I see so many people posting Before & After photos on home improvement websites and I'm jealous. This house needs so much damn work and since we're the only two people doing all this work (with a very limited budget and an insanely hyper puppy underfoot, mind you) we still do not actually have one single room completely finished. I could try and explain all the work we're doing and how it's going to look eventually, but in the end, nothing is as powerful as a simple series of Before & After Shots. So, for that reason, I'm giving myself a little ego boost here (along with some motivation to keep going) and posting some shots anyway. They're definitely not Before & Afters, but more like Before & Durings. How's that work for ya?
Read on and enjoy.
The newly elongated hallway, complete with an arch. (It's very important to have messy bookshelves filled with craft stuff in your hallway. It shows that art-making stops for no one, people! No one!)
When you walk in our front door, this is what you see. The bathroom was really just an eyesore and so easily visible from everywhere in the house that it was distracting. That's why we added the arch and soon-to-be-finished built-in bookshelves as well. (Never mind the crazy furniture placement. Again, we're not done so the couch and chairs are just wherever they landed.)
This would be your view if you were sitting on that couch. That's the dining room over past the staircase. (And coincidentally, the very last hunter green wall left in this house, baby. Too bad it's not getting fixed for another year probably. That's part of the kitchen plans, which will be a long long time from now.)
The upstairs was possibly the most hideous part of the house. (Good god, did I just say that? Is that really even possible?) The walls were not only bright neon school-bus yellow, but the carpet was so disgusting and dirty that we thought it was gray. Turns out it was a weird mauve-brownish color. Made me kind of wish we'd left it gray. The furniture's changed a bit since I took this photo. We now have black curtains with the intent of purchasing some new slick modern black furniture when the new IKEA opens in March. (Yes, I have the date marked on my calendar and I'm considering camping out at their doors. Is that bad?)
So just tell me if you see progress. Tell me that all our absolute exhaustion has been worth it so far. Because boys and girls, there is still so much more to go, and we are already TIRED. I'm the perfectionist, I can't see the changes. J. tries to tell me that it looks 100% better already, but all I see is stuff that still needs to be finished. I'm not fishing for compliments. I just want to know that the Fugly is actually disappearing, even if eeeeever so slowly. Oh please, oh please?
Comments (3)
Oh, I hear you on the Fugly. Our bathroom is quintessential fugly. But it's waiting until next year.
I just think it's funny - that hunter green shade? It's on my bedroom walls. And I plan on replacing it with almost the same shade of blue you did in the hall ... I love coincidences like that.
Good luck with the continuing de-fuglification.
Posted by elsie | January 28, 2008 7:49 AM
Posted on January 28, 2008 07:49
Wow! Look how far you've come already! Looking good!
Posted by Donna | January 28, 2008 10:38 AM
Posted on January 28, 2008 10:38
The fugly is definitely disappearing, and it's all looking great! Is it wrong that I'm still slightly jealous of your arch? Oh, and I totally hear you on IKEA. I'm so there.
Posted by Michelle | January 29, 2008 2:29 PM
Posted on January 29, 2008 14:29