t5months

As I looked back on the pics from our first winter in the house I found myself thinking, we didn’t really accomplish too much…?  Then I remembered two things.  Number one, we got Stella.  And number two, that was the winter we watched all 8 seasons of LOST.  Love that show.  We had several snow days that year (one storm brought almost 2 feet!), and my mans and I spent those days cuddled up with our two lil’ girls watching episode after episode on Netflix.  Good times.

Anyhow, we did get a few things accomplished.  Like re-doing the downstairs half bathroom.  It was top on our list after we got home from our 2 week Christmas trip to OZ and found that the toilet had been running the entire time!  As we took down the large mirror, we stumbled across an interesting artifact of the kitchen addition.  A hole.  In its former life it was a window, and while some people say having windows inside a house is coming back, I don’t think anyone likes to be spied on whilst using the john.

I stripped the wallpaper border and we painted the walls a light cheery blue.  I might have chosen a different color looking back, but it’s still a huge improvement.  We ended up using the existing pedestal sink and mirror as well as the cabinet above the toilet, so the only things we bought were a new toilet, faucet, towel rod and tp holder.  Oh and I can’t forget the baseboard heater cover.  Coming in as a close third to the lighthouse wallpaper and horribly yellowed toilet, changing the baseboard heater cover was probably the greatest improvement, and for only $18!  The old one was rusted or else we might have tried to spray paint it back to life. 

     
  

    

We have yet to put something back up over the hole.  There are currently three options in the running: put the old 80’s mirror back up, find an oddly long wall frame or build in a shelf/magazine rack.  I’ll keep you posted! 

   

We also painted the dresser in the guest bedroom to match the existing two pieces, and even added some Target curtains (no rods yet, the good ones are pricey!). 

Lastly, we added some shelves in the office using pieces the previous owner left in the house (painted white, of course).  If you’re thinking that top shelf looks a little too loaded up, you’re right.  It fell after a few weeks and thankfully the only sacrifice was the piggy bank pig.  We were able to put it back up and are careful now to use it only as decorative, lesson learned!

So that’s all I got for this one.  Looking back at the pictures what strikes me is how bare some of the rooms look.  What I focused on first was the big pieces, but what the rooms need now are the soft touches to give 'em that cozy feel!  Bit by bit it's coming together!