inside update

we are much more moved in now.  about 99.9% of our stuff is unpacked and placed where it belongs. The real accomplishment of the week was that we cleared out the garage enough for us to get both our cars in. It's still a mess - maybe i'll take a picture of it some day for you - but they are in and the door closes so i'm satisfied.

At any rate, i know the masses have been wanting more pictures of the place so, here are the photos you've been waiting for Mom!

view from the front door in the foyer

7 Difficult and Tedious Steps to Paint Baseboards in a Room with Carpet

For our epic weekend of painting, i was primarily in charge of baseboards.  Most pressing was painting the baseboards in our bedroom, because we wanted that room most ready for move-in. The whole task was exhausting, back-straining and took HOURS to complete. But i eventually found a technique that worked for me.

The real best way to paint baseboards in a room with carpet is to do it BEFORE the carpet goes in. But if like me, you are a mild idiot at times, and need to do it AFTER your lovely new carpet has been installed, or even if you are painting in a room that already has carpet i'm here to say i tried a variety of techniques and this one is the winner.

First the different techniques i tried

Painting Progess

We spent the weekend painting, and i mean the WHOLE weekend - 11 hours Saturday and 9 hours Sunday.  Fortunatrely we had some helpers to make it all easier.

Teamwork in my office

Ewa working hard - and even came back Sunday to do MORE

Progress Update

It's been awhile since i gave a progress update - with a bunch of progress pics - so here it is! You'll see a lot of open walls where electrical work is being done and a few widened doorways as well as a good amount of construction accouterments and Jon popping in and out of the frame.

This is the eat-in side of the kitchen with a view to the living room and dining room

here is jon in the kitchen, standing about where the sink was in the old pictures

Light Choices

Thank you all so much for you feedback and suggestions on stair and entry way lighting! it was really helpful to have some thoughts on our ideas and get new ideas and suggestions too!

Jon and i spent all this weekend working on finding finishes for everything.  We looked at tile and carpet and toilets and sinks and lights and i don't even know what else.  Most importantly we settled on a lighting plan.

We decided that for light fixtures we should go the more cost conscious route, as those are really easy to change out ourselves should we ever decide to upgrade or want something different.  We want to spend more of our finishes budget now on things that are harder to change later, like tile.

That said, we have ALMOST every fixture picked out.  We are still deciding on a handful but for now, here are the lights for our house!


Master bedroom and closet - this is about 75% confident. we like the multi-light style for the closet and a small simple fixture for the bedroom.

Almost Done With Demo

so the demo just about all done - which means we are ready to move on to framing! so exciting to know we are now BUILDING things at the house and not just tearing down.  HOWEVER i will say that seeing the house in it's demolished state was very encouraging.  I really feel i could live there.  When we first looked at the place, and were deciding what scope of work our budget could afford, Jon would often say, "we can live there now" referencing the fact that a person had been living in the home for some time in the state it was in.  well, i never really felt that way.  on the contrary, i feel like i could more easily live in a the house as it is now with these ripped up walls, complete lack of plumbing fixtures and mounds of debris.  All this to say, it's starting to feel like home.

 Opening up the den:

Expanding the master bedroom:

 Opening up the entryway and foyer: