It's pretty amazing. We have a new house, and it was built 24 years ago. We are still recovering sleep, but I'm pretty sure it was worth the 3 AM curfews and our children rotting their brains on Wild Kratts, Master Chef Junior, and Andy Griffith reruns this summer. School, math, reading, etc... out the window. I was grinning wryly as I read my last blog post about us doing math over the summer. Hah.
However, we did get one good math lesson in the other day. New Daddy explained binary on the whiteboard to the kids after supper the other night; and for the first time in my 35 years, I understood base-2!! So did Precious and Bubby. That was pretty exciting.
A couple of weeks ago, Mimi and Poppy took the kids for a weekend. I met them early on a Friday morning and rushed back home. New Daddy and I ripped up carpet (I have never seen so much dirt in my life), amazingly connected the flooring in the kitchen to the new flooring in the hall and living room (saving a lot on thresholds), and painted the foyer and living room. Then, there were the stairs. While New Daddy was installing flooring and cutting out intricate nooks around the uneven stone fireplace, I stripped, sanded, stained, and poly-ed one coat on the stairs. It still needs two more coats.
And then Sunday evening of the same weekend, we met Mimi and Poppy to get the kids back. While Bubby toured Washington D.C. with Aunt R, Cousin I and Cousin S the next week, the girls helped us finish installing flooring in the living room and had a big time. Our big deadline was last Thursday, when I was having sixteen people over for my CC Essentials class orientation. Now that that's past, I feel like we're coasting. I touched up the hall paint this morning. Some trim needs to go in. I need to paint more trim and the stair risers. But tomorrow- laundry and mowing. Relaxing, catching up on sleep, and enjoying the restful space we've created... at least for a couple of weeks before we dive head-first into school. Then, we'll be very grateful for less clutter!
Before- background behind kids at Tater's fourth birthday.
And after... it's crazy that our art looks way better with the gray walls than it did with the old yellow.
However, we did get one good math lesson in the other day. New Daddy explained binary on the whiteboard to the kids after supper the other night; and for the first time in my 35 years, I understood base-2!! So did Precious and Bubby. That was pretty exciting.
A couple of weeks ago, Mimi and Poppy took the kids for a weekend. I met them early on a Friday morning and rushed back home. New Daddy and I ripped up carpet (I have never seen so much dirt in my life), amazingly connected the flooring in the kitchen to the new flooring in the hall and living room (saving a lot on thresholds), and painted the foyer and living room. Then, there were the stairs. While New Daddy was installing flooring and cutting out intricate nooks around the uneven stone fireplace, I stripped, sanded, stained, and poly-ed one coat on the stairs. It still needs two more coats.
And then Sunday evening of the same weekend, we met Mimi and Poppy to get the kids back. While Bubby toured Washington D.C. with Aunt R, Cousin I and Cousin S the next week, the girls helped us finish installing flooring in the living room and had a big time. Our big deadline was last Thursday, when I was having sixteen people over for my CC Essentials class orientation. Now that that's past, I feel like we're coasting. I touched up the hall paint this morning. Some trim needs to go in. I need to paint more trim and the stair risers. But tomorrow- laundry and mowing. Relaxing, catching up on sleep, and enjoying the restful space we've created... at least for a couple of weeks before we dive head-first into school. Then, we'll be very grateful for less clutter!
Before- background behind kids at Tater's fourth birthday.
Before- the railings weren't up to code, and we had nailed in plexiglass to keep Cutie and Tater from falling through when they were infants. Besides general ugliness, the code and basic safety were major factors in us deciding to redo everything.
Before the homeschool armoire decluttering episode that was also part of this project! Still carpet in the living room.
No railings! Still tile in the foyer. The toy box was our railing across the top for three weeks.
Poppy came for a couple of days to get us ahead. Thank you for all of your work, Poppy!
And after... it's crazy that our art looks way better with the gray walls than it did with the old yellow.
Hallway is Sherwin Williams "North Star"- leftover paint from the downstairs office. We've gone gray everywhere! Our hair is next, haha.
The foyer/living room wall color is Benjamin Moore "Ashwood"- a barely greenish gray, from their whites collection.
We're looking for a rug to tie things in. Something a little contemporary that doesn't show dirt?
Roman blinds that I got for a song on JCPenney.com, picked up at the store for free shipping. Less than $50 for a completely new look for 4 windows.
Comments