Hoping to tackle many DIY projects around the house this year. First up – linen closet. We have one linen closet and no coat closet. I purged the linen closet so we could bust out the bottom half of the shelves and install a clothes rod. Now we have a linen/coat closet. Not glamorous, but yay for better storage.
Transforming the Yard
Try to contain your jealousy, but this was the state of our backyard when we bought our house a year ago.
Then in the summer of 2013 we laid a patio of concrete pavers and did major bush removal and transplant with the help of my mom and dad.
Now spring has sprung and I have a new vision for the yard. So Saturday, we made the patio we laid smaller (yes in less than a year my husband agreed to help me pull up what we worked so hard to put down). We made the small skinny flower bed a hardscape bed that I am going to put potted plants on and we pulled up all that brick and laid sod. We also laid sod where we pulled up some of the concrete pavers. Up next, taking out the flower bed in front of the shed and making another concrete paver patio, purchasing pots for an herb garden, and garden decor for the long wall of the garage. And Scott wants to string lights up. I hope we get it all done this summer and that I don’t have a new idea next summer! 🙂
Making Our House Our Home
And we have painted the girls bedroom and the third bedroom and removed the carpet. But the master bedroom and bathroom still needs everything done – carpet taken out of the bedroom, walls painted in the bathroom and bedroom, an updated ceiling fan, and the bathroom needs some wall paper removal – plenty of time for that later.
And here is what our bathroom currently looks like. Any volunteers to help remove the wall paper? Just getting a solid color in there will make a dramatic difference.
Making Our House Our Home
Here are some before pictures of the living room, dining room, and breakfast room; this is how the house was staged when it was put on the market:
And since we have been in the home, we have changed paint on the walls, taken up carpet, and added clutter – but it’s cleaner than it normally is. Still on our to do list are painting the paneling and laying dark wood floors.
Making Our House Our Home
In April, we will have lived here a year. We have ripped out carpet (not replaced it yet), covered the concrete with many rugs, changed out oak blinds for white blinds, and painted. I love how much paint can change a room.
Here is our hall bathroom before:
So, we took down wall paper, bead board, and the white towel bars and toilet paper holder. We had already broken one white towel bar because it was glass, got knocked of the wall, and shattered. Definitely don’t want something that will shatter with little kids.
Spring Break and Spring Cleaning
In April, we will have been in our home a year, so it was time to tackle the garage. We had stuff in boxes that we just moved from one house to another. So we pulled everything out on Sunday, and Scott assembled the shelves. And today, I sorted trash and donations from the stuff we are actually using. Scott hauled away the trash and we have two donation piles to haul away, but the garage is organized and we can park a car in it, hooray!