Friday, August 10, 2007

the only time it will ever be this clean, part duex

Since 99% of you slackers will never come visit me, I guess I will share what the rest of our house looks like. I need to boast about my hard work somehow!

When we moved here, the house had been empty for a year and a half. It was filthy and full of spiders. M steam cleaned the carpet 3x and the water still came out black. Can't wait for CB to start crawling on it, really. YUCK! All of the walls were primer white. I can't even say they were painted white because what was/is on the walls was/is not paint. It's some weird concoction to cover the cement blocks they used to build the house. I really wish I had taken "before" pictures so you could see how ugly this place was.

Since moving in, we've painted most of the rooms, except the really large ones because I'm too lazy, added curtains, scrubbed all hard surfaces to get rid of the film of grime, spent way too much money on the finishing touches, and done up the back "yard". It's been a lot of work, but fun.

This is the first actual house I get to play with and while it's a lot to keep up with, it's much better than renting an apartment and living with white walls and venetian blinds. As soon as I found out M was leaving, we decided to really invest in this place to make it comfortable and a place I wanted to spend most of my time. Now, I can say I like our house and won't go too insane living here.

Enjoy!

11 comments:

Jessica Ryan said...

Your house is lovely and your guest room looks very nice and comfy! Looks more like PB than Ikea though!

Anonymous said...

Wow, JoJo - looks lovely! I'm jealous (but too lazy to get up and clean mine at the moment). Good job!

Anonymous said...

Your house looks lovely! I think you got your Grandma M's genes for making anyplace - including a quonset hut - look and feel like home! I'm particularly drawn to the guestroom...hmmmm

Anonymous said...

It looks great JoAnna. good job! I'm so jealous... my house still looks like a construction zone and we've been here over a year! You're inspiring me to get my butt over to Ikea and see what they have!
-Sarah

Imcombobulated said...

Now I'm definitely coming to visit you!!!

Leah said...

I love it. Can I come visit?
I love the hooks for the coats at kid level. What a clever idea.

BoBo said...

hey we have some good times memories with the verticle blinds and white walls. love susie

Joanna said...

You all are too kind! You guys are welcome anytime. It's not like we're doing much around here ;)

Margaret said...

I love it! You have done an awesome job decorating---the kiddos' room is adorable! You just inspired me to get up and clean!! :)

Andrea said...

Wow your house is so lovely, tidy, inviting... we'd come visit if only there wasn't that whole ocean in the way and you know the drama of traveling with two babies and the cost and... yeah i'm full of excuses. Very lovely though, I enjoyed seeing it :)

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous home Jo! I am so jealous of your leather furniture. It is so clean too! Just beautiful!