Dale and I built a house a few years after we got married and after spending some llloooonnngggg years in a spider infested one room, cold, and dated loft "house". It kept us dry and semi warm and allowed us to save a ton of money. We always knew we wanted to build a house just for us, so we saved our money to do that. Or I should say, help with that goal. Finally we were ready and got the ball rolling. We met with the builder and thought we knew what we wanted. His first blue print we agreed with. A simple ranch house that we could turn silver headed in and not have to worry about going up and down steps in our aged years. Way to think of the future, huh?!
We did a couple of walk throughs with some houses around our town. Our goal was to build something that we wouldn't regret. How can one know what they will regret at our age, with no children, and little life experience? We couldn't know and we didn't. All that being said we still have the house that we dreamt of having. One we can call our own and worked hard for even if it no longer lives up to our more updated dreams.
Fast forward a few years and we started realizing things. Things like IT'S TOO DAMN SMALL! A giant from where we came from though. The driveway floods every time there is a downpour. We haven't completely finished it and the electrician we chose was a dbag.
I dream of unwasted space, a more useful setup, a garage door opener INSTALLED, big beautifully stained trim, a covered wraparound porch, stone on the front and some columns somewhere just to be decorative. Crown molding, beautiful lighting, plush, soft carpet, modern paint on the SMOOTH walls, new interior doors, a huge walk in shower and a finished basement. Or, a glass storm door and a shop to put all the hubs machinery in would do too.
So that's a lot of dreaming and a whole lot of money, so we decided to just do what we can and see where we go.
First things first.... our front door. I have hated our front door since the day it was delivered. I love the sidelights, but this thing came in a light mustard color and I had no idea it was up to us to paint or stain the thing. So, we Gel stained it. Still, hated it, but it would do for a while. Then our lovely dog had the shits so bad one night he tried to eat his way out of the door while we slept. So, he did some real damage and it stayed like that for 2 years. Meanwhile the gel was cracking on the outside and the door expands and shrinks depending on the weather so it just looked even more like crap.
I got the great idea (thank you, Pinterest, you monster you) of redoing it. I found Dale's sander and went crazy on the chewed parts.
What a cluster. I also dream of a beautiful entry way that knocks your socks off.
I need to mention that I decided to do this Halloween weekend. The same weekend we planned Waylon's birthday party. Sometimes I really wonder about my thinking process. Who does DIY projects with 3 little turds running around? Especially ones who "LLLOOOVVEE to paint"! "Please, mommy, please, I will be weeaalll careful." Every 10 seconds.
Don't be fooled. He maybe did 30 minutes of the painting. I did everything else. The taping, the priming (beautiful isn't it), the mixing, etc. He did help clean up after though and kept the turds out of my hair for a while. When I saw that primer I was almost in tears. When I started the first coat one about fell from my eyes. I HATE painting. I am a "want to get crap done" kind of girl and don't have patience for all the nitty gritty details that take so much time to do the thing perfectly. I am so impatient.
But, after everything was said and done here are the results. It's not a "knock your socks off" kind of entry, but a definite improvement.
Some day I would like to put up some Wainscoting and some bigger pictures on the wall. If you want to see my dreams check out my board for the house on Pinterest. That site is going to ruin me and my finances even if I do find cheap ways of doing things! Redoing the trim is something we will want to do soon!
I think I might have been in denial for the last couple years on just how bad it looked.
But these? These are pretty much "knock your socks off" with my little ham and his many faces.
He is definitely great decor! The hallway was next. I'm still getting used to it and will reveal that to you all soon.
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