Before and After

It's hard to believe that this is the same house we bought 2 years ago!  I walk in and look around and say "wow", even if we did do most of the work ourselves.  My daughter did a terrific job decorating, too.  Before, I get into the many before and afters that I promised to show, I have to say a word or two about our memorable Christmas.  

The tree above is one of several in my daughter's home.  We barely got finished in time for her to move in, but she is fast and had already planned where everything would go and had her Christmas decor ready to put together.  We had our traditional pizza at her home Christmas Eve and opened her gifts there and then went to our house to exchange more gifts and watch a movie and play card games.  Christmas Day was spent at home and I fixed a brisket, potatoes, corn in the Crock-pot, salad, rolls and a couple of pies.  We watched another movie and played more cards. 

In spite of everyone either sick, recovering from being sick or being very tired, we still had a wonderful Christmas!  Yes, I did get what laid BG low for a week just before Christmas.  Fortunately, I recovered just in time to finish up everything.  Our son was battling a virus when he came in, but he was able to stay with us for a few days and it was great to have him at home.  He was feeling much better by the time he went back to KC.

I still have my 2 trees and will keep them up until the 6th at least since I didn't get them up and decorated as early as I usually do.  My house always looks so bare when I take them down.  Now, on to the photo overload....ha!  Yes, I have a lot of photos.  But, I'll try to keep the words to a minimum.  Here we go....

Living Room - Before
Check out the hearth, ugh!  The tile was covered
and the sides were surrounded with oak.

 Living Room - After

 Another LR - After

Kitchen - Before 

We took out the w/d hookups and redid the

wall.  The deck outside was redone.

 Kitchen wall - After

(Ignore my purse hanging on the chair!)

 Another Kitchen After

We had to piece in the hardwood

flooring where they had a thick threshold covering 

a place where they must have taken out a wall.  You can

see it in the lower right of the photo.

 Another Kitchen After  

Kim fixed supper that night for us.

Hallway - Before 

We took out the floor register

and replaced with oak hardwood flooring.

Hall - After

There is another hallway leading

to the basement stairs, you can see a glimpse of 

the hall beyond leading to the basement door.  We

also put in a new attic access at the end of this hall

instead of having it in a bedroom closet.

Bedroom No. 1 - Before

This room wasn't in such bad shape until we had to

tear out walls for the rewiring.  The door goes out

to the spare room that is at the end of the deck.  That

room is still to be finished and it will be Kim's office.

Walls had to be taken out in some of the rooms in

order to see where old wires went and replace them with

new.  This is in the alcove in bedroom No. 1.

Bedroom No. 1 - After

The wall behind the bed is painted a dark blue as seen

in the mirror.  Kim plans to make a planked headboard for the 

wall behind her bed.  The star is a Christmas gift to be hung on

the deck wall.

   Bathroom - Before

Bathroom - After

Everything was replaced in this room and the stool

moved across the way making a bit more room.

Another Bathroom After

That is a closet to the left of the vanity.  

Bedroom No. 2 - Before

This room didn't need a lot done to it until some

of the walls had to have holes cut out to find/run wires.

Hardwood floors in all rooms were stripped and 

redone.

Bedroom No. 2 - After

Another Bedroom No. 2 After

Deck - Before

Deck - After

Since this photo was taken the middle of last year,

some of the soffits were replaced, power washing was

done on the concrete and the steps have been painted.

I hope you enjoyed this little tour of what I've been calling The Project now known as Kim's house since she is renting it now.  At times it seemed like we would never get finished.  And, it's really not completely finished.  The spare room will get finished soon, I hope, but it's very livable until then.  The basement was gutted and needs to be redone.  Painting outside still needs to be done, too.  

Kim still has wall decor to hang, drapes to purchase and many other little things to get to complete her new home, but she's moved in and loves it.  She already has had friends in and they love it, too. 

Now on to other projects.  First up...a few books to read while I rest up.  Then I have some rooms I want to redo here.  And dare I say it?  Purging.  It seems that many are talking about it now.  Something I desperately need to do!  We'll see how it goes.  How about you?  Any big projects coming up this year?

Happy Wednesday to you!

xo Cheryl