The Rehab Diaries - Part 1

We hit the ground running to make this house our home!  Our first project was getting the trees removed.  Second on the list was paint, and lots of it. I've dubbed it Operation: Paint All the Things, and it's a doozy!  I may never be entirely done, but I've made a good dent in All The Things. 

We've realized this will be an on-going, multi-year project, so we wanted to break the renovation into phases and share our progress along the way!  We feel like we've made huge changes already. We still have several pages filled with projects to be completed, but for now we are savoring the homey feel that Phase 1 has brought.  Sure, the baseboards are only half-installed, there's still lots of green carpet (and pink and blue), ceilings to be repaired, a cottage to build, a kitchen to renovate...  But it's ours and it's also lovely while we wait! 

Meantime, Isaac replaced our toilets, put up shelving, organized the garage, started the demo on the future mother-in-law unit (aka "the cottage"), replaced the carpet in all the main areas with vinyl, and replaced all of the outlets and light switches with new white covers.  I'm sure there's a long list of things I've forgotten, but those were some of the biggies. 

So here goes the before/after pictures: 

Even Malcolm wants to get in on the helping! 

Starting to feel homey!  New flooring makes me so happy! Goodbye, green walls and green carpet! 

So relaxing! 

The dining room got a fresh coat of paint, we ripped out the carpet, and removed the china hutch.

Our dining room feels huge now!

I'm contemplating reinstalling the big mirror

Our playroom without the nasty orange carpet that, as it turns out, was harboring thousands of ants. When Isaac pulled it back there were ants EVERYWHERE. We knew we had an ant problem, we had a pest guy come out and spray and bait, and thought we were getting it under control...  Not so much. Isaac was a trooper, though, and persevered with ripping out the carpet, killing the ants, and sanitizing the subfloors.

The playroom with new carpet, new paint, and some decor

We repainted the bedroom and put up some new pictures from our wedding.

Oh, that green carpet... 

We painted, rearranged, and decorated Malcolm's room (aka the guest room)

Painting jail. 

Lucy's room has been one of the most dramatic changes! No more wallpaper, all the holes patched, new art, new blinds, and pelmet boxes over the blinds. Oh, and paint. Lots of bright pink and gray paint.

Here's a little glimpse into the process! I got a little impulsive and started picking at the wallpaper in Lucy's room... Turns out it came off in two layers. The first came off in strips. The second required a bit more muscle. 

My helper! She wasn't quite sure if this was okay. 

Always eager to be in on the action! 

She got a little TOO eager to get in on the painting, and got into the paint by herself... 

Lucy's contribution: painting with a paint stick. Right after I asked her not to touch the paint! 

We also painted all of our bathrooms. Here's a shot of just one of them! I love the light gray with the dusky blue.