Getting Busy!

Progress on 'Operation Finish Living Room' has been made!

Before, Lots of Crazy Sheetrock Action going on.

Progress! And a Cleaner House!

The funnest part about this project was definitely buying the lumber.  You see, I drive this tiny, little orange Chevy Aveo.  Now picture me pulling up to it with a cart filled with $100 worth of 8ft lumber and opening the trunk to put all of it in there.  The men around me must've thought I was Mary Poppins with how easily I was just slidding it all in!

There were definitely a few hiccups.  The lattice strip I bought for the project fought me viciously until I gave up and bought something that wouldn't splinter so easy. 

Small Shoe-Moulding took place of the Lattice Strips

And that LONG area above the door where I had to use two 1x6x8s to make the whole span...yeah, I may have accidently used the liquid nail on the wrong side...and it entailed a lot of sanding and scraping to remove it...not fun.
I did learn to use our recently resurrected table saw, which was nice. (We thought we killed it 4 years ago but kept it just in case we needed the table or the motor).  Well, my husband went to try to remove the motor (while having it plugged in for some reason) and it started right up, thankfully without cutting off his hand!
I will tell you that although using it is easy, it is very alarming knowing that the blade is right under your hand when you are coping the wood!

I still have A LOT of caulking and putting to do!

Thankfully I have a good little helper though. ;')

There has also been progress with the Bookcases and Curtains...  

              

They are DONE!

No More Ugly Brown!

And no more bowed shelves! (We took care of that darn cat problem, too. haha!) :'9

Bookcase Progress

Added some vertical dividers, crown moulding, and casing... 

...slapped on some paint and styled it the next week!  Okay...lots of paint.  2 coats of primer, 3 coats of white, and 2 coats of blue (and I still feel like it is splotchy in some areas).

My Favorite Moment in the Bookcase

A lot has been happening outside as well!  Forgive the messiness outside, it is just too darn hot to be out there for long.

Picket Fence went up between House and Garage

(Panels were garage sale find!)

We've been pulling out the massive overgrowth that was in front of our house...

Mmm...lovely horrible brickwork containing walls...and those window canopies!

Well, those canopies went down as soon was we moved in, but all those plants have taken us 4 attempts to remove!  Not to mention the Coral Vine...

Oh yes, it may look beautiful but this baby right here grows rapidly to 40 feet, and I know because I grabbed a vine and walked all the way into the street with it until it finally tugged.  NOT something you want growing up the front of your house!

Whew!  Getting tired just thinking of all that still needs to get done, wish us luck!

Casing and Wall Plans for the Living Room

I decided that I could perfectly plan out how I was going to make my first post (and spend so much time on it that I never actually get around to posting) or I could just go with it!

My current project is the Living Room.
We spend a lot of time in it and it needed the most work out of the entire house (more on that later). 
Right now I am tackling the ugly drywall that was hiding under the paneling behind the couch.  The rest of the drywall was nice and easy to tape and mud right over, but not this wall!

Ug, horrible slats of drywall everywhere!  I freaked myself out wondering what could be crawling in and out, so I threw up a sloppy mudding job until I thought up what to do with it.  Now the time has come to cover up that ugly wall and be one step closer to Living Room Completeness!

For this wall I have decided to go with the classic (and ever-popular) board and batten treatment that I actually plan to carry through most of the house.
Then there is that cavernous opening that is calling for some detail-work that will make a grand statement.
Thanks to A Charming Nest, I was able to quickly draw up plans and a lumber list to start this project off.

Well, that is it for now; there is a lot of mudding in my future to get the walls ready for treatment!

Coming Soon!

So excited to start up a blog that I haven't even organized what I'm going to post first!
If you love Do-It-Yourself Projects, Real Budget transformations, and Creativity, you have come to the right place!