Bits and Pieces

I keep waiting to post pics of what we've done in the house because I keep waiting for entire rooms to get done.  But, it takes time and money and we are moving along pretty slowly.  So, I took some pictures of corners, bits and pieces that we're proud of for now and want to share with you.  First up, one of our most-used rooms, the dining room.  Here's a before picture of this room:

(Yep, this carpet was throughout the bottom floor covering up really beautiful wood floors. We removed all that :)  Here's a bit of what we've done:

See that chandelier I showed you a looong time ago that I spray-painted? Here's a better pic:

The kids and I spend a lot of time here, me to do school work, them to make paper dolls and such and now we sit here to home school (which is going great, by the way!)  Oh, and of course to eat too :)  It's good that this room is so bright and cheery. Our view is beautiful too, it's nothing but gorgeous old trees outside that window!

On to the family room.  This room has undergone the biggest transformation.  When we moved in, it was covered in wood paneling and wall-to-wall drapes on the previously unused sliding door.  Like this:

We removed all the paneling, retextured and painted the walls.  A LOT of work, but it was soooo worth it.  Here's the one half of the room that's done (I promise to show you the fireplace side very soon!)

I'm very happy with how this looks now.  This room doesn't get a whole lot of sunshine, so the lighter colors made a huge different in here.  I struggle with arranging wall art, though, so hopefully this looks all right--I agonized over it for weeks.  Our good friends the Glens sent us that beautiful original artwork in the big frame up there as a housewarming gift and we absolutely love it.  The other thing I reallllly love is this awesome clock:

Casey's Grandma Kate made this clock and signed it on the back, Katie S. 1967.  I'm in love.  I never met her, (she passed away years ago) but I have inherited several boxes of her craft supplies and we would have been kindred spirits, I just know it. 

Okay, so I don't have any very good before pictures of this wall in our bedroom, but we painted the entire room a pretty green color, replaced the vast yardage of lace curtains with wooden blinds and pretty valances and hung a few things up in there.  I saw this jewelry/frame idea in a magazine a long time ago and put it in my house notebook to copy.  I love how this turned out:

I tried forever to get the colors right in these pictures, but I was having a hard time, shooting right into that window.  Ah, well.  

We are loving this place, we just can't get enough :) We are doing the work one paycheck at a time and we've surprised ourselves several times about how frugally we can get things done with a little patience and a lot of searching (thrift stores, Craigslist, and relatives' basements, haha). 

More pics to come over the next few weeks!