One Year Anniversary

One year ago today I was heading to my closing and getting the keys to my new house.  I can't believe it has been a year already!  I still love my house more and more every day and haven't once regretted my purchase.  Here's a little before and after collection of what I've gotten done (and what I haven't) in the last 365 days.

 Slowly but surely my lawn it perking up.  It's still trial and error at this point but it's definitely in better shape than move in day.

 I love my bargain bench and throw pillows that welcome you in the house.  I have yet to just sit on the front porch and take in the scenery but it's nice to know I have the option.

 Getting rid of the random doorway curtains was such a relief.  Who does that?  I still need to move this furniture out but since I haven't found the pieces I want to go in the space, they just sit there.

 The dining room is getting so close.  Once that table gets painted, the rest will be quick and easy.

 Not much has gone on in my office.  It's pretty much become a storage room for now.  I have a feeling it will be one of the last rooms I get to but I'm ok with that.

 The guest room is good for now and has even had a few guests.  Some day those curtains will go and the walls will be painted.  Some day.

 I love the dining area of the kitchen!  It's just so fun.  Hopefully the countertops, backsplash and appliances will get some attention in the coming year.

The laundry room is cheerful as well.  Notice I have 3 dog leashes...but only one dog.  Hopefully this next year will see me adding one more dog to the house.  I already have his food dish set up below the laundry basket.

 The living room has probably gotten the most attention in the past year, but then again it is where I spend the most time (when not sleeping). 

I'm so relieved to finially have something hanging above my couch.  I don't have too much planned for this room anytime soon, except maybe getting Pablo a blanket that matches a little better than the Christmas colored one he's using now.

 My bedroom is coming together.  The 4th duvet finally won out.  I have art on the walls now but my room wasn't clean enough for more recent pictures.  Story of my life.

I'm toying which changing up this headboard somehow.  I built it about 8 years ago.  I'm thinking I'll either paint it or cover it with fabric.  Who knows.

 The bathroom is actually currently in the middle of a big change.  More on that next week.

 I'm really excited about how far my lawn has come, especially since I've never had a lawn before.  I look forward to expanding the landscaping in the coming year and really turning it into an enjoyable space.

It has been such a fun year.  I've learned so much and can't wait to see what the next year in the house has in store.  I predict many more Home Depot trips and a lot more elbow grease!

Laundry Room Complete...for now

When we last left off, I had finished the walls of the little laundry and made the brave choice to paint the ceiling before getting started on the trim.

To my amazement, the ceiling was actually a breeze to paint.  Granted it was only about 40 square feet, but still.  Last night I finally finished up the trim and was able to put the room back together.  This included washing the tops of my washer and dryer since I'd been standing on them.

It is quite the improvement over the drab little room it started out as.

I even hung up my handheld Dyson finally.  It had been sitting on my dryer since I got it, waiting for the room to be painted.

I'm still toying with adding some sort of grass green accent to the wall but I'm in no rush.  It looks great as is and is now a nice compliment to the kitchen when the door is open.

 

So I've cleaned my brushes and once again packed up my paint.  That is, until I get my next painting itch.

Painting Update

When I'm not doing yard work, I'm back inside armed with my trusty paint brushes.  I finally finished the hall ceiling and once again swore off ceiling painting for a while.

After that wrapped up I decided that my laundry room needed a little color. 

I was planning to paint this room a grass green color, something fun and bright, but I had so much paint left over from my kitchen that I decided it was more economical to use that color.  It will work perfect since my laundry room is visable from the kitchen when I leave the door open.

Hopefully once painted I will keep the area a little neater than it is in the photo above.  You can actually see some of my green paint chips I was considering, stuck above my hooks.  I am still going to use a little green possibly as a stripe or stencil but I will only need to buy a small sample amount for that.  For now I'm just focusing on getting my aqua on the walls.

This room will also need the trim painted white and after close consideration...the ceiling needs help too.  Rats.  I think I will paint it blue though, since I am out of white ceiling paint and promised myself I wouldn't buy any for a while. 

Laundry Line

My laundry room is probably closer to a large closet than an actual room.  But compared to my past, it feels like a room.  At my condo I had a stackable that filled up an entire laundry closet.

Now I have a room/closet that I can actually walk into.  It has cabinets and wall space and a real door.

I've been trying to make use of all the space in my house in the most practical manner and this laundry room is no exception.  Occasionally I have clothes that don't go in the dryer.  When this happens I dry them on a fold out rack.  This rack doesn't fit in my wee laundry room so it usually ends up in the dining room.  And because of "out of sight out of mind", it usually remains there for a week or so. 

While I have no floor space for a drying rack, I decided I did have plenty of wall space and overhead space.  A light bulb went off and $10 at Home Depot later I had this:

A new clothing rod above the washer for drying clothes!  It makes it so easy to hang something up while I'm in the middle of moving loads to the dryer. If I'm too lazy to put the stuff away once it's dry, at least it is hidden behind the laundry room door and not in the middle of my dining room. 

I made sure to measure everything before installing the rod so that I would still have easy access to the top of the washer and to the cabinet shelves.

I'm pretty excited with my new install.  Maybe it will help get me a little more excited about actually doing laundry.