Busy Week!

I have been stressed, busy and busy for the past few weeks but it is all shortly coming to an end. A few months ago I told my sister I wanted to host her baby shower in my new house. At the time I was thinking I had plenty of time to make some updates and get it looking nice by the October 24th deadline. I am a procrastinator though and no matter how good my intentions are I always find a way to put things off, which is what I so predictibly did in this case. What made it worse was that home improvements of any kind generally take a lot longer than you expect, which goes double for me since I have absolutely no experience in such things.

In the span of two weeks I sanded, primed and painted all of my kitchen cabinets which took WAY more time than I thought it would. Getting all of those nooks and crannies is quite the time consuming job. I also removed all the wall paper and painted the walls in the kitchen and dining room. Before this experience I thought painting was just throwing a coat or two on a wall, no biggie. When you involve wallpaper though you step it up a notch. There is removing the multiple layers, scraping off the remaining stubborn pieces of paper, wiping off the wallpaper remover, spackling over holes and indentions (of which there were A LOT), sanding that down, priming and finally painting. There are many steps, all of which take time, including dry time. I was really lucky too because I didn't run into any problems and it still took me what felt like forever.

Then there was the bathroom. I was really unsure how this would turn out because once I got into removing the wallpaper to the drywall, I found some odd things. The surface was completely uneven, there was no consistency whatsover in texture or color. I had to do a lot of spackling and one section of the drywall had to be completely removed and patched because of termite damage. Apparantly it is rare for termites to go through the drywall but my termites were quite the over achievers. For the paint I chose a shade called "Bamboo" to go on the walls which looked a lot like a shade of dog poop when they have the runs. After the second coat though it is more of an avacado and I like it. I also got some accessories so it no longer feels like you are on a dilapidated cruise ship when you go into the bathroom but a nice calm spa-like atmosphere.

On the exterior I got my pavers put in this week and they look beautiful! It makes such a big deifference back there and I love the result. It is isn't completely done though, a redwood bench and gate need to be installed and planting needs to be done but that won't happen before the shower.

Although all of the work is done as of last night at 11 PM, the house still looks like a construction site and is a complete mess so I haven't taken pictures yet. This weekend I will though and get them posted next week. I am incredibly pleased with the results though and for the first time since I moved in, the house feels like it is mine. It is a happy, colorful home that I have fallen in love with again. I still have plans for my bathroom and the two spare bedrooms but for now I am taking a rest from home rennovations. This will come as a great relief to Mike who has generously been with me, paint brush in hand, every step of the way. He very unselfishly helped with everything and never complained. Let's be honest, if I were him I would have at least whined about it a few times;)

My sister flys in tonight and I cant wait to see her and her belly. It will really hit home that she is going to be giving birth in a few months when I see that:)

**Note: I had no time to proof read so if there are a lot of typos, oops!