Projects!

Gosh, my house has been all about projects for the last couple months. I wish I had taken before and after pictures of everything, because we've made a lot of transformations. Luckily, Brandon and I enjoy working on house projects together, but boy, is it tiring. Here's what we've been up to (in no particular order):

1. Stripping and refinishing all of our living room tables (Coffee table, side table and sofa table). Brandon came into the marriage with really nice furniture. Unfortunately, it wasn't my style and didn't go with anything else in the house. It was a light wood with intricate engravings. So, I took out the engraved pieces and replaced with straight pieces of wood, stripped off the stain, re-finished in a dark chocolate stain and replace the hardware with modern, silver handles. We had some issues with the polyurethane coats, but now we're almost done. Brandon finished the coffee table last night and we should finish the other two this week.

2. Redecorating both of our offices. The pictures of Brandon's office in a previous post(his birthday present). After my sweet husband installed a wonderful, but enormous desk in my office, I realized I couldn't paint the walls, so I painted the ceiling instead (with the help of my fabulous friend, Janette). It's a dark turquoise, to match the satin and velvet turquoise curtains that take up most of one wall. Oh, I made the curtains, too. (I hate sewing, but I love that I can because I can never find cute curtains in the store.) I hung some art by one of my favorite artists (Steven Meyers) and now I love it!

3. Redecorating our bedroom. When I moved out of my law office recently, I took all of the decorations and put them up in my bedroom. I hung shelves and pictures and bought new lamps and made some curtains. I couldn't find material I liked for the curtains, but I did find a shower curtain, so I cut it up and made curtains. The sink and vanity are connected to the bedroom, so I put up curtains on a shower bar to separate that part from the rest of the room. Now, the only thing left to do is refinish the bedroom furniture in a dark stain (I already ripped off the engraved panels.)

4. We put up shelves and new art in the living room. I also bought new lamps and made curtains to frame the french doors (but that was a few months ago). I also repainted the shelves in the living room that are also connected to the staircase. It's hard to explain without seeing it. I'm also working on spicing those shelves up with some fabric backs. I think (HOPE) we're going to buy a new dining set this week. That will really make a difference in the whole room. After that, I think we'll be done with that room.

5. We also painted the hallway and stairway. Painting stairways is a big fat hastle. Luckily, I have a wonderful husband to help when I get these ideas in my head. I just need to repaint the handrail, put that back up and hang pictures. I'm also working on the shelf project I mentioned in number 4. On the stairs side of the stairs, I'm stapling up some fabric and framing out all of the shelves in molding.

6. Jill and I repainted the guest bathroom one night and then Brandon and I framed the mirror with painted molding and replaced the light fixture. I hung up a painting, added a little cabinet, some candles and matching towels. I also replaced the towel holders. It's amazing how easily those things updated the previously old and ugly bathroom.

7. This last weekend, Jill and I painted the kitchen. Well I helped her tape the kitchen and then she painted it while I sewed some curtains for her kitchen. I bought fabric for kitchen curtains and will probably have those done in the next day or two. I ordered a small table for the kitchen, and then I'll take a break on the kitchen for a few months.

8. Replaced all the door knobs in the house.

Projects on the horizon:

Refinish bedroom furniture
Refinish kitchen cabinets and add new hardware
Resurface kitchen countertops
Paint master bathroom
Refinish master vanity
Build dog house for 4 dogs
Build a closet under our staircase
Paint all the trim and baseboard in the house



I'm sure I'll come up with more projects, but that's all we have planned for now.