Donna and I took Nicki, Emily, Mia, Sam, and Nate to California to help Grandma and Grandpa fix up the ol' homestead, and we thought some of you might enjoy the pictures. In 4 work days we:
Packed at least 35 boxes.
Hung curtain rods and curtains in the yellow room and the hall.
Painted the trim on the stairs, the walls going up the stairs, and touched up the hall.
Replaced the light fixture and mirror in the downstairs bathroom, and re-stained the cabinet.
Painted the upstairs bathroom and cabinet, replaced the light fixture, added a shelf, a shower curtain, and new towels.
Removed 3 bookcases and their contents from Katy's room and rearranged the furniture.
Hung new curtain rods and curtains in mom and dad's room, bought them a headboard, and moved out one dresser.
Removed one bookcase and many boxes of stuff from the living room and family room.
Cleared off both of mom's china hutches.
Removed many items from the kitchen counters.
Here are the photos:
Look how spacious the built-in is! Who knew? We also like mom's patriotic tableau, which you can now, you know, SEE.We also put a new curtain up in the kitchen, and (gasp) put the dish-drainer under the sink every morning after putting away the washed dishes from the night before.
Somehow Donna got all the pictures off the glass. And look! The china hutch is actually displaying tablewares! Ok, it's not china, but vases and silver platers are close enough.Also, note the wicker In-Box that the family will now get to learn to use!
Before
After. Did I mention that we came to kick butt and take names?
Donna not only packed away many boxes of things from the living room, she also found wedding photos of nearly all of us and displayed them nicely in the bookcases.
The upstairs bathroom. Gee, what I would have given for that shower curtain when I was growing up!We painted the walls blue again, painted the cabinets white again, added a shelf, changed the light fixture, put up a shower curtain, and centered the mirror above the towel racks. Then Donna worked her magic with towels, shells, and soaps. Now the tub is hidden and you hardly notice the yellow sink.
Note the white trimwork and the lovely new tan color. (Thanks Suzy and Katie, for keeping the kids away while the paint dried!)To paint the last inch near the ceiling involved a death-defying stunt performed by Kristy on the Russamano's ladder that was laid flat from the top of the stair to the floor in front of the bathroom, so that it formed an 18 inch wide platform. On this we placed a square board that was almost but not quite as large as the footprint of the stepladder, which we placed on the board that rested on the Russamano's ladder. Then I climbed up the stepladder while Donna commented "Yeah, that looks safe" and Katy provided moral support and stood ready to call an abulance.
Ah, the hallway. Coming soon: carpet and a new railing. Sorry kids, carpet will probably slow down your roller-coaster rides down the stairs. Bummer.
A big thanks to mom and dad for letting us have fun playing at being decorators, to Sally, Suzy, and Katy for watching the kids, and to Arnold and Denise for their enthusiastic appreciation of the shiny new downstairs bathroom.
