Monday, January 20

Weekend Housework








 


A little over two years ago, we moved into our house- a sweet country home seated at the end of a little dirt lane, surrounded by a lot of land and a few quiet neighbors.  We love it here.  I'm probably most excited about the land- my daughter loves to run, and this place allows her to go.  And I'm getting more and more excited each year about our garden
But then there are always the less exciting pieces of a big country home down a dirt lane- like snow plowing and grass mowing.  And my ever evolving interior design ideas. 
When we moved it, I chose the most neutral shade I could find, bought a five gallon bucket and pretty much painted every wall the same color.  But now, two years later, I'm already vying for some change.   It's like I get an itch to paint or something.  I'm not sure why- we painted for months.  We moved here with a nearly three-month-old baby, so I'd wake up really early and paint before she woke up and before work, then I'd paint when she went to bed each night.  We refinished all the trim (I longed for white trim- think: 2 coats of primer, 2 coats of paint everywhere), and nearly all the walls.  We rearranged the kitchen, added new appliances and counters, changed a few windows and extended our porch.  So after about a year of quiet around here, I felt the need to paint again.  My husband couldn't believe me.

This weekend we completed our laundry room/entry.  I wanted to brighten it up, and (because I never remember to take a before picture) I wanted to remove the folding doors on the closet for two reasons: they didn't work well and got stuck frequently, and the front door hit them when it opened.  It was a frustration I dealt with each morning.  I was over those doors.  Our project looked a lot like this one and this one, although those were way more labor intensive.

And during this project, as you can see, we had a helper.  Unlike previous painting projects, she'd lay and coo in her swing, this time she was up and "helping"- running barbie's hair through wet paint, picking up the paintbrush as I turned my head to "paint" the dryer, making fingerprints on the walls, etc.  You know, helping the way only a toddler can ;)

As you can see in the top picture, that area was once covered by two annoying folding doors (one with a giant hole from where it was repeatedly smacked by the front door handle), and once they came down, it opened that tiny room so well.  We painted the inside of the closet, added some wood trim for coat hooks and a shelf for more storage (all with minimal cost).  And after a long week of waiting and painting, it's finished.   So my husband made me stand and get a photo in front, because I was really, really glad to see this project complete.

And in an effort to minimize clutter,  we added a couple of white cabinets (ie shoe storage) that were left over from our previous apartment and a chair- a place to put Molly's shoes on!  I couldn't get many other pictures, because the room is small, but I promise, it's much, much better in there ;) 

Happy Monday-
I'm in the process of rearranging my work schedule, so here's to a productive week!

Lisa