While You Were Renovating

We really like our house. It has a lot of space for the kids to run around and was kept in good shape by the previous owners. However, its big selling point is also its biggest issue for me. It was advertised as being in "mint condition", and the translation from realtor talk to layperson talk is "still in the 80's". This means that we enjoy various patterns of linoleum flooring, brass hardware and chandeliers, wallpaper remnants, laminate countertops and laminate backsplashes in the kitchen. Oh, and all the original kitchen appliances to boot. Seriously, the microwave was one of the original test models on the space shuttle. So, we knew going in that we would want to do some updating. However, updating takes money. Yeah. Money.

Another thing I noticed about the house after we moved in was how beige it was. The outside was beige with beige brick. 

Almost all the interior walls, counters, toilets, even the carpet and things were also beige. Not white. It may seem white at first glance, but it's not. The only exception was the one update that we could tell, which happened to be the master bathroom sinks and countertop. Really funny, actually. The kitchen still has pinkish beige laminate, but the master bath has a granite counter and fancy WHITE modern sinks and faucets. You know. To go with the beige tub, toilet and shower. Okey dokey.

Don't you just love that original 80's imprinted carpet? Cream colored. Yes, that's the color I want with three boys running around the house. (These are obviously pics I took when we did our initial walk through, so it is all a little old lady's furniture. Yes, it was a grandma's house.)

Something that also struck me was the dark wood trim on the baseboards, window and door casings. It was pretty, but definitely made the house have a dated feel. It was also just so darn dark.

So, flash forward a year once we have gotten our tax return and been able to work out some extra dough to do some of that updating I was wishing for. First, I made the executive decision that we would paint all the baseboards and trim white. Second, after realizing that our master bathroom's wall was painted over wallpaper which was beginning to peel (yuck!), I decided to take on the project of removing all that. Third, we wanted to replace the 30 year old carpet and, fourth, paint all the interior. I am pretty sure that the paint on the walls was original to the house (I KNOW that carpet was), and it just needed a freshening up any way you looked at it. So, it was time for some renovation.

Around the end of March, I began the arduous task of steaming off the bathroom's beige, painted wallpaper. My sweet friend, Jackie, let me borrow her steamer and showed me how to remove the paper and mend the damage to the drywall. Boy, was it a horrible job. Doing it single-handedly took me several weeks, working a couple hours at a time when Riley was being babysat by the television. (I admit it. I am a horrible parent and depended on screens to keep my child busy so that I could get this done.)

If you look closely here, you can see the brown nicks and gashes in the drywall from me having to pry the caked on wallpaper off.

Then, I got to work mudding over those gashes and repairing the corner beads and cracks in the drywall. Yeah, I was feelin' pretty darn handy. Look at me go all repairing walls and stuff. I should be on one of those HGTV shows!

Then it was time to add all that painting into the mix. Jake took a week off of work to work on the house with me. The only problem was that we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We had never painted anything before. It was total and complete home devastation.

Riley was happy about it because that meant lots of time on Daddy's iPad. For me, it meant that all sense of routine was totally out the window. The furniture was all moved away from the walls and stuff was EVERYWHERE.

I learned quickly (thank you YouTube) how to caulk all the wood and Jacob started priming the baseboards. We really wanted to get the baseboards painted throughout the carpeted areas before getting the new carpet installed so that if we messed up it was on the old stuff. Boy, was it a task! It took SOOOO much time to wash, then dry, then caulk, then prime (TWICE!), and finally paint (TWICE!) to cover up all that dark wood. And there was just so MUCH wood! I should have taken more before pictures, but I was honestly too busy working my tail off trying to finish before the carpet was supposed to go in.

Before caulking.

After caulking.

We made the mistake of thinking that painting would be a breeze, but just the preparations were SO MUCH WORK! We really got hardly anything done in that first week with Jacob off. We made about a million trips to Lowe's for paint supplies, more primer, more paint, more paint, more primer... It felt endless. But, we did finally finish the trim...at least in the carpeted areas, and then the carpet guys came and installed our new carpet. That was a GREAT feeling.

Goodbye, 80's carpet!!!

Hello, new pads!!!

And hello, new, gorgeous, non-white carpet!!! Needless to say, it was also quite the experience getting all our stuff out of the rooms so that the carpet could be installed. It was one of those rare moments when I am grateful that we are so humble as to not have much furniture. That meant less moving furniture. However, I do look forward to the day when we can have furniture. I like furniture. :)

Then pretty much the entire month of April and May, I have been almost single-handedly painting the interior of the house. Jacob has been working 15s (as in 15 hour shifts) in the trauma department of the hospital and is never around. My goal, however, was to have the house pretty much finished before school let out for the boys. It was a lofty goal, to be sure, but I just knew that once everyone was home everyday, all progress would halt. It was now or never. This is the reason why pretty much all blogging and unnecessary projects have been tossed to the wayside.

The last day of school was yesterday, the 6th. And guess what. I made it! With the exception of the laundry room (which will take some help moving the washer/dryer), the boys' room and their upstairs bathroom, the rest of the house is pretty much done. There are still window treatments to do (so those walls weren't finished while we maintain privacy with the old vertical blinds), and we still don't have much furniture or decor going on in most rooms, but the colors are looking nice and we are well on our way.

The house feels like it's mine now and not the little old lady's house. It also feels more grown up to me. Like I have finally completed a rite of passage making me into a real homeowner and full-fledged adult somehow. It only took 14 years of marriage to get us to this point. he he. After photos to come!