Beginings

As previously mentioned our house projects were the result of our first home purchase.  I'm here to tell you that although the home had mostly good bones it was desperately in need of an update.  I'm not joking when I say that there were layers and layers of wallpaper on the walls and ceiling that needed to be peeled off.  In between those layers of wallpaper was plaster, paint and who knows what else.  It was a painstaking process.  Very painstaking.  Here are some photos of the house when we purchased it.

Wow.  Am I right?  I don't think we even realized what a project this would be.  Just looking at these photos reminds me of how tired I was when we had finished the main floor of the house.  That might also have had something to do with the fact that I was 7 months pregnant by time we finished.  We decided to strip down the main living floor and pretty much ended up gutting it before we even moved in.  Here's the list (I'm sure I'll miss several things on this list) of what we removed:

• Took out all the carpeting (yes there was even carpet in the bathroom as seen above) and linoleum.
• Removed popcorn/asbestos ceiling.
• Removed wallpaper (even from the ceiling).
• Took EVERYTHING out of the bathroom.  Carpet, toilet, vanity, mirror, tub, tile, walls.
• Took out almost all of the light fixtures.
• Took out the counter tops and the melamine back splash.
• Removed the existing electrical wiring.
• Removed existing plumbing.

Its a very basic and now it looks like a short list but man I'm here to tell you that took a LOT of work.  Is anyone else feeling me on this?  So now that you've seen the old house photos I'll be treating you to posts room by room to show you what they look like now and where we are at now in our home improvements.

Over and Out.

Kirsten