Progress?

Too Bright!
None of these are the right shade!

Well its been a little slow working on the house but we have established a little bit of a routine (alright it's only been one week but I PLAN on making it a routine). I enjoy doing the painting, it's so concrete, so instantly gratifying plus then I get color!! I love color! And then I also can't get mad at my husband for being so messy and carefree with the paint. Better for everyone if I do the painting.

We have decided upon Yellow for the living room. Yay progress! Except there is more than one shade of yellow. Thank God for those little sample cans of Olympic paint from Lowe's. Since the kids are always around, I really wanted to use a no/low VOC paint so that fit the bill. I now have at least six shades of yellow but *I think* we have settled on Shortbread for the walls. It looks hopelessly boring on the computer but only a little boring in real life on our walls. Keith still wants something brighter. I said it would be too much like living in a circus, "Oh cuz we don't live in a circus already." Point taken, honey.

Priming the Big Bedroom

The Big Bedroom - we are a co-sleeping family, which means that Iris has her own room and Bo and Gus share a bedroom but for sleeping we are all in the same room. A king and a full right on the floor so we don't have to worry about the inevitable roll-offs. So the kids were excited to help out with painting the "Family Room". Everyone put on their painting clothes and got a lot of paint on them as well as arms and bare feet. We did this before we moved in but I'm not sure this was the smartest use of a day. At least it was fun!
The rug in here is purple if you can't really see. For a purple carpet, it really could be worse. Once we get a creamy champagne color on the walls the color of the carpet won't even be an issue! Eventually I would like to get wood floors throughout the house but for now a thorough chemical-free cleaning by the company Chem-Dry was the plan. The carpets were all cleaned with hot carbonation, dried very quickly and I'm not worried about the kids or husband wrestling and hanging out on the floor with god-knows-what. They were also very accommodating with closing changes. I was really happy with them!

First Look

Here are some pictures of what we bought. These pics are of the inside. We took them the first few days after we bought it, the raw material. Wallpaper coming down!
Awesome border on the stairs, can't wait to get some white paint on that trim!
This was originally the dining room but it has magically transformed into the Playroom! This wallpaper is both a little tougher to strip but also not as visually offensive to me, Keith and Iris actually like this one, so it will be the last to go.
These are the built-ins in the back of the living room, originally the den/library.

Obviously the fireplace could look a little better, one of so many projects. I'm thinking a lot of white fiberglass mantle builds and covering up those black air vents. And thankfully that wallpaper came down so very easily.

The Best Intentions

So the plan was hatched for this blog a few days after we bought our "new" house about three weeks ago. The blog was created today. Moving with three little ones and one cat can be crazy even if you are only moving one mile away. We are settling in, trying to choose paint colors and ignore those little bits of not-so-perfect while decorating for Christmas and living life. Kids awake now so pictures will have to wait.

Welcome Home

This is the story of one family's journey with a fixer-upper. Wish us luck!