Home Improvement Post #1

With the help of the family, I spent Friday night and a big portion of Saturday working on the house. There is a lot to do and most of the flooring is being replaced. The kitchen and hall currently have vinyl stick-down tiles, and the carpets throughout most of the house have been cut up and/or stained. Because the tile is going in this week, my goal was to get the kitchen, hallway, and foyer walls done. This was no mean feat. Primarily because of this visual monstrosity:

I know what some of you are thinking.

"So what? It's navy blue. Not a color I might have picked, but what's the big deal?"

The big deal is that they painted OVER the existing wallpaper. 

Fortunately, we know people.

Kind people.

Talented people.

And this guy, right here, really saved our bacon this weekend.

This is Shane. He has some mad texturing skills, as well as the equipment and know-how to address the problem we had in the kitchen. For the sake of time and sanity, we REALLY didn't want to have to strip the walls. Thanks to him, less than 4 hours after we bought the house, the problem was solved.

Saturday morning Kelsey and I primed the kitchen, and Saturday afternoon Ben and I painted it this lovely shade called "Ocean Cottage" or something like that.

This color makes me happy.

And even better - here's a closeup of the texture work that Shane did. Looks great, doesn't it?

In fact, we liked the color SO much that we decided to transform the dark brown, cave-like walls of the foyer by putting it in here, too.

It would look better without that 70's tile on the floor. Don't worry, it's coming out this week.

Ben is such a great painting buddy!

And while we still have a loooong way to go this week, it's moments like this that make me smile.

I can't decide which I like more: Kelsey's dramatic pose or Olivia's expression. Both are pretty typical of my girls. I love them both!

For my next project, we're tackling the master bedroom... here's a sneak peak:

Looks like fun, dunnit?