A Busy Weekend

OK, so it has been a little while since my last post. I made it through the first week of the new year of school and we are right on track. We had a busy weekend. We are doing some fix-ups to get our house ready to be sold. I just finished painting the front door . . . Yes! I know it is after midnight. We have to leave the front door open over night so the paint has sufficient time to truly dry well. I didn't think of that but, we'll be fine for one night with just the storm door closed.

Any way, this coming week promises to be just as full. Tomorrow we are going to the pool as it is the last day of the season and Judah's Preschool is closed. Tuesday and Wednesday, my dad is coming to help with some more outdoor fix-ups and we will be pricing laminate to replace the carpet in the public areas of the house. It is 10 years old and has seen a lot of traffic. We are leaving the carpet in the bedrooms. It is still fine . . . although I will probably shampoo them. The hall bath is keeping its vinyl as it is neutral and in good repair. The Master bath has carpet. Please tell me who thought this was a good idea. Last summer I took a razor and cut a line in the carpet so I could remove the carpet from under and around the toilet. With 4 people of the male persuasion living in the house, you could only imagine what the carpet was like in that area but that is a whole 'nother post. I put vinyl tiles in the toilet corner and nailed a thresh hold over the cut end of the carpet. It looks fine but the best part of this project is the smell or lack thereof. The rest of the carpet is pretty worn especially right in front of the sinks. We may just lay a solid sheet of vinyl throughout the room. I am excited for new floors.

Other things I'd like to do that would not break the bank are:

1. Replace the bathroom sinks and faucets as they are the very cheapest money can buy and are really kind of dated. I saw plain white porcelain sinks for $24 each at Home Depot and nice chrome faucets with 2 handles (instead of the acrylic ball handle) for $29 each. I have 3 sinks to do so that's not too bad ($159 plus tax). I would love to do what the Nester did in her bathroom but then I would have to paint the cabinets and we have A LOT of cabinets!!! Check it out here: http://nestingplacenc.blogspot.com/2008/08/high-heels-for-bathroom.html

2. Actually plant live plants in the ground in front of my house. I am a city girl and not that good with plants but we have a huge front yard and in all the years we have lived here, we have had nothing but a driveway and a mailbox in front of our house. It is a great house and it is pretty all by itself but it needs some curb appeal. I just put some pretty potted plants on the porch but I think it needs something more. I also just painted the shutters Black (they were brown) and as I mentioned before, I just painted the front door black tonight. I wanted red but couldn't find a red I liked that didn't totally clash with the Autumn-Colored (Dark ORANGE!!!)roof. I have new black exterior light fixtures that Dad will be putting up for me. The old ones are bronze but not in a good way. The address numbers were falling off the house and swinging around on their nails so I invested in some quality brushed nickel house numbers.

One thing that I would really like to do is paint all my moulding. In the late 90's when this house was built, stained wood mouldings were the style of the day, so we have cherry cabinets in the kitchen and both baths plus matching crown throughout the entire house. I love dark wood and especially cherry stain but having the mouldings that color limits what colors I can paint the walls (or at least in my mind I can't get past it). This would not be an expensive project. It would just be extremely time consuming. I just want white semi-gloss mouldings. Sort of related to that would be to remove the popcorn texture from the ceilings and have smooth ceilings. Our youngest sleeps in a loft bed and he likes to pick it off the ceiling. It is not fun to clean up.

So, I thought I would end this post with some pictures of a few things I've done inside the house.

I used this ribbon to mistreat some fabric scraps for a valance for the sliding glass door in the breakfast room.

Here is a close-up of it tacked to the wall (notice my cherry moulding). I didn't get close enough but, the fabric is white with rust, sage and 2 different purples in a grid pattern. I found some ribbon (the ribbon from the previous picture) in the closet that matched 2 of the colors in the fabric and hot glued them on the bottom. The colors coordinate with the wall paper.

Now you can truly appreciate the popcorn ceiling and cherry moulding situation. Pay no attention to all of the hand prints on the glass. My children do not understand the purpose of door handles.

This is a set of sheers that I already had and a remnant from Hobby Lobby. I love it and the colors in it are the same colors as are in the couch. Again love my moulding!!! I think it needs something more and I have some khaki linen that I was thinking of using as panels on the ends. What do you think?

Here's a close-up. Notice that I left the frayed edge showing in place of fringe. I kind of like it that way.

So, I also did a lamp for Caleb's room and the window in Jeremy and Judah's room but they are sleeping as it is after 1AM now. I will snap more pictures tomorrow. Maybe I will do a showcase of the boys' rooms. I will also try to find some before pictures of the front of the house and then I'll take some new ones and you can tell me what you think and what else you think needs to be done. I could use some good landscaping ideas.