Making my own history.

The digging for answers has ended for the day, but I'm working on doing some things of my own in the house as it rains outside. It's 37 degrees.

In 2007/8, the bathroom was remodeled. Laura and I had done some temporary work in the fall of 2007. It turned out to be less of a fix than I had hoped for. So in 2008, I ripped nearly everything out and replaced the old tub with a new fiberglass unit and ceramic tile surround. This is the only room that has new doors thus far. I'll replace the rest in the future as funds are available. Winter is the best time to work inside.







Then the living room was redone in December of 2008. It was a three day job with all the paint scraping, sanding, new baseboards, new paint, and cleaning the floors.



In February of 2009, I finished the dining room. There was snow on the ground as I painted and sorted seeds for my first seed swap.



In August of 2009, I painted my bedroom. The paint was a mixture of several half gallons left over from other rooms. I think it turned out serene.





I've been working on the kitchen since October. It's been a much larger undertaking than I want to admit, but I do love the results so far. The countertop laminate has been laying on the dining room floor for months. Next week, I'll be receiving a gift card from Lowe's as a prize in a contest we won. That will be used to purchase the MDF countertop base I need to glue my laminate to. I can't wait to say goodbye to these waferboard counters. I've still got more painting to do this evening. I missed a few areas when I was caulking. The white primer really makes them stand out. I've got to wait until it's dry to caulk. Maybe I'll head to the grocery store in the meantime.

I really like the green now.







I still need to do one more coat on the other side of the kitchen. I'm hoping my last coat can be done in one day. Until then, the walls will have to live with a little masking tape. A hair dryer from Carla will make it easy to remove.

Next winter, the hallway. Some work has already been done. It's mostly caulk and paint that needs to be finished. I sure don't miss that hot pink bedroom.

Army green

That's what you get when you mix colors from four other rooms in the house. I like the richness of it. It's free, too, so there's that.



I started mixing paint a few weeks ago. I'd paint a test strip next to a piece of white trim. There were several of these around the room. I finally got to a color I liked.



This morning, after the second cup of coffee, I started.



The yellow was easy to cover with such a dark shade.



During the drying time, I sewed up the $1 fabric from Wal-Mart. I've had it longer than I had the paint. It's not my best work, but it covers the brown comforter that looked great before the cat got her claws in it.







There's still no doors, to the room or closet. Those will come later. The trim needs to be painted again to match the white of the rest of the house. The windows need to be cleaned. And I need shades. I'm thinking a dark bamboo for this room, light for the computer room. White Roman shades for the rest of the house. Maybe. I only have three windows that need to be hidden from the neighbors. The rest of the house is so high off the ground, they'd need an extension ladder to peep.

The sun came out around 1pm. I saw a Monarch and black Swallowtail in the back yard. It never broke 80 degrees today. Would have been a great day to be outside.

This is my house.

Yesterday, the larger bedroom was returned to me. I spent the evening painting the ceiling, including the 'painted molding'. It's a perfectly good way to get a straight line when painting against a ceiling that is unlevel or textured. That bedroom is already a bright spring yellow.





The smaller bedroom is my office. I have a desk and one chair in there. The rug on the floor is a wheat color. I like the crisp green during the day.





And then there is the dining room. Yes, I probably went a little overboard with the staging, but I wanted to present it in all it's tiny glory. The table is only temporary. The dishes are not.





We've come a long way. I still want new furniture for the living room and bedroom. And of course I need houseplants. But I can honestly say, I love my house. Time to get to work so I can pay for it.