Then and now (a few more basement before and afters)

It was so dark and closed off before with the thick shaggy carpeting and wooded walls. eek. We still need to finalize a lot down here-- add the baseboards, organize all of our things, add shelves, artwork, cork and white boards, stuff like that. It'll evolve as we make use of the space, of course. Oh, and we need to still renovate the bathroom. But it's a colorful, cozy, warm, usable space now so we are pumped. (I kind of can't believe it doesn't look like the 'before' pictures anymore...)

living room- quick before and after

when rose lived here- so much pink, squishy carpeting, pastels, carousels...

we feared the fireplace might be pink too, but it was just pink by association... phew!

one day we'll manage to eliminate all of the lilac, but for now, it's still on the front door, and i'll randomly spot it someplace. out!

first night at house...

what a sad, icky carpet

the stairs looked like they'd been partied on by a rat or something.

however, we were getting excited anyway, doing the back-to-back photos:)

ok, getting started now. we pulled up the carpet which was pretty simple, and came up without a fight. the intense work was really all ahead of us, mainly the de-staple/de-nail work, which was brutal!

feeling far less excited now... i'm on the floor pulling out 8,000 staples and tocco's ripping up the nasty bits of long spiked wood around the perimeter. these jobs were tough! maybe we had the wrong tools... though i can't imagine which tool we are without these days.

hours (days? ;) later we were able to do the final sweep... hooray!

we arranged a contractor to come sand it while we were at work. we popped over for a look, and were blown away. a perfect hardwood floor! now that the work is done i'm actually pretty thrilled it was preserved under that carpet for decades. no stains, nothing broken, no patches, just a really pretty floor...

cut to two months later. the view this morning:

(still missing some artwork, a rug, and I want to replace that tv console with something nicer, but it's getting there.)

What a difference. And those stairs (they got their own full day of work) and are pretty perfect now.

ahhhhh

FIN!

The Dining Room

When we bought the house the dining room looked like this:

Yikes! It looks like a dollhouse.

The carpet from hell. 

We ripped out the carpet, and spent hours of pulling out nails, staples and carpet bits....

But when we had the floors sanded, it was worth it. Perfect floors! It was like the boards were preserved under that carpet for decades. 

The chandelier was left behind by the previous owner, as you can see above. When the room was empty and we we were painting and working on the space, we kept bumping into all those crystals. It was almost comical how we kept making it swing. It was like we just couldn't see it! I could not wait to replace it. But then! We added our own stuff, more of a midcentury vibe, and somehow the chandelier started to make more sense, and now we love it. 

Got very ambitious and had our first dinner party the week we moved in...

And here it is on a regular work/mail day. The process of homeownership documentation/ bill paying/ loan paperwork is scary business. We're a little terrified we'll screw it up. 

New for Spring

I am all over these limited edition pieces at Ikea for spring. Clean lines... wood and white... that sweet color palette. Count me in. I hope Tocco likes that desk because I'm going to put her right up next to his. Buddies.