One Year Ago

After one year I've managed to make a large dent in the house, but still not a big enough one. If I had a limitless budget, time and energy, the house would be finished. In trying to think positively, I using the time to research and shop for the perfect _________. (Feel free to fill in the blank with basically anything involving a house! Knob, appliance, flooring, insulation, window, plant, etc.) Enjoy the following before and current pics. I know it's not all of the rooms, but it's several and I'm working on posting the rest of the house.

Here is the scary original laundry room. To the left of the washing machine is the dryer and behind that was the insanely scary corner. When I first went to clean it out, I raked out several skeletons, yes, skeletons and it was at that point that I cried and seriously wondered what I had done. Thankfully now the laundry room looks like this. With fresh drywall, paint and baseboards, the entire room now has a clean feeling, no pun intended. The newest feature is a sink. It's a great help and I can't wait to use it for only laundry!


Ugh, the F.I.L.T.H.Y. kitchen. It was a tiny mess and that made me want to scrub in bleach after being in it. With some extreme banging by the boys, the kitchen was demolished and currently looks like this. Not really conducive to much more than cereal and spaghetti, which is fine because spaghetti is my ALL TIME fave. It also works really well to store tools.

The great news is that in 10 short years, my kitchen will look more like this than that! I cannot wait. I really want to be able to use this room for cooking and eating only, not also painting, staining, stripping (not the pole kind,) and storage!



I have no idea what the previous owners were into, but it is quite possible that it was illegal. Multiple lighters, bobby pins and alcohol wipes. Anyway, now ALL of the urine stains, illegal/legal items and pretty much any trace of male are GONE! Now my bathroom with a new potty (one thing I wasn't budging on!) is blissfully clean and really cute!



I discovered when getting ready for this, I had not a single picture of the room before I attacked it removing the NASTY carpet and scarred walls. So, enjoy this shot with no painted trim and bare walls hosting the garage sale stuff! Now it's a great room for launching airplanes, playing dollies and dress-up, and grabbing a nap from time-to-time. (Check out the fabu window treatments!) Marc & Sara often crash here during the day after working all night and the cardboard blocks 95% of the light. I have yet to fuss since the windows are old and the cardboard helps to insulate it more...


Enjoy these and keep an eye out for the next post.