House stuff...before, during, and after shots (so far!)

I've learned that I am not a good 'before and after' picture taker.  I think only one of these did I actually get the same point of view in both shots...so we'll start with that one. :)

Laundry Room

That top picture you've seen in an earlier blog post...had new linoleum put down and the room painted.

Kitchen

The kitchen took a few more steps...first thing was to move the island over about ten inches and make room for a breakfast bar to be installed on the bricks.

Ta da!

First time eating at the breakfast bar...that has been one of the best decisions we've made about this house.  The kids eat breakfast, lunch, snacks, and if it's just me and them, sometimes supper up there.  We've only had a few incidents of kids falling off of stools. :)

Next step was a dark linoleum that didn't show every speck and crumb!  Hurrah!

Then Greg ripped off the border...

...and he and Nate finished getting the wallpaper off up there.

Paint!  A darkish blue that I think sets off the cabinets more than the light green did.

Family/Dining Room

Oh, this one was a doozy.  And I actually don't even have a fully finished room picture.  The dining room used to be the kitchen.  We are pretty sure that when they added the kitchen on in 1998, they stripped just the front layer of wallpaper and then papered OVER the backing that was still on the wall.  So Greg had to get through three layers of wallpaper, of which only the very top came off nicely.  Let's just say that the rest came off VERY not nicely.

In progress...

Finally stripped and did a test patch of paint (we decided that one was too much green).

Greg took off the trim because our plan was to get new chair rail and wainscoting (white, vertical striped), so why have our painter have to trim around the existing wood?  Anyway, under the trim was a fun little glimpse into what the walls used to be covered in!  Groovy!

All painted and waiting for trim and wainscoting!

I love this color...so glad we went less green!

And now is where I should stick a picture of it with the new bottom stuff up...but apparently I haven't taken one and I just want to get this post up.  It looks very nice. :)

Max's Bedroom

Max's room was more floral than the girls', plus it had a huge wooden shelf right above where he slept.  Remember when I said in a previous post that the bowling alley at Bass Pro influenced our decorating?  We ate at the restaurant there one night over Christmas break and Max announced that when we painted his room, he wanted a coral reef...complete with 3D fish and a huge eel hanging from his ceiling.  Hmm.

After much hunting online, I eventually did find some coral reef wall decals and, to my surprise, there is even an eel hiding in the reef!  Perfect!  Max had a few weeks of adjusting when he switched to full day kindergarten, so he had to earn his wall stickers with good behavior.  Thankfully, he did great and still loves school!

Closer picture of the stickers...and the thing hanging from the ceiling near the middle of the picture is the puffer fish that 'the kids' bought as my souvenir from Gulf Shores.  He fits in perfectly!

One very happy boy with his coral reef!

 Girls' Bedroom
I don't even have a before of this one...it was the first one that Greg (and the kids) ripped into, and it was one night they were supposed to be going to bed!  The wallpaper seam went right by both girls' heads (we had a bunk bed in there), so they were both starting to rip/pick at it.  That night I heard lots of ripping and giggling and pretty soon Max came running downstairs to me.  "Mommy, Daddy and me and the girls are ripping the wallpaper off in their room!"  I'm sure he expected me to flip out. :) Instead, I told him he'd better get back up there before they got it all ripped off and he didn't get to help!

Anyway, after wallpaper removal, next up is paint:

Purple and yellow to go with the stained glass irises in the window (Oh, and the purple paint has some sparkles in it!)

We passed the bunk bed along to the next house and thought we wanted to buy twin beds for the girls, as well as some dressers.  We made plans to go to IKEA on Friday/Saturday with just the girls and leave the boys at Grandma's house.  It was fun!

The girls got a bit tired of shopping, as we ended up completely changing our minds and going for a queen sized bed and having to get different mattress, slats, nightstands, dressers, etc.  It was quite the sight watching Greg maneuver all of those boxes into our minivan!

Once at home, the ever trusty and helpful Max assisted Greg in putting together a dresser.  Dad and Mom Rassi came over that night and helped put together the bed and some other pieces as well.

Finished product!  Well, someday we'll replace the carpet, but that's not right away I don't think.  At first Nora was NOT thrilled with her gray and white comforter, but I think she likes it now and is learning that not everything in her life has to be PINK to be good!  Though she did ask me after her room was painted if she could have the ceiling painted pink because there was no pink in her room!  Um, no!

Last shot for this post:  Pretty accurate...Greg is tearing off wallpaper and I'm running behind him saying, "Wait!  You didn't let me take a picture of it before you started!....."  He is thinking, "Well, do you want this wallpaper off or not??!!??!?"  (This is our main bathroom downstairs.  As of now it's just been stripped of wallpaper and we haven't done anything with it.)

Speaking of Greg, I already told you he was the one taking off wallpaper, not me.  It's true, and we also had a lot of help from a lot of people...so thank you so much to Dad and Mom Beutel, Katy, Josh and Sheila, Steph and Nate, Dad and Mom Rassi, Farrah, Camille, and if I missed anyone leave a comment and I'll add you!!!  We are so blessed with family and friends who are willing to help us out with such NOT fun stuff like removing wallpaper...especially the stubborn stuff that comes off in tiny little pieces!  (Side note:  If you have to remove wallpaper, get Piranha in the purple bottle from Lowe's.  It's MILES away better than Dif...at least in our experience.)

And here is where I give a HUGE shout out to our painter.  Steve Harris is from Peoria and is not only an excellent painter but a great guy and has become a friend as well.  If you need indoor painting done, get in touch with me and I'll give you his number!