After: Crazy Purple Dining / Living Room

When we first looked at our new house, the living and dining room had purple carpet. Need I say more? Luckily, I thought, new flooring is relatively easy to make happen. Oooooh, how wrong I was.

We asked to have the guy come over to measure the day after we moved in. This was 2 1/2 months ago. Earlier this week, the work was finally done.

We decided that since the "living room" probably will never be used, I could take it over as my craft room. Now, I didn't think I could be convinced that having all my craft junk "hanging out" right when people walk in the front door would be okay. But, I guess I was convinced. And I think it'll be okay. After all, this is an AWESOME space for crafting. TONS of light.

Lucky for me there's also lots of storage all around the house, because I have accumulated lots of stuff!! Now I just have to share the space with our dining room.

Now, we just need some artwork. I'm sure there's some around here...somewhere!

After: New House Colors

Our new house used to be Barbie Tan. And Sesame. And other various shades of beige.

In the basement, a little minty green was thrown in for good measure. But generally speaking, we were not huge fans of the color scheme in our new house. Now, mind you I have seen MUCH worse. MUCH. And, it's also probably true that even if the colors were the most perfect I'd ever seen, I would find some reason to need to repaint. But, as "luck" would have it, we both agreed that this house needed a new color scheme.

A de-beiging, if you will. I'm pretty sure we're all done with the painting - for the moment. I say this even though our entryway, which is unfortunately a decent color (gray), has white splotches all over it from where nail holes were patched. But, I'm so tired of painting that some strategically place pictures will have to do.

So on to the next phase of home improvements: flooring! We tore out the purple (Yes, you read that right. Prince and the New Generation Purple. Vikings Fan purple.) carpet in favor of some click-lock bamboo set to be installed on Tuesday. So after only a month of waiting, we will finally have use of our entire house. Very exciting. The only bad news is we have no idea what to do with a second "living room."

Yeah, I know, rough times. Extra space. But it's not like I can make it a craft room or something. It's right inside my front door. And I'm not very neat with my crafts. And scissors just can't be out and about in this house! So, we'll probably build a rock climbing wall and install a slide and make it the playroom! Hahahahaha. No. Not really.

After the flooring comes the part where it eventually becomes Spring and we get to work on the yard, which is TOTALLY devoid of anything other than a tree or shrub. Not. One. Little. Perennial. Not. One. Stinkin. Hosta. Well, at least I won't be bored! I'll have a vegetable garden, wildflower garden and assorted perennials to get moving on! Want to come help?

Before and After: Office

I'm not going to lie. I'm tired. I've painted waaaaaaaay to many rooms in the new house already. And I still have two more to go. The office, however, was the worst. It was "barbie tan" to start with, and the ceilings are really high and awkward. So, thank goodness it's over. And it's staying "Midwest Spring" blue for a long time. What really sucks is having to try to paint during naptimes and after 8 PM at night. Ugh. The dining table won't be staying there, so this will be a nice open room I can fill up with plants at some point. I am calling it my "botanical room."

Well, that's enough complaining. I can't complain at all about how it turned out. It's soooo much better than barbie tan. On to the next room! Next up is our bedroom. It's going to be "cocoa pecan" -- which actually looks a bit like poo. But not enough for me to stop, just enough for me to worry and wonder how the heck to decorate a poo-colored bedroom. Well, here's hoping I can do a heck of a lot with bed linens...which I can't afford! Bwaaaaaah! Guess I better go grab that paint brush and get to work!