first i did down here not including scott's office, now i just finished the laundry room and boys' bathroom off the laundry room.  i'm not cleaning at all as you can tell by the after pics but just neatening.  also i'm trashing other rooms but before i do any other rooms i'm going to put all that stuff away.

 

if you look at the pics you may have to right-click on each one and choose "show picture" - they're not showing up for me unless i do that

Wow, can I just say that I love your house?! The wood, the colours, the floors, the style... I love it!

 

It looks like you've been SUPER busy from the after pictures. Even though you said you're just neatening, it looks great and looks like you spent hours doing it all.

Ok, just want to quickly say that yeah, I LOVE your kitchen and dining room!! How do you like having a gas stove? Our new place comes with appliances and they have a gas stove and gas dryer. I must say, I'm a little nervous. I'm excited about the dryer as I know they dry faster but haven't cooked with a gas stove.

 

Where do you find that awesome furniture? (wood shelves, heart rug, etc)

 

Oh, I noticed you don't have handles on the cupboards, is that on purpose? How do you find that? I hope that's not rude sounding cause it's not supposed to be! I'm just curious cause I'm not sure I've ever seen kitchen cupboards like that.

 

I'll hopefully answer your other post later. Gotta do a quick tidy and figure out what I'm doign with the kids after school. Plus, I think I have to work on puking... yum.

 

I love having a gas stove.  Way better than electric.  There's no waiting - you have the flame instantly without waiting for a burner to heat up.  I would never buy a house that has electric now that I've had gas.  Furnace, dryer, or stove.

 

I'm not sure what furniture you mean.  In the dining room?  The buffet thingie with the tv on it and the big pantry with the 3 sets of doors?  We like the wooden pantry but I'd love to update it and "un-countrify" it by putting the hinges inside and getting rid of those silly white knobs - we bought it in the early nineties when country was more cutesy but I do love how big it is and I think it looks nice otherwise.  The place we bought it from had it as an entertainment center with the middle part open but we asked them to build doors and they charged us about  $60 extra I think - it was handmade so no problem - we just had to wait a few weeks if I remember right.

 

The buffet and hutch I like way less - I feel like they are way more cutesy.  I would love to take off the scallops and, again, the hinges and cutesy white knobs.  In my head I paint both the buffet/hutch and the wooden pantry (the big thing in the corner) a light tan or beige and distress them after.   But I'll never get around to that I'm sure!  Or just replace the buffet and ugly red workshop cabinet with a built-in closet all across that wall - I'd paint it the same as the rest of the walls and put the wooden wainscoting up and have a wooden regular swinging door (so I could use it to hang things on inside instead of a bi-fold door which wouldn't have as many storage options) and inside I'd have a ton of those white wire shelves and have a place for my mop and broom and stuff.  I could probably do that myself - I framed the coat closet in the living room myself and it would be similar - but it would be a lot of work and I'd have to cut into the flooring.  And we'd lose the tv although we'll be losing that sooner anyway once we cut out cable.  Do you think that would look good?  Then I could mail you the buffet :-)  If that's what you were talking about as awesome I mean.  Actually it'd probably cost more to ship it than it cost us to buy it - I think we paid only about $250 for it from an Amish furniture store in Lancaster 15 years ago.  It's very sturdy - just not so much my style anymore plus a closet would hold SO much more!

 

That's funny to me that you've never seen cabinets without handles.  It's pretty common in houses the age of ours - kind of "modern" for that time.  They are cheap builder's stock and peeling.  Our bathroom cabinets are the same and I tried to paint the one in our master bath years ago and since they are not real wood they looked terrible painted.  We are used to having no handles on any of our cabinets - even the nice maple ones we bought for the addition bathroom (the one with the fisherman curtain off my laundry room) don't have handles.  I've thought about buying some - some people in our neighborhood have them - but I'd want to buy enough to do all of the cabinets and then the wood furniture in the dining room too and every time I think of that I decide that it's not worth it to buy so many.  We'd probably have a hard time getting used to having handles!  But I think it would make the cabinets look better and update them - just plain black or rubbed black round handles would add a lot to it.  Made it look more up to date.  I see lots of reality shows where the people are living in development houses built within the past 15 years or so and I always recognize the cabinets like we have - I notice in the decorating shows they always rip them out! :-)

 

We are lucky to not have to deal with older fixtures and cabinets and stuff like in a 30 or 40 yo or older house but at the same time our house is cheaply built and starting to look its age.  It's all still functional though so I won't complain - we just replace stuff as we go.  The house I clean that I was talking about the other day in my post where the older couple change things every month was built by our same builder - it's a more upscale neighborhood but the builder used the same crappy low-end stuff so even though the house I clean is only 7 years old they've already replaced a lot of the original things.  Like the bathroom faucets are those fake crystal ones that get yucky looking and it's all stuff that looks pretty good when new but doesn't age well.  The higher end stuff we bought for the addition is aging so much better - it's 5 years old now and holding up even though I'm terrible at maintenance and cleaning!

 

My kids got into a fight right off the bus so they're in their rooms.  I look forward to seeing them and then they start up.  They've been pretty good so far this year but they got into it about computer time and Chane was screaming "you wanna piece of me?!" while kicking Braeden who totally started the fight but I can't condone the violence so I had to punish them both.  I was trying not to laugh when I heard him say "you wanna piece of me?!" LOL

okay i got the playroom done but it took 'til now to get the pics uploaded because i ran out of storage space on here.  so i had to scrunch it down into scrapbook-like pages to save space.

 

i'm almost done putting all the stuff away that was removed from the rooms i worked on.  yesterday i worked on our master bedroom (forgot to say that this morning when i said i did nothing - got some motivation in the evening and did our bedroom and the ironing that resulted from neglecting laundry for so long and also put all of our laundry away).  oh yeah and i cleaned up the hall bathroom which had gotten really junky from the master bathroom renovation stuff - sorted the stuff into what goes back into the other bathroom (put it in the hall tub), tools and supplies (put them in the master bathtub), trash, stuff that goes to the workshop for another time (extra doorknobs and stuff), and stuff to return to lowe's.

 

our bedroom needs to be tweaked, and i need to finish cleaning up the hallway and put some stuff into the attic.  the living room needs to be neatened tomorrow but it has like 3 things out so that will take about 2 minutes.  i have a box of stuff to put away in the playroom but since the toy cabinets are a mess i will wait on that until i get them all sorted out.  and erik's room still has all the christmas stuff that i want to put into the attic.  the kids' rooms need sorting out but are not a priority (altho it feels really good when they're decent for some reason). 

 

sooo after that the whole house will be neat at one time if you don't count the basement and workshop which i DO NOT!

 

my hope is to finish neatening/straightening tomorrow, maybe clean out some bad places like my gift closet and the toy cabinets (not sure if i can face those yet tho), put the stuff from erik's room in the attic, and then maybe i can surface clean the whole house.  that will set me up good to do an overall decluttering and heavy cleaning.  my MIL will be alone in my house with my kids all day long on october 11.  last time she was here all day with them she managed to need a lightbulb and decided to search the house for one, looking in every single cabinet.  altho i'm weaning myself away from caring as much what she thinks, i'd at least like to have things somewhat neat behind closed doors.  for myself too but october 11th will be my deadline because of that.  not decluttered but at least neatened - to me something can be clutter free but still junky because i'm messy and even when i try my stacks are not neat and i tend to throw things in instead of lining them up.  neat does not equal organized and organized does not equal neat but for now, i'm going to go for neat!

Ok, I just had supper (Burger King... bad) and feel gross. Dh just left for volleyball.

 

Cool on the gas. I'm looking forward to trying it out! One of the burners, they have to light with a match but I think that would be easy to fix, at least that's what the inspector said.

 

I had to go back to look at your furniture... honestly, I love it all! It sucks that country isn't all that in anymore but that's totally my style, if I ever had one. I think our new house would NOT match country though with the bright white ceramic floor tiles and just the style of it. I've never really done country though because it seems like solid wood furniture is much more expensive plus we can't seem to afford all matching furniture for a stinkin' room.

 

I've seen cupboards that have, I don't know what you'd call it, some kind of gouge in the top or side for you to easily pull open a cupboard but that's about it. I totally know what faucets you mean. What a pain in the butt... everyone's out to make a quick buck, even if it means building a house with cheap stuff. That ticks me off.

 

I'd have a hard time not laughing at 'you want a piece of me!' My girls are fighting up a storm and it's ticking me off. Delaney has been cranky this afternoon and is refusing to go pee. What a pain in the butt. Timmy fell asleep before supper and will likely be up late. ahhhh

 

Ok, got a little distracted. Not feeling swell so I had a quick bath with Timmy. Finally got the girls ready for bed too and Emily did her home reading.

 

I was hoping to do my supposed pick up but not sure I'll manage. augh

 

Oh, Andrew talked to the side business guy. It was what I was hoping it would be... So, here's the confusing story. Andrew used to work with this guy, Jay. Well, Jay quit to do his own thing. He contacted Andrew to see if he was interested in doing programming on the side. Andrew said sure cause he could charge $40/hr (I believe...) Jay works for this guy, Sathish so the chain of command is companies contact Sathish, Sathish tells Jay what he needs and then Jay tells Andrew what to do (and Jay does the graphic part of the sites.) Well, Jay has been slacking big time. Sathish contacts him and tells them they have a problem, deal with it, etc. Jay eventually gets the info to Andrew. I think Andrew has been a little lax but Jay has been moreso as Andrew was getting frustrated... Jay would say, ok, we need to talk, call me tonight so Andrew calls and Jay is busy at the time so says he'll call back in an hour. Andrew would never hear from him until a few days later! Yeah, that doesn't work.

 

So, I think Sathish is still interested in dealing with Andrew. That's what Andrew said but not sure if it's just a nice thing for Sathish to say or what. But, I'm hoping Andrew can work directly with him and maybe charge another $10 or $20/hr since they've cut out a middleman. We need some extra money and to get paid something like that rather than me doing some min. wage job. lol

 

Ok, gotta deal with the kids and then not sure what I'll attempt to do.

quick list of what i'd like to neaten and/or declutter first:

list of things i'd like to fix or repair or renovate around here first:

I hope that works out for Andrew!

 

I need to get my kids to bed - Scott is out at a Scout meeting.   With two women leaders.  Should I be jealous?  He keeps saying he's going to meet "his girls" trying to rile me up.  I actually am a little jealous but not because they're women altho I probably wouldn't be as much if they were men.  Not because of the sex thing but because I read his emails and they are all really in tune and professional working on this University of Scouting and I wish I could be that for him.  I know he'd have me on the committee in a minute but I just can't get into it.  And you can tell by his emails he has this respect for both of them - he's in charge of the University and is having these two women be his two assistants.  So I'm jealous for that reason.  Which I told him.  He said poor baby but in a nice way.  At least I know that if I were interested enough I COULD do the job anyway.  It's kind of nice being a leader this year because it gives us something big in common.  I'm obnoxiously childish in that I can't listen to him tell me about complicated stuff and really listen unless I"m part of it so I'm glad I'm part of it!  I can't pretend interest when I'm not so I'm glad I AM interested somewhat now.

 

I just wanted to say real quick before I started whining about my husband - I don't dislike my furniture because it's not "in" - my tastes have just changed.  I used to like things like a flyswatter cover that looked like a cow.  Know what I mean?  That's the kind of country those pieces in my dining room remind me of -  the big black hinges and scallops.  They are actually made of pine which is pretty cheap.  The big pantry cost $315 but that was only because we had the doors custom-added - with two sets of doors it was about $250 and the buffet and hutch combo was about the same.  I'm sure they're probably not much more now.  They are very sturdy but not fancy - they have little twisty latches instead of real magnetic or mechanical catches on the doors (another thing I'd like to change actually).

 

Anyway if you really like that style you can probably find it cheap because it wasn't all that expensive to begin with.  You should buy what you like.  Also, until about 10 years ago we never had a room of matching furniture either so don't feel bad.  The living room couch, chair and tables and the family room couch, loveseat and tables are the only things I've ever bought as a set.  They were also my first real furniture.  My dining room table was our first purchase in our apartment and was about $200 for the table and 4 chairs - it was cheap and it's fake and the chairs are still alive in my mom's house but falling apart - she gave me the 6 chairs we have now from one of her cheap sets.  The buffet and pantry were both gifts purchased separately - my parents gave us the pantry as an anniversary gift (they do not celebrate Christmas so they give out big anniversary gifts) and my MIL bought the buffet for us because she was in competition iwith my parents.  Most of the things in my house are either a hand-me-down or used.  Or very cheap like our bookshelves (not the ones I built in the living room but the black ones throughout the house and the pine looking ones in the office area and holding our videos by the tv in the family room) which are $25 each and we bought them either one at a time or Scott asked for them as gifts.  My stools I got last year from my MIL and are pretty cheaply made but I wouldn't want good ones anyway because my kids ruin everything.  So you see, you will get there - one piece at a time.   And you'll buy and receive things you decide you later don't like but it's just an ongoing process.  I would love to buy a nice set for my playroom - the loveseat in there was from a yard sale - it had a matching couch but it was too big and broken down so we got rid of it awhile back.  The entertainment center I got for in there was $10 off ebay (it's STILL in the garage).  The cabinets in there are all workshop cabinets that I splurged on one year when I got desperate for toy cabinets and needed something that would hold big 2' wide bins.  It just takes time.  And patience.  And a lot of looking around.  I would also love to buy a nice headboard - I think a pretty scrolly brass-like one only white powdered coated, not shiny goldish brass, would look nice in our bedroom but I do not see that happening anytime soon.  You already have a good start with your beautiful bedroom furniture.  We were dumb to buy our nicest stuff (the two couch sets) when I was pregnant with Braeden because 1) we had just finished the family room and I didn't want to put moldy old stuff down on our brand new carpet and 2) I knew I was cutting back at work so we figured if we didn't get it then we'd never get it.  But you should wait to buy anything like that - I'm glad we have some nice-looking things (altho trust me, up close you would see they were falling apart and ripped and stained) but at the same time with little kids things just get ruined.

 

Crap now they are fighting AGAIN.  Need to go get them to bed.  I think if you like country stuff you won't have a hard time finding it cheap.  Just keep looking.  And don't rush.  It takes me years to find things I can afford or am willing to spend money on.  As far as your new house matching country - my MIL gave me good advice when we first got this house.  I will dig out pictures so you can see how NOT country it was.  She said "who cares if you have bright white and blue and grey vinyl floors in the kitchen (which I did), if you love the oatmeal-colored crock with the green flowers get it even if it doesn't match because one day you'll have all these things you love and they will go together" and she was totally right.  I buy things I like and eventually they all kind of match.  I was going to do my kitchen and dining room in blue because the house came with modern geometric blue and grey and white colored kitchen floors but instead I just bought what I liked and ignored the floors and eventually I redid the floors. 

don't you think something like this would look good in my bedroom???

 

only less formal and dramatic -more curly and not as high.

Well, we actually are looking at getting a new living room set. We bought this couch set 4 yrs ago from an auction for $600. It absolutely sucks. I can feel springs every time I sit in it. I'd love to get some oversized, comfy couches that would be awesome for tv watching or for having a sick kid lie on it... mine, of course, cause I'm eventually growing a backbone to say no to daycare parents. lol I know kids ruin stuff but at this point, I want something that I actually like sitting in and can feel comfortable in. Ah, choices.... We can get a discount at the Brick if we mention our mortgage broker's name... 30-60% off. If we went all out, I'd get a couch and love seat and a recliner (dh really wants one), a dining room table with 6-8 matching chairs and a new double mattress to replace the pee one on the bottom bunk. That's about it.... lol, yeah, I'm sure that still could add up!

 

Yeah, I'm so glad we got the bedroom set. Of course, it's cheapness is showing through in that there's already some splinters of wood missing on the bed. But, it's not totally obvious and I'd expect that. I'm thinking a light golden yellow would look great in the bedroom as it's got vaulted ceilings and a large window and it would look great with the reddish wood. Plus, it matches the numerous blankets I have (dark brown, cranberry and dark sage green... would be cool to find one that has all those colours that is big... all our duvet covers are SMALL)

 

Man, I'm blabbing on so much. I just can't wait to do stuff with the house though doing it without going crazy, money-wise, will be tough. I need to get out of the mindset that everything has to be done NOW and has to match NOW.

 

Aw, I can understand your jealousy... I find myself feeling a bit that way when I hear Andrew talking about his sports or job. It makes me wish that I could be a part of something he really enjoys (like the sports.) I try to go out and watch him as much as I can which I know he appreciates but it's still not the same. Not sure if that's quite the same thing you're talking about...

 

Man, I'm so stinkin' tired, I'm not thinking straight anymore. Timmy is still going full speed. I'm going to try to nurse him and see how that goes, if his eyes get heavy or if he just squirms away.

 

Oh, I keep on meaning to say that I really like those curtains!! Was it your MIL who said that they look too Hallowe'enish?! I totally don't think so. They definitely have fall colours but they go great with that room and look really nice.

 

Oh, another thing. It's going to be hard to switch my mindset to buy things that I like rather than what matches the house now. I'm so used to doing that with renting. We could never paint so I just went with what matched the house. Andrew is completely useless with that stuff. He's all about function. So, he'd rather have ugly but functional than really nice looking and maybe a little harder to deal with. Heck, he actually mentioned putting one of our huge, honkin' computer desks under his t.v (the big screen one that will be mounted on the wall) to hold all the video game and DVD stuff. Uh, yeah right!! Sure, there's lots of wide open, flat space to lay all that stuff out but my word, I actually kinda cry when I think about how ugly that would be. And I believe he truly was serious! I have a feeling this move will cause some issues between us unless we can both compromise and see what the other says. Now, he's already said the office in the basement will be his room (and I fully support that, he can do whatever he wants with it and can have all the ugly furniture in there. lol) And, I'm fairly sure the bedrooms will be more my rooms. But, I think we will have issues with the living room. I know he'll have some off the wall ideas for the toy area but I'm good with that. He's good with  that. But, he totally wants function with the living room and I want simple, comfortable and easy to maintain so that if someone pops by, they can sit in there and not have to move stuff off the couch or look at this totally ugly tv set up.

 

Ok, I gotta stob and get this Timmy to sleep.

 

That bed is nice!! I'm not sure it's something I'd go for cause I'm more into the wood frames but it sounds like what you're looking for!

my other headboard option would be to make something like this out of boards and molding

 

 

Ooo, that's nice too. Hmm, tough choice!

 

I'm barely up... I didn't sleep well last night. Actually, I don't think Andrew or Timmy did either. Emily came in this morning and says she thinks she has a migraine. But, she's playing her DS. So, we'll see how that pans out.

 

I'm feeling blah, as usual. There's a bad smell down here and I'm not sure what it's from. I have a feeling I have rotting onions and/or potatoes but can only deal with those when I'm not gaggy. It could be the dishes in the sink. I doubt it's the garbage as that was just changed yesterday and I don't think there's anything really smell worthy in there yet.

 

I semi-picked up the living room last night. Still looks disasterous. Oh yeah, I badly hurt my knee too. So, I'm having issues walking today. Looks like I may have to skip aquafit tonight and I was trying to make a plan of going to mommy and tot swimming this morning with a friend but don't think I could do that either.

 

Gotta find some more food and start working on the lunches.