulous. And a word to the wise from someone who is going through it right now... WAIT TO SELL. Our house has been on the market for over a year. It's exhausting and frustrating in a bad real estate market. Wait if you can.
Post a Comment