The Missing Post

So. . . looking back amongst my posts, I discovered a drafted post that I put together on July 20 and apparently never finished!  In my defense, we found out that we were pregnant the next day, so I suppose I got a little distracted.  :)  Below is a post you that was intended for your eyes this summer!

Among the laundry list of changes I would like to make to our house, replacing the light fixtures is definitely up near the top of the list.  With a couple of exceptions, I'd love to take them all down and start over, but like everything else, we're going to have to do them one by one as our time and budget allow.  We decided that first up was the dining room light fixture.  You can see the old one here.

It was fine, but just kind of blah, and we didn't like the quality of the light, which was also rather blah and also made for weird pictures (our camera just never seemed to know what to do with the light--flash or no flash--and many of our dining room photos just haven't turned out).

As is the case with many of the upgrades in our house, it was IKEA to the rescue!  As we were browsing in the store, it occurred to us that track lighting might be a nice way to modernize the space and create some more interesting lighting, especially on the bookshelf.  The fact that this light fixture was only $40 definitely helped seal the deal!

This was Dan's first time replacing a light fixture, but as with most things, he figured everything out pretty quickly and did a spectacular job!

 

Here's another before shot. . .

and here's the after!  The new fixture adds much better light to the room and also creates a lot of interesting shadows.  Plus, with the track lighting, we are able to spotlight our art and our books, which always makes us happy.  :)

Halloween!

Last year, I was super excited about Halloween and trick-or-treaters at our new house, but Dan and I were just too overwhelmed at the time to really put up any decorations.  This year, we had a little more time to get our front porch into the holiday spirit, so I thought I'd share!

Scary, Scary Closets

Before Dan and I can start thinking about nursery paint colors, or furniture, or curtains, or any of the like, we've got to tackle one big problem: the closets.  As of yet, I don't think we've posted any pictures of the closets in our guest room (which will be the nursery) or our office, so I'm happy we have the chance to share!  Who wouldn't want to put their baby's clothes in a closet like this?

To add to the fun, there are not only one of these closets, but two in the nursery, plus one in the office (which isn't quite as bad but still rough) and another downstairs off the living room.  I will leave you all to ponder why someone would want to wallpaper the interior of a closet.  In the meantime, we've got to get the icky old wallpaper off, repair the plaster underneath, and give them all a good fresh coat of paint!

To start, Dan's going to take care of the closets in the nursery and the office.  We want to do the one in the living room, too, but it's at least useable for now.  This is definitely a multi-step project, and step one has been removing the wallpaper.  Here's Dan getting started with that!

The fact that the wallpaper is already falling off the walls certainly helped move the project along.  Here are both the nursery closets and the office closet about mid-way through the wallpaper removal project (with scraps of wallpaper on the floor).

And here the nursery closets with the wallpaper removed.  Still not exactly pretty, but it's good progress!

This is definitely a project that is happening in several installments.  Dan's been hard at work, so we should have more pictures soon of the next phases--sanding, spackling, and patching!

We're Back!

At least, I think we're back.  Whether anyone else is still here checking in may be another story.  :)

Thanks to the nausea and exhaustion of my first trimester, we've been on a long hiatus, but now that I'm feeling mostly better, and now that we have to get this house ready for a baby(!), it's time for house projects to resume!

Our plan for fall had been to tackle some outside projects, including getting the basement stairs covered up and sealed off, a project that my dad and stepdad were planning to help us with.  But my mom and stepdad sold their house in Georgia, so they're busy looking for their own place in Ohio, which for  now puts the outside projects on hold.  In the meantime, there's still plenty for Dan and I to do inside, and since we need to get the house baby-ready, it makes sense to start indoors anyway. 

In the next six weeks or so, the plan is to start getting the last two upstairs rooms in shape.  One, of course, will be the nursery, and the other will continue as our office.  There will be wallpaper removal, repairs, painting, new furniture, new fabrics, and lots of other changes to come.  In my dream world, we would also finally start making some changes to our kitchen, but it's possible that my dream is just a delusion, so we'll see how things go.  I promise more posts to come soon, so I hope you'll be back to check in as we continue to find ways to make this house our own!