House Projects

We have lived in our house for 7 years now. It is perfect for us, good location, good school, close to both jobs, close to grocery stores. I love it, although it is on a very busy road. The house was our first house and we are less that 9 years in paying it off! That a plus.

I am the only one that does any kind of home improvement. I was raised by a contractor and if I didn't learn anything by watching him, he would question me, "didn't you learn anything?" Of course I did, but I won't admit to it, that would mean that I have to do everything that comes to the house, and I just don't want to add anything else to my plate. But I have a tendency to want things done, and I end up doing it.

The master bath is a small one. Trust me, it was not by choice either. The house is 50 years old, in very good condition. Granted there are things that previous homeowners did to the house that wasn't done the right way. I go back and look and think "what moron did this?" And it is irritating to the fact that it should be done at least somewhat right.

I look at the master bath and wonder if it was added on. It just doesn't seem to fit well in the area. Maybe the shower was added, half ass if it was. I have been meaning to take the wallpaper off and start from scratch. And that is what I did this weekend. I started pulling the paper off in little sections to see how easily it would come off. Well, just pull and get a sponge to get the glue off. This stuff was pieced together, ran up the side of the mirror, they didn't bother to take it down to paper. Patched here and there, molding in places that didn't need to have it, I mean just a sloppy job. I have put it off because I know my luck with wallpaper and I didn't want to have to fix something that was going to be a major set back. I went through that ordeal in the kitchen and to this day I still look and think how can someone not fix it the first time. I have 50 years of wallpaper to pull down, talk about a mess, talk about frustrated, talk about sitting in the middle of the floor at 2AM and crying. It was awful. But I fixed it.

I decided I had some time left before coming back to work, and considering I didn't do anything on the 2 weeks that I didn't have to do, I might as well take the stuff down. It was this hideous hunter green textured paper, and above the shower, well, they painted it with this awful flat hunter green paint. The same paint that they painted the Great Room in, before we paneled it. They only put about 5 coats of paint in there to cover up a beautiful wallpaper. I wanted to hang this idiot up by his toes.

I got in there on Monday, and forgot the trash bag. I yell down the hallway to Eric for a Walmart bag, he comes in, looks at me, and then asks, "and why is this the first time hearing about all of this?" Well, I didn't think he would care, so I didn't tell him anything. The bag obviously was not big enough, so he got PJ to get a bigger bag. Now I have Eric in there pulling paper off the wall and now PJ wondering what is going on. Eventually, I had them both with washclothes getting the glue off the walls. Eric was on the step stool and counter getting stuff off close to the ceiling. That was a big help on me.

By the time that we were done, it looked a whole lot better than what I have had to look at for the past 7 years. I should have done it sooner, but because of the history I have had in that house, I was really hesitant in doing anything. But in the end, it wasn't all that bad.

And now that I have a new machine, that means new curtains. That isn't all that big of a deal. I just don't like what is in there now. But I have to find a color that would be good for the room. Darker colors, like that hunter green, make that smaller space look a lot smaller. So, I am thinking of the color of a pink blush. Problem the floor is hunter with some white and gold going through it, and I am not up for the task of taking up another floor and dealing with what or what isn't underneath it.

Get rid of the mini blinds and put up more of a day shade or a sheer underneath it. But add some color, add some life to it. Something new like this always makes me feel good, especially when I do it myself!