Update of our house

Reuben has asked me a couple of times if I've posted pics of the house on our blog yet.  Now, I can tell him that I have. :)

So this house has been a LOT of work!  It was a foreclosure, and it seems like the previous owners didn't really take care of the place... plus we must've had different tastes in paint colors.  From the minute we moved into the house we got to work cleaning - sweeping, vacuuming, wiping down walls.  There were multiple big holes and cracks (from shifting foundation) in just about every wall, and Reuben worked very hard patching those, and making our walls look good as new. :)  I hated doing that, so I'm very thankful Reuben did it for me. Lucky me!  

This isn't originally how I wanted the pictures presented, but it'll have to do!  Also, I can't figure out why my pictures won't be centered (I know, click it, push 'center' - that deletes them...).  I think I need a basic Blogging for Dummies class. :-p

1st, our entry way.  Reuben patched holes, I scraped and removed wallpaper (I deleted the pics of the removal process, oops!).  We primed, repainted the trim, and Reuben did the rest.  The colors were an accident.  We didn't buy samples, and figured it'd turn out just fine.  I'm happy with it now, but it was surprise.  From then on out, we bought samples - better safe than sorry! 

Next, Reuben painted the small hallway by the guest bedrooms and bathrooms.  Again, we bought the paint without getting a sample (we bought it the same day we got the entry way colors).  We intended on using it in the living room, but the yellow turned out to be way too bright!  I then tried to use it in the dining room, and don't like it there either.  We are still looking for the perfect color for the dining room/kitchen.  As soon we get it done, I'll have pics of that :)  I don't have any before pics of this hallway, but once you see the living room pictures, imagine it being that same unattractive color.  

The living room.  This was a monstrosity! I'm glad we settled on a neutral, tan color instead of that yellow (which I don't love either, but I'm almost done painting, and not ready to repaint that already!)  This room had 2 big cracks, and too many big holes to count.  Again, Reuben did all the behind-the-scenes work and I painted while he worked his 12+ hour days.

(my proof that I did it! :-p)

The den/media room.  We are excited about this room!  We really don't like the idea of having our TV in our living room, and this room came with built in shelving that fits our TV perfectly :) And when we want a bigger TV we can just remove that lower shelf, so it still works perfect.  This room was a disaster.  I believe there were 3 cracks, a ton of holes (I couldn't expect less...), and a big stain on the floor.

So it looks like I still need to do some touch up paint here,
but you can't even tell there was a huge, deep
crack there.

So that's it.  Like I said, we're still working on the dining room/kitchen, and are putting off painting the bedrooms and bathrooms until another date (I hope at least a year!).  Saturday we spent the day shampooing the carpets.  It's amazing how dirty the carpets were.  That may have convinced me that I never want an indoor dog ever again (I  never want a cat).  Oh, I also mowed the lawn for the first time ever!  Reuben had to get the mower started for me, but I took over from there, basically. :)  Team work, making the dream work!

We're still furniture hunting, and once we get all that and decorated, we'll have more pictures to share.  Tonight we should have the last of our appliances (washer and dryer; we recently got a stove/over!), then we can really focus on furniture!  I'm still looking for a job, and if I don't find one soon, I don't know what I'll do with my time.  So wish me luck!  

Our house is work, and I hated it when we 1st looked through it.  But I love it now, now that it's becoming ours (and is CLEAN!)