Before and After - Part 2

I've been painting! And I tell you, my poor hands are really taking a beating. It didn't show up as well as I had hoped in this photo (because I really want sympathy haha) but all my nails (except the pinkies) are chipped and broken and crooked. My hands are completely dried out, no matter how often I use lotion. And the two fingers that I use on the caulking - those were bleeding at one point they were rubbed so raw. I'm certainly due a really nice manicure once all the large projects are done, don't you think?

I paint in bare feet too :)

Ok, enough of my silliness. Get prepared to ooh and ahhh over the last couple weeks' progress on the house. Keep in mind that we've had really rotten weather lately so the lighting on a lot of the photos isn't the best - sorry.

The Dining/Craft Room Before:

And After:
I just love the red. I call it my happy color. I can't wait to get this room all put together. It's going to be SO pretty. How can it not be with all that great paneling and the tray ceiling and the wood floor and... :)

The powder bathroom also got the red.
Before:

After:
Love the towel too. We happily treated ourselves to new towels in the powder, the kitchen, and the master bathroom shortly after Christmas. The little things make a big difference sometimes.

Next up was the master bedroom. Before:

Tray ceiling in here too. Painting the dining room and the bedroom was a big pain because we had to do the ceiling. They were great and put crown molding up there, but instead of matching and the ceiling color they used an off white while the trim is more white-white and the two colors together...ick! So, annoying as it was, the ceilings got a coat too. And in case you are wondering - the big push to get everything painted ASAP is in part because of the paint the contractor used. Again, we have the color issue with off-white walls and white-white trim. But they also used FLAT paint on the WALLS. So it looks like everything has really only been primed. And anytime you even touch the wall it gets marked or scratched. It really has to go. Anyway...

Here is the master After:

We kind of ended with a bit of the red/white/blue thing going on and that wasn't the intention. We just loved this shade of blue. The bedding will be updated eventually, along with new furniture at some point. It's kind of low on the list of things to do right now.

And finally, Sam's favorite of the recent projects. The garage.
Before:
a giant stack of boxes and totes. At the time I took the photo we were in the middle of putting up shelves but these had spent most of the past month filling Sam's side of the garage, forcing the truck to park on the driveway. (I'm told the truck was very upset about that :) )

But we took advantage of a couple of snow days (still can't get over how easily they cancel school and work here!) and got to work. Sam installed a whole bunch of shelving and we went through the boxes. We filled the back of Sam's truck with stuff for Good Will (how that much stuff made it past all the earlier sorts at the old house, I have no idea) and managed to fit everything else on the shelves.

And here is the After, for now. The wire shelving we pulled out of the house will hopefully made it to Craig's List soon. The chairs and hoses and things will be given hooks on the walls. And the rest of the wood...well, I'm sure we'll use it somewhere. I have a feeling I'll be doing one more final After shot of the garage at some point.

Yes I know we have a ton of stuff. The whole right wall up there is holiday decorations. Bet you all have this much too hiding somewhere right? The perfectionist in me would love to stitch everything out for matching totes with perfectly typed up labels....maybe someday huh? I still love it. And Sam loves that his tools all have shelves and that his truck can now park in the garage.

The last little bit of wall by the door to the house. Didn't Sam do a great job on all the shelves?

Oh, and a peek in what we are now using as our paint cabinet. (it was in the laundry/pantry at the old house)

Now I'm off to do some work on the laundry room. It might be the first room we completely finish in the house and it's gonna knock your socks off... :)