Here it is, the famous before shot.  I love before shots.  An excellent reminder and proof of all our hard work.

It’s not horrible and we definitely could have lived with it if we had to, but we plan on staying in this house for a while.  Simply put, we want it how we want it.

The original wood cabinets were covered with laminate, which made them unpaintable, and they had that yucky moldy scent inside.  And that tile!!!  Need I say more. The floors in this picture are laminate wood.  We moved them to another part of the house, so they could be reused, instead of thrown away. We saved and recycled evrything that we could.  All the hardware was taken off and given away.  The appliances (which were “vintage” and sink were all given away or sold on Craig’s list.

You can see more of the start to finish process HERE.

This is what we have finished so far.  We need shelves on the very far right (you can’t see), curtains, trim above the cabinets and kick molding below. We also need to repair the sky light above, which brings in beautiful light during the day. The yellow paint isn’t as bright as it looks in this picture, it’s a bit warmer, and the ceiling is a beautiful shade of sky blue.  I love it, I love it, I love it.  Bright, cheery and colorful.  Exactly how I like things.

 We’ve spent the last few days working on our front yard.  The hot, hot Southwestern summer weather is approaching us quickly.  So we scraped off the ugly green fish tank rock and had dirt brought in for our new low-maintenance desert landscape.  A drip irrigation system has been put down and we have plants all ready for planting. We had planted two young mesquite trees last year when we moved in to help with shading and cooling of our house.  They still have lots of growing to do.

The sad part will be breaking the news to out little guys that the dirt is really not for a giant sand box in the front yard (although a good idea for the back).  They have really been enjoying the sandy dirt with no shoes and free toes.

I am also doing stuff around the house too.  A little here and a little there.  It should get finished up, eventually.

Remember that fixer-upper of a house that I bought and moved into last summer? Remember how I was going to spruce it all up and make it super spiffy? Has anyone noticed that I haven’t posted about this great, old house since August of last year? Do you wanna know why? It’s because after all the tearing up, painting and partial remodeling, my hubby and I just couldn’t do it any more. We both started having pretty bad elbow pain in Oct. and decided we needed a break. Six months later we are still looking at this stuff…

Exposed CFLs, blue tape, exposed plumbing, unfinished tile work, yard work, unfinished cabinets with make-shift counter tops, holes with wires coming out, half painted china cabinet and plastered dry-wall. That’s not even all of it. There is lots more.

We can’t take all this half-unfinishedness it anymore!!! So, I am very happy to report that we have declared this month Home Repair month. Our goal is to have it ALL (or most) of this stuff done by July, our one year anniversary in this house. And since we have so much to do, we are getting a little bit of help, especially with some bigger projects. It will be so nice to not have to worry about exposed wires!!!

We’ve already prepped our front yard for a desert style (low maintenance) make0ver. It was originally covered with pea gravel and green rock (think fish tank green). I really don’t understand that one. We even fixed a few light fixtures and put up the exhaust hood for the oven. It’s already looking better.

So, I hope you don’t mind some home focused blogging over the next couple of months. Of course there will be a bit of sewing and crafting thrown in here and there.

It has been bothering me for a while that my website doesn’t look quite right in Internet Explorer 6.0. It’s all wonky with the sidebar on the bottom and it’s REALLY irritating since half of the people who look at my website use 6.0 AND part of being an anal crafter/artist is that everything be aesthetically pleasing and perfectly pretty. I have spent the last two days trying to correct this problem on my side and BOY has it been a P-A-I-N!! So, you may notice a little bit of a change in my actual site, which actually helped a bit.

While looking into this problem, it seems that a lot of wordpress folks run into the same issues. I use Firefox as my browser and have no problems viewing other sites. Well, I got to thinking, wouldn’t it be great if EVERYONE could see through these rosie colored specs as I do? So my challenge/plead to you is to either upgrade to Explorer7.0 or upload Firefox. To make it easy I’ve added links for you here above.

Now, all you have to do, is comment saying that you either already have one of the upgraded versions or that you have, in fact, just uploaded an upgraded version and I’ll send something fabulous to 3 people. I’ll give you a week before I draw 3 names, say September 15. I’m begging, pleading and asking ever so super nicely.

And to butter you up a bit, a picture of my fabric stash in my newly finished craft cabinet–something sewn perhaps?

This whole home improvement is “whipping” me alright! We have half of the kitchen done now. The concrete countertops were finished today and they look amazing. They complement the concrete floors so well. I can’t wait to show pictures, but the tiled backsplash needs to be done first. I honestly can’t wait till the whole kitchen is finally complete. We’ve had no sink or working oven for the past 3 days. With all the burrito, thai food and cheeseless pizza take-out we’ve been doing lately, it’s no wonder I’ve been gaining weight. Ah well, ’tis the sacrifices one must make for remodeling.

My craft room is pretty high on the priority list as well. It is still a pile of boxes and stuffed bags. I’ve already had several breakdowns about it, believe me, but I am happy to report that that we are well on our way to me being the happy crafter I once was.

And because I like to talk the talk about saving the earth’s resources and treading lightly, I have been feeling pretty bunged up about getting new cabinets and such. I like to tell myself that the original 50 year old cabinets gave their all, and these new ones will hopefully last for at least another 50+ years. I’d love to buy all environmentally friendly materials, but oh those prices are nowhere within my little budget. Which is why we tried to reuse as much as possible and waste as little as possible. We have already unloaded heaps through Craigslist and repurposed many items, like this:

This was part of the old kitchen cabinetry. It, and a china cabinet, were used as a divider between the kitchen and the dining room. Taking it out gave us a much more open area. It is good solid wood that had been refaced with laminate covering. It was the only decent piece that we tore out. I pulled off all the yucky laminate, painted, added bead board and trim. I finally finished painting it this evening, only to realize that I had forgotten to paint the shleves. I work over the next 2 days, then have the whole weekend to finish the shelves, unpack and organize. Come Monday, I should be back to my regularly scheduled crafting.

What happened to summer? It has just been zippin’ by. AND did I really think I needed only a few weeks to fix up our new place? Boy, was I ever wrong. It’s like any craft project– takes a lot longer than you think it will take. Here’s what we’ve been doing:

1) Tearing out the entire kitchen.

2) Painting every wall, ceiling, door and trim.

3) Moving wood flooring from the living room, dining room, and kitchen and putting it into the bedrooms.

4) Having stained concrete flooring put in the living, dining and kitchen areas.

5) Tearing out a shower stall and preparing for new tile.

6) Replacing pink sinks and toilets.

7) Making holes in the walls.

Planting trees in the front yard and taking advantage of the luscious monsoon weather.

9) Celebrating my Super-E’s 6th birthday.

10) Packing and moving.

Oh, and then there’s that full time job of mine. Yeah, we’ve been a tad busy and we are nowhere close to completion. It’s a work in progress though. Aren’t all homes? This post (and future ones) will serve as a huge reminder of what we’ve done.

I have been having some serious twitching going on from the lack of crafting and computer time. I miss it all and you, my blogging friends, terribly. It’s hard to justify crafting and surfing on the web when your house looks like ten tornados hit it. It will happen, slowly, slowly, slowly and it will all be worth it in the end. Thank you all, for your kind comments in the last post. It feels really good having you all out there!

We got the keys to our new place last Wednesday and have been working on it ever since. Lots and lots to do!

I’ve always believed that homes have a life of their own. This house was sleepy and old. We are going to wake it up and breath new, fresh, young life into it. In no time, this old place will have a new look in its eye, music in its walls, love and laughter in the air and dancing in its heart.

To celebrate, we took the kids to the drive-in theater. What a great way to go to the movies. The kids dressed in their finest pj’s and we filled the car with pillows, blankets and lots of popcorn and sweets.

I will be taking a week or two off from blogging so that I can spend more time “sprucing” up my beloved new home. Please stay tuned for more crafty business and a look at my new diggs.

We’re moving again!! Only this time it will be to a new home in town. We’re so excited, very anxious and terrified all at the same time. We decided to buy a fixer-upper. Good bones, but needs lots of TLC.

Our heads are swimming with ideas, concerns and impending costs. But after LOTS of hard work, we’ll have her exactly the way we want her. I’ve been collecting images from magazines and paint chips. Can you see where I’m going with the color scheme? Bright, vibrant, colorful. In order for my husband and I to stay the happy couple that we are, we’ve decided that I will stick with the decorating ideas and he will stick with the how-to. That’s exactly how it has to be, right?

We start working on our new place in a couple of weeks and hopefully be moved in by mid-July. Wish us luck!!