House Updates

There haven't been any major changes around here lately, but a few things that have been languishing in an unfinished state for months have finally been completed so I thought I'd give you an update.

A few months ago I packed my kiddos off to spend a week with their grandparents and I had a 12 hour a day paint-a-thon while they were gone.  At the end of the week I shared these pictures of all I had been able to accomplish.  I got a lot done, but there were still some unfinished parts that I hadn't been able to finish up.  If you follow me on Facebook then you might have seen me post about my sister staying with me last week to help out with some painting projects.  She was my minion for the week and finished up a lot of the things I wasn't able to get to.  It was probably the first time in my life I've been able to boss my big sister around.  :D

(These are the "before" photos.)

The upper trim in the school room had been caulked and primed, but I never got the chance to finish edging it in and put the top coat of gloss on the trim.  She finished that for me.  I didn't get to the trim around the window either.  She primed it, I followed behind her and caulked it, then she finished it off with it's glossy top coat.  She also got all the baseboards primed for me, but we didn't have time to do anything more than that to them.

Same routine with the trim around the front door, she primed, I caulked, she put the top coat on.

This little alcove had never received it's coat of tan paint, nor had the trim been addressed.  She put the first coat of tan on, I did the 2nd coat, I painted the ceiling and primed the upper trim, she primed all the doorway trim, I caulked everything, then she went back through and put the top coat on all the trim.

Same routine again for the trim around the sliding doors, prime, caulk, top coat.

I've only got 2 "after" pictures to show you because I still need to do some final touch up painting in some places before I can get everything put back together.  But you'll get the general idea.

Here's the living room view now.  Not only is it much improved with the dark foreboding trim gone, but it also looks like people actually live here now with pictures on the wall and such.  : )

Front entry way lightened up.  (Notice the baseboards, primed but not finished yet.)  This area needs a lot of help, it's very plain and boring.  But...this door almost never gets used so I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do with this spot.  Anyways, at least the dark trim is gone now.

We probably could have made a lot more progress during the week if I had been able to help out more. I did all the caulking, but she's the one who did the majority of the painting.  Why you might ask?  

Because I was busy working on this project.

Another "grain sack" shower curtain.  

This time it was a custom order for someone.  She had seen mine here on the blog and loved it and wrote to me asking if I could make her one as well.  I designed a more personalized layout for her and spent the week sewing, setting grommets, and hand painting it all.  I'm happy to report that she loves it!

I'm contemplating listing these in my Etsy shop as a customizable/handmade item.  What do you think?  Do you think they'd be a good seller?  Would people be willing to pay a higher price for something personalized and custom made?

Anyways, that does it for my house updates.  A great big THANK YOU goes out to my sister for all her hard work and being willing to paint what probably felt like miles and miles of trim work. 

 Love you Ethel!  :D