Before and After

Well, I'm already behind and it is only the second day for my attempt at blogging.  I put this post together yesterday but I thought I should go back and review it before I posted and... I forgot it.  Well, here it is...

When Mike and I first began 'keeping company,' he was revamping the inside of this house. 

I must say, it was probably due for a bit of freshening and updating after about nine years.  So, it is a work in progress - a labor of love - but in a constant state of projects it seems.  During this past sixteen months we have painted every room of the upstairs and hauled in load after load of my stuff from my house in Rover, TN.  (How does one accumulate so much 'stuff' over time?)  I thought now might be a good time to pull out some pictures to check on our progress.  So, here is the beginning reveal of before and after...

We began with the master bedroom that Mike's mother had a guy paint for his birthday gift last year.  Then, we worked on the den and the kitchen.  That was all that was refreshed and furnished when we got married December 31, 2009.  Those rooms need a bit of tidying before I can take an after picture to share, though.  I'd hate for my new mother-in-law and more importantly, my Mama, to see how sloppy they look right now!

So, I'll show the bedroom that the granddaughters inhabit when they come for visits.  This front bedroom had a navy paisley wallpaper border which my mother-in-law had chosen more than twenty years ago when she lived in it at a different location.  This shot shows the dusty coating from the floor refinishing Mike had done, too.

Here it is below in its revamped state.  The paint was the builder-beige which was left at the bottom of the five gallon bucket from my house in Rover.  The bed, rocker, and bedside table was a gift from my Great Aunt Mae.  It was transported in July, 1981 by my Granny who stitched the poppy quilt.  She went down to haul the gifts and her sister up to Franklin from Mobile, AL.  Granny tells the funniest story about how hot it was in Aunt Mae's house and she was having a hard time trying to sleep.  So, she went to get a cold drink from the kitchen in the middle of the night and found out "that old heifer had a fan blowing on her!"  I guess sister spats happen even when you are the age of Grannys.

Maybe some day I'll make time to actually cover those rocker cushions with that plaid fabric instead of just wrapping it around them.  A spring break project maybe?  I"ve had the fabric for years - I think I bought it to cover that chair when twenty-six-year-old Bryan was a newborn.  I like it better now than I did back then!

The table closest to the camera is the one I used as a kitchen table when I lived in Rover.  Now, the granddaughters use it as a tea party table.  I intend to hang a mirror over it and make some curtains out of the fabric that my friend Kathy gave me and this room will be done.

The most recent project has been the bathroom on that end of the house.  It was covered in a busy floral wallpaper.  The charming beadboard below the chair rail warmed my heart but the flowers were just a bit much for me. 

See, sweet, but a bit busy.  After hours of spraying, pulling, scraping, and tearing the borders down in the bedrooms, I decided to just take a chance and roll paint over the wallpaper flowers and just look how wonderfully it turned out!

I'm still trying to decide about the gold mirror and light fixtures.  One day I think I need to paint them and the next I like how it seems to warm things up in there.  I'm sure that time will point me in the right direction - or a consult with some 'real' designer, maybe. 

Here is another, more clear shot of all those flowers.  It is also a pretty good picture of the floor vent, too, isn't it?

I'm also struggling with what art I'm going to hang on the walls in this bathroom.  I'm kicking myself for not buying that painting I liked at the starving artist sale several years ago but had no idea where I'd hang it.  This would be the perfect place!  Another reminder that when you run across something you love, go for it.

 I really think the cute little night light and shade I got at the Presbyterian Bazaar and blue vase Kathy gave me look a bit better on the vanity than the vent cover, don't you?

I'm really glad I thought about taking the before pictures.  What inspired me was that I remembered that I had taken pictures of the house in Rover before I bought it.  That is the way I shared the looks of it with my son, Bryan, before the deal was sealed for me to buy it.  Then, I began taking pictures of it after I'd filled it up with all my stuff.  It was really an interesting progression from the blank slate of the new house to being stuffed.  Of course, I really thought that was where I'd be for years and years.  I never thought I'd be working to put my stamp on another house so soon!  I'm not complaining in the least - this has truly been a labor in love and the trade-off of getting such a wonderful guy to share my life with is beyond value!