One Very LONG Month

It's been a month since I moved into "this old house". I've gone through a wide range of emotions. Mostly regret and remorse at buying a house that needed so much work. I love a good project but this is the mother of all projects. I work full time, and try to work on my watercolors and writing my stories and now this... "WHAT WAS I THINKING" comes in my head alot.

(carpet was pulled of the stairs because a cat had weeweed on it and it stunk badly)

It was especially rough as I moved in and uncovered more and more hidden problems the the previous owners hid from me - strange stuff. One problem was fine but by the time I reached the tenth I was in a puddle of tears. I mean who puts the dead bolt on the door but doesn't put a hole for the deadbolt in the frame? Tell me WHO DOES THAT?

So I bought a six pack of wine coolers.... and now I completely understand all the beer bottles on construction sites.

Now that I've been here long enough to settle down emotionally, remember all the great and beautiful parts of this home - which was why I bought it in the first place -I might, just maybe, eventually be able to enjoy this place...

(this is the front room -I hate the baby blue walls, but once I cleaned it, well actually my mother cleaned it and we put my things in it, it wasn't so bad)

Here are some "before" pics and even now as I post them and look at them, I realize that before really isn't that bad. The biggest change will come with the paint. All the wood work and walls are painted a shade of white called "smoker's teeth" - really that should be the name of this white and I think I smell smoke.

(Oh, and Baby Kitty found the opening to the third floor attic - she was a mix of grays and blacks before she got a very bad hair cut. Here she is posing in a much cleaner state)

But this is my favorite place so far - the dining room. I took off the curtains and huge roller shades. Cleaned the windows and I might add they were filthy black - why don't people clean? huh? I think that's the number one decorating tip.

CLEAN IT.

Everything looks better clean. Anyway, I digress, I plan on painting the room all white - true white. I can't wait to see what it looks like when I'm done. I've been working on it a little every night...