Our House

One of the first things we did was change the kitchen. Actually, I worked on the kitchen and Erich moved our stuff. I changed the cabinets from a navy blue color to a sage green color by American Tradition. That wasn't so bad. The awful part was stripping the old wallpaper. What a pain! Since I didn't kow what I was doing, it took me twice as long. The first time, I thought I was pulling off the wallpaper, but about half-way through I realized that I had stripped the vinyl surface off the wall but the adhesive backing was still up. Finally, after 2-1/2 days of stripping wall paper and removing glue, I finished up the painting with a light yellow color. That was my first house project.

My second project was to paint the basement. The walls were covered with this ugly, brownish-grey paneling from the 1970's. Now they are a golden color; it wasn't quite what I thought it would be when I picked out the color, but it's not so bad that I would think to repaint it anytime soon. It took me 2 full gallons to do two coats. That's a lot of wall! Not to mention the surface prep needed (TSP wash, sanding, wiping, priming, etc.)

My third project was to return the wood trim in the master bath its original wood. The fir trim is really pretty in a cherry stain. That project was 90% completed last year. This year, I just have to finish the doorway and repaint the walls because the white color I picked isn't really white against the white tile in the tub.

My fourth project, and the last for this year, is to strip the paint off the windows in the master bedroom. All you have to do is look at pictures of this area to tell that this won't be easy. I've blackmailed my husband into helping with this one. I simply pointed out that we will likely be kicked out of our bedroom for months if he doesn't help, but it will probably be only 1-2 weeks if he does help!

Photos