Ride On This Magic Carpet!

No, I'm not about to break out with an Aladdin song.  We got our carpet in!

Carpet isn't really a before-and-after thing.  Every overall shot shows a nice even carpet in all the rooms, so you can't really tell why we'd replace it.  The downstairs was okay (except for the murder stains and/or blood-red paint dotting the carpet), if a little...I dunno.  The color was just meh.  It didn't match the paint I put on it, but it similarly didn't not match (thank god we didn't have cranberry colored carpets or anything).  Picture of before?  Yes.

We chose a slightly darker, warmer, richer color for our bedroom.  It's not a remarkable change, but it overall fits in the room so much better.  :)  Wanna see?

Blurry McBlur pic!  Yeesh.  Here is a pic of the closet, which you can tell the color more:

It's such an inviting color.  I can already imagine how gorgeous the finished product will be once we have furniture and a new (read: matching) bedspread set in the room.  :)

For those that care, here's a close up (before and after) of the carpet colors:

Before

Now!

It also looks great next to the bathroom tile!  Here's the doorway between the master bath and the master bedroom:

The upstairs looks great too!  We chose a lighter shade than we did for the master bedroom, but the same carpet brand and quality.  We mostly just needed an update to the upstairs bedrooms because it was clear that there used to be kids up there.  The old carpet had old candy stuck into it, paint stains, and random black stains in both rooms.  Additionally, it was clear that they had added carpets to the rooms but not the hallways, because there was a visible cut at the doorway lines that I always hate.  Now?

Guest bedroom

Office/Nursery

Hallway (clearly)

Stairs

It's a marginally darker color than it used to be, but it's such a seamless finish now (no more carpet cut marks!) and it's softer and better quality than the old stuff.

So...it's over!  No more renovators coming over!  Now it's back in our hands. 

First up on the list?  Move everything back in the rooms, and clean the insides of the kitchen cabinets and pantry (the silica dust seeped in), put down some liner, and start unpacking!  I'm anxious to start actually cooking again, and using real plates and glasses and silverware. 

Then it's a long list of stuff to do after that.  I imagine we'll be taking it slower, since these last seven weeks have been a flurry of do-do-do.  We've been really enjoying just coming home after work and cuddling up with a movie.  :)

All You Need is Caulk

So, let's revisit this weekend, shall we?

1) Rip up all of the rest of the mortal/tile adhesive from the floors  This was completed last night at 1am by husband.  Thankfully, he completely took over jackhammer duty and got it into his head that he would complete the kitchen last night.  And he did!  His taking-over meant I could get a lot of the other oops-I-forgot-to-put-that-on-the-list things done (see items 8 - 10)

2) Husband has to finish hardie-backing and sheetrocking the shower - On the to-do list.  It has to get done by Tuesday night

3) Husband has to build a makeshift cabinet to house the new granite that will go in the master bath, since we're not using the one that's presently in there - Incomplete.  He's gonna have to get it done today!

4) We have to rip off all the countertops in the kitchen and in all the bathrooms - Well, the master bath main area had the countertop ripped off.  Does that count?  Husband says this is a very fast process.

Minus old countertop and old sink!  Soon to be home to new granite countertops and cabinets!

5) We have to haul away all the tile and tile debris that is currently in my way This was completed yesterday, thanks to our lovely friend Ray who continues to provide us with his muscle.  His reward was getting to drive husband's newly-amazing 1968 Firebird, so I think it was an even trade.

6) We have to fix the leak in the upstairs bathroom that is causing husband to not be able to complete item 2 above. - Done!  (Hopefully.  Gulp.)  Apparently all it needed was a little caulk.  Now he can work on item 2...sometime in the midst of everything else.

7) We are receiving a (supposedly-free) washer and dryer on Saturday from a very magnanimous friend, which we will have to clear space for, go get, transport back to our place, and install - This was moved to Wednesday.  We are coming perilously close to having no clean clothes.

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Also on the to-do list that I forgot about when I made my original to-do list:

8) paint the other upstairs bedroom (the official "guest bedroom") in time for the family to arrive Thursday Done!  Thanks to Ashley who helped me knock this out!  (I still have the door and trim to paint, but given the other tasks on our plate, the family's gonna have to do without the freshly-painted whiteness!

As usual, it totally comes out less the Hazy Sage it really is, and more a khaki.

9) belt-sand the walls in the powder room portion of the master bath before the granite is installed  Done!  You totally cannot tell, but it looks waaay better.

Goodbye, cruel texture.

10) belt-sand the ceilings of both portions of the master bath before the granite is installed - partially done.  I got the powder room finished and about 20 percent of the main portion of the master bath (where the granite will actually be) before both belts fell apart.  Apparently they don't like sanding stalactites off ceilings.  Sigh.  Must purchase more tonight! 

You cannot tell how different the height (or lack thereof) of the ceilings until I paint, which I'm hoping to do tonight if I can get the belt sander working again.  If not, I'll have to use the less-efficient ceiling texture scraper.  Sigh.

In other news, post-tile-destruction, our entire downstairs is covered in dust.  As in, every available surface.  This was what it looked like last night while Husband was working. 

We're going to have to power-wash the entire inside of the house.  Can you do that?

Anyway, now I have to go hunting for a new stainless-steel dishwasher and kitchen faucet.  Yay shopping!

Warm Me Up, Scotty

So Saturday, here's what I did:

I took the office/potential-future-nursery from this:

Before - The "Pretend Shot"

I call this the "pretend shot" because it only looks like this nice, warm, buttery yellow when you get exactly the right angle at the right time of day with the exact right amount of sunshine streaming through the windows.  Not an accurate color.  It looks more like this:

Dingy, boring yellow

 In my removal of light-covers to paint, I also discovered that they used to have it navy-ish/bright blue.  Like, almost the exact same color of the painter's blue tape.  Witness:

Why?

But thankfully, this is no more.  Now?

Warm, sage green

This color is Glidden's Hazy Sage, color-matched to my trusty Behr Premium Plus Ultra Paint and Primer in One!

No more scrapes and bumps, no more dingy yellow

Soooo pretty!

It's impossible to get a true color match at night, and I haven't taken a photo during the day yet, but the best true color representation is here:

Yep, that's how I roll.  That's not quite the nail polish I was looking for, but hey.  It works.

Ooh, and I found another blogger who posted a pic of the same paint color on their walls.  This is it!

http://3388river.blogspot.com/

Meanwhile, during my painting escapades, husband solicited the help of his friend to help him with the shower.  I will post that separately because of all the work he's done! It deserves its own post for all the amazingness.

I will also post my Sunday/Monday progress separately because, whoa.  It was a doozy.