I've been meaning to post this for a few months now but am just now getting around to it.
When we moved in we had the nastiest white carpet. I get that white carpet was a big deal in the mid 90's (when our house was built), but seriously, who in their right mind thinks it's practical? We've had nothing but problems with it since we moved in. Four kids and a dog, I wonder why our carpet always seemed dirty?? Justin and I had been talking about getting new carpet for a long time but one day we just had it. We were vacuuming for the thousandth time and it seemed like nothing was getting any cleaner so we decided right then and there that we were done. I went that week to Home Depot and we got the process started.
We had decided to replace the carpet in our toy room (a.k.a. formal living room - but with four kids and a dog, who needs that) and our family room and then we'd replace the carpet in the dining room (carpet in a dining room - WHAT!?!) with hardwood.
Family room before (I'm disgusted at all the nastiness I can see in this picture):
Dining room before (since we knew we were getting new carpet, we let the kids eat on it - okay I'll tell the truth, we basically let them do whatever they wanted on the carpet the day before the installers came):
After Josie had gone to bed, I brought out a box of markers, sat on the floor, and started coloring. My boys were dying! They were so sure I was being naughty. It took a little convincing to get them to join me but once they started they were all over it! How many times in life are you given a chance to make a huge mess on the carpet!?! I will admit, even
I had a good time drawing on it!
We chose a medium gray shag carpet. I LOVE it. The kids, the dog, and myself were gone most of the day that they installed it and when Justin called us to come home it was like Christmas.
Family room after (I love to vacuum now, it leaves those fun vacuum tracks that are oh so delightful):
Toy room after (we painted the week before the carpet was replaced - I must admit there is a huge difference in how you paint when you don't care about getting the carpet dirty!):
The next stage was replacing the dining room carpet with the hardwood. The store had quoted us almost $700 to install the wood alone! No way. A plane ticket cost us $350 so we just bought the wood and flew my dad out to install it. He was more than willing to come (we lured him out here with the promise of grandchildren and delicious food), got it done in half a day, saved us hundreds of dollars, and we got to spend Easter with him! Win, win, win!
Bless his heart, he did the floor with 'helpers'. At one point, Josie dropped a box of screws down the floor vent, nearly giving my dad a heart attack. He's so patient though that he never once complained about the kids being all over him every step of the way.
Dining room after. It's absolutely my favorite. We painted it purple about a month or so before the new flooring. I'm a happy lady.
Now on to some less dramatic changes. I have recently discovered my love of all things spray paint. I've been on a little bit of a spray painting rampage ever since. I took a bunch of frames that we already had, bought a little mirror, a can of spray paint and went to town. It's the new picture gallery in our entry way and to say that I love it is an understatement. I'm addicted to it.
The 'S' and the '6' were bought at Hobby Lobby and I mod podged scapbook paper on them. They're not my favorite part of the gallery, but I like them for now (although I'm on the hunt for something I like better). Also, Command Picture Hanger stickers? Awesome.
I wanted something to hang on the wall in our toy room, but since the kids are in there almost all day I wanted it to be cheap, fun, and easy. I saw these state printables online a while ago and printed out all the states we have lived in (with a heart over the city). I bought the frames at Wal-Mart for a buck (and spray painted them, of course) and used vynal I already had. This whole project cost me less than $10 and it's one of my favorite things. I may, at some point, get some molding and use it to frame the whole thing out, but for now this is fine. (Also, I want new couches so badly when I see these pictures.)
Our family room has always been a tricky one for me to figure out. We have one long wall, where our TV is, a fire place, two little semi-ackward niches, and a long wall that is mostly taken up by a huge window/sliding glass door. I finally hung a few shelves though and I think that they are finally making our family room seem more like a family room and less sterile. It's just a start, but it's something.
In the dining room we had hung our gorgeous watercolor of the Burlington Waterfront that they gave Justin for getting the family medicine award fourth year of medical school. It's one of my favorite pieces but it was in this ultra cheap, nasty frame. I had it re-framed in a chunkier frame and, even though it was a little more expensive, I finally feel like the frame reflects the beauty inside it. I can look at it now without cringing that the frame is so gross. I love something seems off and then gets fixed!
I also bought a large fork and spoon and spray painted them white and hung them opposite the art with a white frame around it. Justin teases me ("Ahhh, I wondered what we were supposed to do in this room, but now that I see the utinsels I get it!") but it breaks up the purple so I like it.
I still have a few things to get done (mainly curtains), but those'll get done eventually and until then, I'm loving all the changes we've made. It's going to be extremely hard for me to leave this house!
