30 days of home improvement. Or something.

It was my intention to set a date in October to have a housewarming party. Turns out, I had too much to do before October 2nd, which was my original date. I was stressing myself out. So we're nixing that. I don't have a new date, but my original plan was to work on the house for 30 days, starting the beginning of September. That sorta happened. We painted the stairs (FINALLY!) Oh my goodness. I haven't been so excited about anything in a very long time. Please, take a gander.

Before:

Dark, high gloss, terribleness.

After:

Light, airy, wonderfulness.

(To the right: the largest art niche known to man. No idea what to do with it.)

Project two: doing some TLC to the lovely fruit covered knobs left to us by the previous homeowners. I know... it's a crying shame that I painted over these beauties.

Final product: Honestly, I don't know how I feel about it. I think the black might be too much contrast between the light (which I don't love) cabinets. Either way, it's serious progress from the peaches and grapes. And the pot rack is black so I thought that might make it more cohesive. There are LOTS of different metals in our home. (See Patrick doing dishes? He's the best.)

And "project" (not really) number three:

A chair for Patrick's office! Ahhh, I love craigslist.

Last but not least, the previous homeowners also left us with this gem of a built in bookcase. They did it themselves, and pictures just do not do it justice. It's terrible. Patrick's grandmother got me some cute picture frames while we were in Missouri last weekend and so they are attempting to hide the bookshelf ugliness. And one of them is housing a picture of sweet little Beckett who we got to meet last weekend. So cute!

So there we are! Hopefully lots more to come. I'm just doing little sneak peeks... I'm hoping to do major before and after photos in the near future with a slightly more 'done' house. And you too can revel in the beauty of the things that the Ballards left for us to deal with on Green Castle. Get ready.