First step in the office!

Well, you might have noticed my really sad office here.

I took my first step in that room. Actually two. The first was shredding everything I had found that was shred-able. Something we should do regularly. I'm so very tempted to move the shredder up to my laundry room, which happens to be right between my recycle spot in the kitchen and the recycle bin just outside the garage. (It's also where half of the mail ends up anyway when I have to shove everything out of sight.)

The first actual step took place after I discovered some wallpaper discounted to half price at Lowe's. I was rather surprised with it because online it looked grayish. It's not. It's almost the same color as all the walls in my house. Not all the walls, just 90% of them.

So I gently removed the cardboard-ish backing and cut the wallpaper to fit, making sure that the seams lined up and the quatrefoil synced up with the seams and other pieces.
I was pleasantly surprised with myself that I almost accidentally did it right the first time and then I was constantly making mental notes to make sure everything would keep lining up. It turned out fabulous!

I have started putting things back. Mostly in containers to disguise the mess. It's still scary but getting better!
And I would love to say that my husband noticed.
sigh.

The office- the organizing nightmare.

It's been like this forever.

My hubby informed me that I needed to clean it. 

yeah, about that...

I said in a sing-songy high-pitched voice- "Yard Sale!"

He was like "when you have a box for me to go through, let me know."

I must have said it to fast. "OK!"

"What? Why are you being so agreeable?"

"Which box would you like to start with? There's like a dozen."

"No. You have to go through them, so you know what's in them..."

"It's all crap."

that flew like a ton of bricks. 

But I'm mildly excited about organizing it. I have started developing a plan. 

- photo storage boxes (looks like they might fit perfectly)

- zip ties or rubber bands (to restrain the cable mess)

- move the furniture pieces to make it flow better.
- toss the old computer cases (slightly excited for recycling day!)
- hunt down more workspace for his projects to stretch out on.
- add some color probably by way of art-ish to the walls.

at my parent's house...

the in-progress pictures!!!

before painting

after painting

before staining

after staining (same two pieces!!!!)

before painting

after painting

I am loving how much cleaner and crisper it feels now. The whole room feels better. 

Now if I can get them to listen to rhyme and reason about functionality and practicality everywhere else in this room. And get my teenaged brother's feet off the couch!!!

Demolition at the parent's house...

I made a promise long ago. To help my mom redo the living room.

Scrape off wallpaper.
Sand off the glue.
Mud over everything.
Sand it as smooth as I could.
Prime.
Paint.
We had to work progressively through the house because they have a lot of big furniture that couldn't be moved out and the house is busy and full of people 24/7.





Started at the stairs
Then the wall parallel to the stairs
Then around the room.




We ran into a few hiccups along the way. Wetness and mold in one of the walls. Fix the siding outside and then-- New insulation. New drywall.

The wrong colored sliding door going in.
Waiting for the right one to be special ordered and installed, which happened while I was out of the country for 3 weeks.







And our favorite moment- new carpet. Preceded by 2 days of yanking up carpet, padding, tacks, staples. And we put down an additional sub-floor.
With screws... on average 40-50 screws per board.
With one sprained wrist- yeah, I didn't help much with that.





Hopefully one of these days my mom will let me stage it for "after"pictures!! Who am I kidding? Sigh, pictures of the return to craziness - soon to come!