From ewww... to Oooh Lah Lah!!

  Since Ross and I bought our home a year and a half ago, we have done quite a bit of basic renovation.  No walls have been moved or anything, but we've been trying to make right, the wrongs of the past owners.  The house was left with cheap and holey (not holy) carpet.  We're assuming that the prior owners must have had some kind of medium sized dog, that was obviously not trained well (we are guessing this by the holes in the carpet and paw print scratches on the walls).  But to us, that was all okay, because we were able to get out house at a heck of a deal (20 thousand under comps) and we are able to put our own touch on the place.  We are not close to being done, but we've done quite a bit - below are a few before and after pictures.

The bathroom has been in stages.  In the first two stages, it went from a dull blue to a flat light brown.  We found out the hard way, that there is a reason people put paint meant for bathrooms, in bathrooms.  When you shower in a room that has flat paint, water droplets trickle down the walls.  That is obviously, not a good deal, and thus, the 3rd picture. 

  So, because of the water issue, we knew that we (and by we, I mean I) had to repaint in that room.  While I was at it, I went for another color, and if you know me, it's truly my favorite.  Some people are cream people, some are purple or green people, but for me, I'm a blue-green/light aqua girl all the way.

  Our new bath has our red towels (a wedding gift), and along with the blue (the meant for bathrooms blue) the bathroom looks pretty snappy.

  By far, the biggest project we've done thus far, was the laminate flooring we put in.  There used to be a very thin, very cheap, laminate wood in the entry way, and like I mentioned above, a very cheap and very holey carpet in the dining room and living room.  Not to mention the hideous blue lenoleum that was in our kitchen.  We worked hard on the project, and overall this one has taken us the longest, too - about a month of weekends.  It was worth every minute and every penny, because it changed the look of our home, in a very very good way. 

This picture below, was taken the day after we moved in.  The wall was "orange" which actually wasn't so bad, it just didn't go with our furniture (Yes, Ross, it really didn't)  =)  The carpet had just gotten cleaned, so it didn't look so bad, unless you look close, and that's when the holes start popping up.   (In the "after" photo, please ignore the messy living room!)

Here is a before after photo of the dining room -

 Here are a few shots taken during the flooring project.  Every time we took more carpet away, the dogs would cling to what was left - they are creatures of comfort, after all.

 Kitchen before/after:  (Excuse the before picture... we had just moved in!)

It's been a great deal of fun, and has been a catalyst for positive growth in our relationship, to do all the home renovation together.  We're putting our stamp on this house, little by little, and boy does it feel good!