Wednesday, February 3, 2010

A bit of healthy accountability

Groan!


I'm about to share with you some of the more...unsightly corners of our casa. They are the places that need some help. But thankfully the ideas are flowing. But it's gonna take awhile.






Behold! Our stained counter tops. They are white and speckled. Some would say that speckled is good because it hides the spots, but they pretty much just look LIKE spots to me. We're planning to tackle our kitchen this spring or summer. Which should be interesting, because we don't have a budget for it. Or any of what is to follow....But! We're going to paint the cabinets, and get new counter tops, as well as install a bead board back splash as well as other tasty ideas I have stolen from other bloggers. Mwahaha...





Gasp! I know, this is not like those other blogs, with their beautiful glossy pictures and their fabulous for less glamour. Nope, we're getting down and dirty today! This is the top of our stairs, which is shockingly right next to our back door (where pretty much everyone enters). Not very welcoming. AND it has potential to serve a purpose that is not being realized. This is a big no-no when you are trying to live in a small space.

Headed down the stairs. I don't even know what kind of material is on the walls. But it seems to be some kind of fiber-y board that has been painted different colors over the years. Blaze orange, green, and now white.










Next, onto our office area. Our office is currently located in the "butler's pantry". It is really just an extra wide hallway, that we will someday steal space from to put a bathtub in. BUT I'm very excited for the office, because I've been doing a lot of Mod Podge research, and Mr. Wonderful gave me full reign to transform his file cabinet! Plus, we have this fabulous library table from my parents to work with.






Lastly (for now) our coffee table. With these monstrous brown couches and a brown coffee table and natural wood floors and trim (I know, I know, everyone is painting theirs white) our living room is being taken over by a lot of dark brown. So the least I can do is paint our coffee table. In the past, I really didn't like our coffee table, especially the hole where there used to be a drawer and now there isn't (the hole is on the other side of the table). However, lately I've been picturing it white with a little shelf where that drawer used to be, which is the perfect size for our laptop, or mmm...maybe Ticket to Ride (our favorite game. Small obsession. Very minor.) But I think the shape of it will come out more with some white paint.

Do excuse the mess. I know I should probably try to make my house look pristine for pictures, but I always get a little discouraged by "perfect" houses I see on the web, so I want to try and be real here.

So there you have it! If you don't start seeing some progress on these projects, tell me to get in gear! The painting projects might take some time, as it's cold here and I don't want to paint indoors anymore!

2 comments:

  1. Ally, I'm sure you know from looking at other's blogs that it is possible to redo a kitchen very cheaply. We did a mini remodel of our kitchen and did it over a 12 month period. We took a 5 month hiatus due to having to put the kitchen back together after the holidays(and not wanting to dig back into it) This also offered us the advantage of paying for it as we went along. I'm not recommending this unless you have a strong heart and marriage! I am posting it (slowly) on my blog, so take a look and see if you can borrow some ideas. We had 1950's pink speckled laminate on our counters...I put up with it for over 20 years and couldn't take it anymore! I look forward to seeing what you do with your kitchen. ~judi;)

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  2. Judi,

    I'm excited to see what you've done! It sounds like we have similar goals for our remodels. I'll keep checking back.

    Ally

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