More Home Improvements

When we bought this house, we liked the fact that it was a nice house with a big yard. We wanted to teach our kids to work. (Do you know how much work it is to teach kids to work? If I had known, I probably would have reconsidered my line of thinking.) The things we do not like about the house is the maroon carpet throughout the entire house, and all the white walls. We repainted the kitchen when we first moved in. It's been a while but, we're ready to do some more fixin' up.

We decided to start with the rooms we spend the most time in. For me, it is this room. I don't have any "before" pictures of this room. By the way, it's not even a room. Instead of a laundry room I have a laundry hallway. Either way, this space serves it's purpose. I painted the walls with clearance paint I found at Home Depot. It is paint that is mixed for people who then don't show up to buy it. There's not a great selection of colors but, you can get a big discount if you find something you like. I painted the cabinets with left over paint from our family room. I organized all the stuff on the shelf. It used to be one big junk pile. I hate junk piles. Now they are simply junk piles in baskets but, out of sight out of mind. I purchased the baskets at Wamart 2 for $11. I'm debating whether to have knobs on the cupboards or not.

I also painted the bulletin board. It's just a cheap board but, with paint that matches the trim and cabinets, I feel better about it. This area is just off the kitchen so I can keep all my information close but, no body can really see it except for us. Like anyone would really care what time our 4 soccer games are each Saturday. My favorite accessory of the room. This handy little plastic bag holder/dispenser I picked up at IKEA for $1.99.

From our laundry hall we go upstairs. We yanked out the maroon carpet. YEAH! We pulled the carpet off the baseboards and decided to paint the baseboards instead. They have that "distressed" look but, I'm not worried about that. That's one of the advantages of an older home, nothing is smooth and perfect. In a home that is over 100 years old, everything has the distressed look. I like to call it "character".

There is a landing at the top of the stairs with a bookcase. We use it as a sitting room.
BEFORE:

AFTER:

As you see, we moved furniture around. The chair was my grandparent's. The rug was made by my great-grandfather. I bought the lamp tables at the DI (Deseret Industries, the church's thrift store ) for $4. The kids and I painted it brick red then I put a layer of stain over it. I'm happy with the results and the memories of painting with the kids even more. The lamp was $7 and the lamp shade $1 also at the DI. I painted the base of the lamp with paint I had on hand. The total look was $12.

The painting on the wall was done by a friend, Raul Saenz, in South Texas. It is the chapel where we attended and the back of it is signed by all the members of the branch. It is a priceless painting for us.

I also painted the bookshelves. I LOVE buying used books. I buy most of them at library book sales and the DI. I figure the money goes to good causes and helps build my home library. It's a win-win situation. There are pots from Brazil that my sister sent to the kids while she was on her mission. The statue is from a man in South Texas we helped. The big basket is from a family in Mexico. As I was first learning to speak Spanish, one of the first lines I learned was "Me gusta..." or  I like....When we went traveling with my family in Mexico visiting people my brother served on his mission, I tried to impress everyone with my Spanish by complimenting things in their house. I did not know it is tradition when a guest compliments something in their home, they give it to the guest. I always felt a little guilty when I walked away with something. I eventually learned to keep my mouth shut and just smile. This basket reminds me of the generosity of others even when they have so little.
The main improvement was to our family/TV/game room. We call it the Texas room and by the end of this post you will know why.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

We happily replaced the carpet. Have a mentioned we hated the maroon carpet? We bought a new sectional. We thought we got such a good deal on it till I just saw it advertised at another store for $100 less than we paid. Such it life, right? We bought the table and chairs shortly after moving into the house. The seat covers were red fabric. I covered them with black material that I can wipe off easier. I had never done a project like that before. It was a good learning experience. I can tell the chair that I did first from the chair that I did last.

We pulled down the wallpaper that was under the chair rail. Very tedious work by the way. We textured it and painted it burnt orange. Not just any burnt orange mind you. We took Aaron's Univerity of Texas jersey in to Home Depot have it match perfectly. We painted the trim, chair rail, and crown molding chocolate brown.We ordered brown blinds for the window to match the trim. I like the dark blinds except for the fact that dust shows up more. Since our TV stand is a also a dust magnet, I just dust it all at the same time (more often than I'd like).

I painted the shelves in this room as well. The plaque that says "Someone is Texas is thinking of you" is signed on the back by all the members of the ward we attended. (We went to two units at different times while we lived in Texas). The painting on the wall is also by Raul. It was a gift for us after we took him to the temple for the first time. It is a portrait of our family outside the Dallas Temple.

The shelves hanging on the wall were built by my friend, Charlene. She owned her own power tools. How cool is that? She made them for the shelves for girls and they were white until I hijacked them for this room and painted them black. The scrapbook on the left is from ward members from Edinburg. The scrapbook on the right is my Texas ABC scrapbook. We also have framed family pictures from Texas up there. I buy any burnt orange home accessory I find. I'm happy it is a popular color right now.

Our family LOVES boardgames. We have the table just for this purpose. This is where we keep most of our games. I hung the Texas Monopoly cover because, well, I wanted to.

Another highlight of our Texas room is my grandfather's cowboy hat. He was probably one of the last true cowboys. He was a great man and I love this reminder of him and his legacy.

This is our souvenir from San Diego last year. It is the great Chili poster. It not only lists all the different kinds of peppers but also their heat index. If you have any questions about peppers, it is a great resource.Last of all, I want to share a couple of painting pointers I learned while doing this project.

I had a hard time cutting in the paint around the trim. I DO NOT tape it off. I think that is a waste of time and tape. With a good brush (I prefer the Purdy 1 1/2 inch angled brush) and some patience, you can do a good job. Plus, if you do get paint where you don't want it, It's easier to wipe off when it's still wet. Anyway, with the textured wall, straight lines were impossible. So I painted the very top of the trim the same color as the wall. Nobody notices unless I point it out and painting was a whole lot easier.


I used the same trick on the bottom of the crown molding. Again, it made the process of painting above my head easier.

There you have it, more information than you ever dreamed of. I have many more projects to do. I'll post them as I go along.