Tuesday, December 08, 2009

We're doing it again; a house project

I've come to the conclusion that when you live in a 100-year-old house (which our house will be in 2010) there is no down time for house projects. There is always something going on. And though we've lived here for almost 12 years, we always have something in the works.

From plum to Robin's Egg Blue

But this weekend was a first. For the first time, we were painting a room, over paint we ourselves had put down. Wha' wha'? We weren't cursing the color choices of the previous owner or marveling in how much straighter our lines along the molding would be. We were painting a lovely robin's egg blue over the deep plum painted by our very hands ten years ago. Lovely.

And so it goes with the latest house project. My office is getting a facelift with the same help from the folks who did our kitchen and master bath addition several years ago. In case you're curious, see the renovation label for all of that excitement. Not so big of a job this time, but it was time to grow up to a real office since my business has really come into its own, and have some custom built-ins made to better handle storage, books, client samples, and electronics. Everything is out of the office and temporarily boxed up in our living room, with my working space now temporarily upstairs in a light-filled bedroom, also known as my closet.

What had once been our tv room became my office three years ago, and in general, has worked well. But not so well in the past year. I'm posting some "before" photos for you here so when it's done, I can share the "after" photos.
Outgrowing my office space: before
Outgrowing our bookshelves: before
My office space: before

We're using some of the original kitchen cabinet doors that were saved in demolition of the kitchen 3 years ago. I knew there would be a good reason to hold onto these glass-fronted cabinet doors. And this time? I'm much wiser. There's a "must be completed by" date in the contract. I hope to enter into the new year with a whole new workspace. In the meantime, I'll be in my closet.

Bonus: In saying goodbye to those bookshelves you see above, I sold them via Twitter. Actually, I traded them for chocolate. Bookshelves=chocolate. It's the truth. See? Twitter is magic. Chocolate magic.

7 comments:

Wacky Mommy said...

The blue is v. subtle, i like it. The plum was pretty excellent, too. Our house turned 100 two years ago and I told it to stop being so damn needy all the time. It rebelled by sending the furnace into life support.

Recovering Straight Girl said...

I can't wait to see it when it's finished!

A Lewis said...

Are you going to have a 100 Year Birthday Party??

purpletwinkie said...

Nice color, that Robin's Egg. :)

chook said...

LOVES IT. also, the cove molding? so jealous.

Best Wishes, Marie said...

it is nice to blame everything on the previous owners. and then there comes a point where that all ends and you can no longer say, "why didn't they keep that up... etc."

i have a circa 1895 house. it is an on going thing. and i have noticed, 95 percent of the marital tension and financial frustration relate to the house.

believe me ... for those reasons alone, i have thought about SELLING IT, but at this point, i know the beast i am dealing with.

Cher said...

Well, don't leave us in suspense, then. How'd they turn out? (Gabriel tells me it was v. close, but they made the deadline!)