The Last Night

Tonight is our last night in the old house. We both sold and bought (in that order) houses today, and we get possession of the new house at noon tomorrow. Here is a final old house before and after, although I am a little hesitant to post this one. This is probably my least favorite, but I will explain my thinking and maybe someone can learn from my mistakes. When we first moved in, as you can see below, we had white cabinets, white floors, white countertops, white plaid wallpaper, white appliances...and after about a month I was so tired of cleaning all this vast whiteness that I vowed to have NO more white. White is beautiful in magazines, but it is not so ideal in real life. The white linoleum is what really pushed me over the edge. So, we started by changing the wall paper. Removing the old wallpaper was an ordeal in itself (do not attempt unless you absolutely have to do it), and the walls underneath were not very smooth. So, we decided to go with more wallpaper, and I chose the red because I wanted some color. Then, we painted the cabinets yellow which was another ordeal. We had to do a primer and then two more coats on each and every cabinet and door and then put them all back up. (This is what I did with my spring break during M-1 year- fun, huh?) Then, we redid the floors in the whole house (remember?) All of that is to say that, given the opportunity to renovate the kitchen again, I would just redo the floors, paint the walls a nice green color, and change out the hardware on the cabinets. By the end of the re-do, I realized that I might have gone overboard with the color since the new floors made the room a lot darker. I also learned the importance of living with a room for a while before making major changes, and at least planning the whole project at one time (even if you have to complete it in phases).

I'm sure you are all quite bored by this series by now, but I wanted to document it for memory sake. Please be praying for us as we move and get settled in to a new, but not far away, house. Pictures of the new place to come soon!