The Dining Room: Before and After

Here’s our dining room on move-in day:

BEFORE

We knew the wall paper and matching curtains had to go. We moved in on a Thursday and by Sunday, the wall paper was down.

Since it was only half of the wall (and it happened to be the half where we could sit on the floor rather than perch on a ladder)  it wasn’t too painful.

Plus, we had help:

We painted the top half blue (two coats) and the bottom half decorator’s white. The color doesn't come through too well in these photos.

The week between Christmas and New Year’s, we decided to install box frame wainscoting. I LOVE it.

And here’s our AFTER:

There’s still some work to be done... I need artwork on either side of the china hutch. And I need to reupholster the chairs. And we need some accessories. But, first, I have to pack all of our china and crystal into their boxes for the renovation. We’re going to rip out the tile floor in the kitchen and we’re afraid everything might get smashed during the demolition. Should be fun!

Cheers and Boos-- A Grown Up Edition

My college newspaper had this great two-page feature,  Cheers & Boos. Students could anonymously give a shout out to the things they liked, or didn’t like, that week. It was the highlight of the paper, especially considering this was pre-social networking days. It was always the first feature I read in the weekly newspaper.  

My roommates and I contributed religiously. We would dedicate at least an hour of our week (CAH-LEGE) to putting together our weekly list of Cheers and Boos. I wish I had saved a copy of some of handiwork but trust me when I say we were very clever.

I’m going to attempt to recreate that feature here. We’ll see how it goes, considering it’s not anonymous, I’m flying solo, and I’m sober while writing these.  Plus, my life is not nearly as exciting as it once was.

Without further ado…

Cheers to:

·         New appliances. I don’t want to jinx anything until I have them in my hot little hands but I’ll say they start with a V and end with a –king!

·         February sweeps. Particularly, Parenthood. I love that show.

·         Seat heaters and heated garages

·         Red wine and fires

·         Redbox. $1 movies? Yes, please!

·         The Oscars. I love award season. Can't wait to see what everybody wears.

Boos to:

·         Facebook vacation photos. There’s a big case of the winter blues right here.

·         2-3 inches of rain. In one day.

·         Walking your dog in 2-3 inches of rain.

·         My dog’s electric fence being struck by lightning. In February.

·         Spending unsexy money. I’m looking at you, electric fence, hot water heater, and extra insulation which all needed replacing this week.

·         The phrase “Just Sayin’”. Make it stop.

That's it!  Have a great weekend.

xo

Homeward Bound

OK, I promise this is the last "Homeward Bound" lyric reference but I couldn't I resist. Hello, and welcome to "Home: Where My Thoughts Escape Me!" This blog is a long time coming...I've been reading blogs for years and finally decided it was time to start one of my own.

I'm a new homeowner, who's moved out to the 'burbs. My husband and I are slowly renovating our 1978 Colonial. We moved in June 10, 2010 and have already tackled the garage, family room, dining room, and starting planning our kitchen renovation.

So who are we? We met seven years ago at a party in Boston.

  We decided to expand our family before making things legal. Rebels!

This is Summer. She'll be six in April!

We got married in October 2008.

Decided to sell our South Boston condo...

So we put all of our earthly possesions in storage...

And moved in with our very generous family for a few months...

Until we finally closed on our house!

As you can see, a lot led up to our new home and we're so happy to finally make it ours.  Dorothy said it best, there is no place like home. I hope you'll enjoy following along!  

To do

We moved into our house with a laundry list of renovations and updates in mind. We wanted to:

·         paint the shutters

·         strip the wall paper in the dining room

·         paint 2 bedrooms

·         install surround sound

·         convert the office in the garage back to a garage (we live in snowy New England)

·          update the family room (paint bookshelves, replace sky lights, widen the entryway door from the kitchen, install hardwood floors)

·         plant a vegetable garden

·         mulch garden beds

·         furnish our 2300 sq foot house. We were coming from an 800 sq foot condo

Would you believe me if I told you we accomplished every last item on that list? In three months? Well, we did. In fact, the first three bullets were accomplished by the first week. And I have to give credit where credit is due. It NEVER would have happened if I had been the project manager on board. I tend to drag my feet, and hem and haw before taking on a big project.  My husband is the ying to my yang in that regard. He’ll dive right in and get things done. But together, we have crossed each project off of our to do list.  

Fear not, we still have a few big projects lined up. In about a month we’ll be demolishing our kitchen, tearing down walls, ripping out tiles, installing electrical work. My current to do list is longer than ever. I’ll spare you the details but some of the highlights include: select granite, finalize the lighting plan, order appliances.  Hopefully I’ll have just as much success with this list! Wish me luck.