At least some form of progress is being made...

...even if it's lacking a mattress...

 

 

But we're getting there. This is a start, right?

 

 

Someone who's not so happy with the changes? This one...

 

 

 

 

We have her temporarily set up in this chair, slowly adjusting her to life without the bed. Poor Tiggy...this cat has been through more changes than she probably cares to remember, yet she continues to roll with the punches. Well, minus that little peeing episode in the hallway. You know, the one that forced us to go into a full-fledged renovation in the first place.

 

Which, speaking of, tomorrow is the carpet install! Praise Jesus. There is an end in sight to this awful, ridiculous makeover! I'll be back soon to share some updated pictures & stories. Because believe me, after last night, we have stories.

 

 

I'll also be sharing pics and updates on the nursery, because with less than 9 weeks to go (give or take) I've been diligently working every night on elements to the room. I can't wait to incorporate them into the space!

Project Hallway (Part Duex) progress

This is a post about the.longest.project.in.house.history. For reals people. But we're getting there...slowly but surely.

door to our unit

 

 



the view from our unit door

 

 

 

the attic door & utility closet adjacent to our unit

 

 

 

heading downstairs to the lower unit

 

 

 

 

entry into the house

  

 

 

lower unit entryway

 

 

Props to the husband who's been working tirelessly on this project. Which is probably why it's taking so long, since 'el prego can't be in the space (with all the oil based primer he's been using). Plus, you know...we have lives and full time jobs and went on vacation...so toss all those things in there & that's a major reason this project is taking (what feels like) 18 years to complete. But again, we're getting there and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Which is easing my anxiety of getting this damn space complete before baby arrives... 

 

So let's do a little rundown of what's been going on here...

 

We've removed the wallpaper, sanded the walls, skim coated & sanded them AGAIN (in fact, the husband has also patched & sanded other sections of the walls after all of that nonsense...the joys of owning an old home!). The walls & formerly green trim and doors got a coat of primer and the ceiling was repainted. Currently, the doors and moldings are getting their second coat of paint (Dover White by Sherwin Williams, to match the rest of the trim in the house). I hit the panic button this week & called in my mom for this step. She's worked on painting the trim for the last 2 mornings (thanks mom!), since I wasn't so sure we'd have everything painted by the time the carpet gets installed next week.

 

Which speaking of the carpeting, we got a call this week informing us that the one we chose had been discontinued (cue sad music...but not really since this kind of carpet is just carpet). Needless to say, it was a bump in the road, but nothing major. I had the carpet guys pull some comparable samples for us, without a price increase (woo hoo!). We're just eh about the replacement. But in the case of this area, carpet is just carpet. I'll be happy to have anything installed in there at this point. Bye, bye ugly linoleum!

 



If nothing at all, we are totally pumped with how light and bright this space has become. Even if it's all primer and trim paint at this point. Aside from the green to white trim transformation, the utility closets are the other 'why didn't we paint these sooner?' element to the space. Naturally, I didn't take a before pic, but the inside of the closet will show you what we were working with....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With any luck, we'll have a wall color picked out soon and can start painting the walls this weekend! We're definitely thinking something beige-y and light. It's hard to believe we lived with such dark colors in this hallway for so long!

 

TGIF!

 

 

Back to the grind...

This should explain why the 'ol blog has been neglected for the better half of 2 weeks....

We're fresh back from vacation & already tackling 1,945 projects around the house (in addition to having a life, or at least trying). I'll be back soon to share some projects we're currently working on! With less than 10 weeks until baby's arrival, you bet your rear end we're in complete go-mode!

Decisions, decisions...

We're t-minus less than 12 weeks away from baby's arrival (!!!), and with the crib being the only thing in our possession....let's just say it's time to get our asses moving.

I have yet to find the perfect rocker. You know, the one that isn't too cheap and traditional looking, yet certainly not one that will set us back close to $1,000 (which it seems all the stylish ones do). But low & behold I've managed to figure out what kind of accent table is going to sit along side this yet-to-be-found chair!

I had my eyes on this CG Sparks iron and glass accordian table...

via

...but alas, it's no where to be found. As in, this item is currently out of stock everywhere I check online (even Walmart!). Son of a farmer!

So it's back to my original pick, the accordion side table at Urban Outfitters...

...a perfectly acceptable option that will set me back $74 (plus some tax & shipping). My only issue is that I can't seem to grasp what color this table is...is it bronze? Gold? Or a mix of bronze & gold? Each picture I find tells a different story. I'm no stranger to a can of spray paint, so I could certainly doctor this thing up if it isn't to my liking. Especially since many a gold accents are going to be in baby's room...

Next up? Finding a rug! Which proved to be a bit of a letdown when I went to buy one I just found at HomeGoods...and it was already gone less than 24 hours later! So let that be a lesson to all. Buy it when you see it because it probably won't be there when you go back (hightened emotions may ensue, especially when pregnant...that may or may not have happened today). Lately, this seems to be my motto when thrifting too. Which also explains why our garage looks like the inside of a Goodwill. My poor husband. If he sees one more ugly lamp (with potential!) sitting inside our garage, he's going to crack.

I'll keep you posted on my decisions and purchases as I make them! Afterall, I don't have much of a choice these days. I guess I work well under pressure?!



Project Hallway: Part Duex

Okay folks. Here we go. The latest & greatest (and quite possibly most scary) project to date...Project Hallway: part duex. A few weeks ago, I mentioned our latest ambitious efforts to tackle a side hallway remodel. It's not glamorous, stylish or fun. It's a purely functional space that's used-on-the-daily and needed some work STAT!

We (aka, the husband) ripped off the wallpaper, had the damaged moldings & door repaired (from last year's break-in), sanded the walls, skim coated them, and sanded them again for good measure. And then things hit a major standstill. The husband was out of town for the better half of 2 weeks, el prego was unable to help, and then it got so damn hot that doing anything other than sitting inside the fridge seemed like a good idea. 

And then several weeks ago the cat peed on the rug. Yep, that's right. Our cat that minds her own business & has never given us so much as a problem, got pissed off by all the mess (quite literally) and then got herself a urinary tract infection in the meantime. We had already planned to tear out the carpeting ourselves (there I go again with the 'ourselves' reference, when again, this is the husband's doing) to see if hardwood was underneath. But sadly, we recovered linoleum--circa 1970's--instead.

 

 

 

The dog found it necessary to be in every photo I took, so there you go. There's only so much yelling I can do around here. Not to mention that doing so in this hallway is really LOUD. Which is one of the reasons we're having carpeting installed soon. We need some sound absorption in here asap!

It took us no less than 5 minutes to decide on our options. I only bothered to bring home two samples, since low-pile, high-traffic carpeting all looks the same. 

In the end, we decided to go with the dark brown/grey option you see in the upper lefthand of the second photo. At $2.19 sq./ft. (including installation) it's significantly cheaper than the top option at $2.77 (and much better looking too). Don't bother to ask me who makes this either....I think Shaw, but I could be wrong. Let me say it again...all low-pile, high-traffic carpet looks the same people.

So there you have it. The (not so) latest and greatest update on the side hallway. With the husband out of town this week for work, we've hit another standstill, but hope to get priming and painting next week. And hopefully have some carpet installed in the next few weeks too! Slow and steady wins the race....