Moving Backwards?

I showed the picture on the left to my nephews on Sunday.  They opened their eyes really big. One of them said, "Wow, what a mess."  I totally agree.  

Then I showed him this picture.  One asked,"Is this what it looks like now?"  I said no and explained that this was the 'before' picture.  Both he and his brother seemed surprised that I would change this into the mess that it is today on purpose.

I know it's hard to believe, but, I actually see progress when I see the picture on the left versus the one on the right.  Sure, I see a mess but I also see the open space where the wall used to be.  When I see the wall gone I remember that we will be able to have a full-size table in the kitchen now.  

I also see the ladders where the stove will be and I see the cavity for the refrigerator on the right (that I have to enlarge now that our refrigerator broke). I see the biggest change - the can lights instead of the florescent box. Those lights have made the room so much better.  I see a pile of junk.  However, I see that the junk is on top of an island that will give us a lot more storage and counter space.  

When I see the junk in the kitchen I am reminded about how far we have come.  I am excited that we basically just have the bathrooms and the kitchen left.  It is going to turn out great and I can see signs of it all coming together.

Progress at last

Sometimes during the home renovation process it seems as if we are just spinning our wheels.  It felt like that a lot last week.  For example, not long after I cut a hole in the wall for the refrigerator we bought it stopped working.  We owned it for only three weeks and can't get a hold of the guy who sold it to us.

Sometimes we actually feel like we are making progress.  Thursday we got carpet installed. I got my first look at it today after I got back from our trip to Utah.  I think it looks great.

I especially like how the living room turned out.  When we bought the house it looked like this:

 It has brown walls, writing on the wall, some holes, and dirty, dirty carpet. 
We especially didn't like the sponge-painted wall around the bay window.

Here is how it looks today with carpet.  (Don't look through the kitchen door.  It's a disaster in there right now.)

 My favorite part of the room is the railing.  After trying to paint it while it was attached we changed our mind and took off each post and painted them.  I'm really glad we did it that way - it looks better to see the black hardware instead of painting over the lag bolts.

It was easy to remove the bolts once we had the right tools (1/4" socket adapter and a $35 impact wrench from harbor freight). Thanks to a magic eraser and a lot of work on Christa's part we removed the paint from the bolts that got painted before we changed our minds.  Doesn't the dark hardware look way better than just painting over the bolts?

 We also decided to keep a more rustic look on the beam under the loft.  I like how the cracks are exposed.  We contemplated caulking the cracks before we painted it but I'm glad we didn't.

What's next for this room?  Sand and re-stain the upper beam a darker color and paint the doors for the bedrooms, bathroom, and linen closet.

So what do you think of the living room?  Any suggestions?

Carpet (updated picture)

We are as busy as ever with the new house. The newest development is carpet! No it's not installed yet but that should happen this week. This picture shows off our carpet, the cluttered kitchen(where there used to be a wall), the view to the family room, and our new can lights.

Honestly, the lighting has made the biggest difference. The rest of the house has paint now and is looking magnificent.

Well, back to work. We have got to install the carpet pad even if it takes us all night.