B&A: Bedrooms

When we bought our house two years ago, we loved the location, the floor plan, and the potential of the home. But we knew there was much room for improvement. We have been trying to update the look and feel of the home, one room at a time. The bedroom remodel began last October. We have finally put the finishing touches on our master bedroom (mostly) so I thought I'd share my before and after photos of this area of the house.

The punk's room BEFORE

The punk's room AFTER

The hallway BEFORE

The hallway AFTER

The master bedroom BEFORE

The master bedroom AFTER

B&A Backyard

This is what our backyard looked like in June. Cinderblock tiers and steps and a dirt/weed garden.

Then we paid a guy to do manly things.

Ta da! Rocks. A dirt ramp. A level dirt pad.

Then my man laid sod on the ramp, planted a few things in the rocks (more to come), and built an awesome swing set for the punk (and the future basher)!

There was, however, the small matter of the 16 sharp screws sticking through some places.

So even though it's against my religion, I went to a craft store. I bought wood blocks, wood glue, and wood pirate things. The punk helped me with the gluing. Et voilà!

Who wants to play?

B&A: Kitchen

My house was built in 1962. I have a tiny oven in my kitchen wall, over the stairs. A little weird? Yes. But it works just fine and for now, it stays, along with the rest of the cabinetry and tile that I don't love. (Who in their right mind installs WHITE tile in the kitchen? A masochist, that's who. Someone who loves to sweep and mop multiple times a day. A crazy psycho.) But we've dressed up this wall a little bit to help me feel more at home in my kitchen. And to help the oven look like it belongs there.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The great thing is, we had all the furniture and accessories already. The cabinet came from our master bedroom, which is in the midst of its own remodel. The prints (from a tiny shop in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris!) and frames were sitting in a drawer. The chalkboard had been in hiding in the basement ever since we moved here 16 months ago. And all the vases, pots, etc. were in the hall closet, unseen and unheard. Just like Buster. (Anyone get that?)

Before & After: The Punk's Room

I know you're going to be heartbroken when you see what we did to the punk's room. Brace yourself. See this lovely pink wallpaper border?

This homey accent that almost invokes the gag-inducing fragrance of old lady perfume?

We... gasp!... Tore it down. Well, this phrase might be a bit misleading. "We tore it down" makes it sound much too easy, like we just grabbed a corner and walked around the room holding the wallpaper, which just came off in one smooth, intact strip. This may be how it happened in our dreams, but this is not how it happened in reality. We were hoping the whole project {taking down the cursed border, touching up any holes in the walls, and painting the ceiling and trim white, and the walls taupe} would take one day to complete. Silly, silly Bells. The punk slept in his portable crib in another room for 4 nights. Four nights of less-than-stellar sleep for the punk, which resulted in interrupted sleep for the punk's mama. That's me.

In order to get the pretty pink border down, we had to take razor blades to the walls. We scraped the top layer of the paper off, one inch at a time. Then, when our shoulder muscles (deltoids, if you will) were sufficiently burning and screaming, we sprayed the under layer, the part that sticks to the walls, with wallpaper removal spray. {Note: This spray claims to work on all layers of the wallpaper at once, but alas. This spray lies.} Then we scraped the softened underlayer off the walls, and then wiped the gooey blue spray from the walls and ceiling. After that, we puttied any holes in the walls, sanded them down, and then painted everything.

Please note, when I say we, 95% of the time I mean the man. The man did most of this while I entertained our offspring in the other room.

And now I present to you the finished product:

We also replaced this frilly light switch cover

... with this plain, uninteresting cover.

The punk thanks us every day for his living space makeover.