The Wall

Remember this wall?

I've hated this wall for a really long time. It was completely uncooperative in my attempts at wallpaper removal, stubbornly refused to accept any kind of paint, and flatly rejected any texture that I attempted to apply to it. What a jerk. Even when we finally figured out that we could use oil based primer to cover the entirety of its disgustingness, the remaining wallpaper decided to peel off in huge chunks - which was awesome - but also slightly annoying since it refused to budge with the numerous chemicals, steamers, heat guns, scoring tools, hammers, chisels, etc I had previously applied against the horrid thing.

See what I mean?

Kind of annoying.

We basically ended up painting the entire kitchen with a coat of primer, peeling off wallpaper, and then painting it again. But: the result is amazing and I wish I had done this months, nay, years sooner. Can you be in love with a wall?

As you can see, I still have to paint trim, but this little step toward progress makes me so happy - I think Eric was pretty proud of me, too, since I got a lot of it done by myself (not ALL - my mom helped by peeling wallpaper and distracting my child - but a lot).

AND: this lovely wall is now the perfect spot for my Stendig calendar. Sigh. Love it.

Hole-in-the-wall

We did it, we chopped another doorway in the wall between the kitchen and dining room.

The doorway is pretty nice.... it makes the kitchen much brighter and is a nice shortcut...  though it's not a vast improvement like some of the other changes we've made. I'm hoping it will inspire Eric to let us redo the rest of the kitchen post-haste!

Kitchen Phase 1 part b is complete! Now parts c-z and then Phases 3-10.... *sigh*

Nursery Progress

This weekend, we pulled carpet out of the middle bedroom and moved in all the "kid" furniture. It doesn't sound like a lot, but removing carpet, cleaning and waxing the floor, getting rid of glue-on trim and then replacing it with real trim took the entire day Saturday. We still need to paint and install quarter-round, but the quarter-round will wait until we refinish floors and I'm sure I can rope my mom into helping paint the next time they come to visit. Right, Mom? :)

We really need better lighting in this room (floor lamp, night light, and a dimmer switch, am I right?) but other than that, I'm not sure how much accessorizing we will actually do.... I don't really want to buy a lot more stuff, especially since I like the pieces we have now. We love our rocking chair - it's sooooo comfy that Eric wants to keep it in the living room until the kid arrives - and that play mat - while a bit mature for an infant - was something that we both got excited about on our trip to Ikea. I wouldn't be surprised if we end up playing with it at some point! Though right now it's being used to protect the floor from our new favorite chair.

And our crib... cute, no? Eric's aunt scored us this beauty (so nice of her!!!!!) and I am quite excited about it. It is a really quality piece of furniture! And it was super easy to put together. I'm proud to say I did it all by myself!

This dresser was mine growing up and it will be perfect for our kiddo; we're planning on just throwing a changing pad on top instead of buying an entire changing table.

I think the only piece of furniture lacking is a bookshelf. This kid is going to read/be read to a lot so it would be nice to have something to store books and random small playthings. Eventually.

Eric also installed a new blind in our bathroom this weekend. I'd like to show you a nice picture of it, but I don't have one because it hates me and refuses to roll up for me. It loves Eric, it cooperates perfectly for him, but I have not yet mastered the skill.

 Haha! It will probably stay this way until Eric gets home tonight.

Looking forward to next weekend wherein we can tackle a few more projects. And the weeks to come. I think even Eric likes "nesting" a little.

Over the Weekend

We went camping in East Rosebud Friday night. East Rosebud is probably one of my favorite places to camp. It's beautiful!

We had planned on hiking but instead slept in, went for a walk, and lounged by the creek. Eric even went swimming! Brrrrr!

Sunday we went to church and I did laundry while Eric started trimming our new windows. The bathroom one is totally done (I just have to paint it tonight) and it looks amazing. He did such a great job!