The Curb and Other Random Stuff...

The Dining Room!

I have GOT to find an old pic of the dining room. It had yellow walls and ceiling, and on the far wall there was AWFUL dark big floral wallpaper from the 80's, with a green chair-rail halfway down the wall. Then there was a gold fan with a Christmas ornament as the pull-chain. ICK! We stripped the wallpaper (that took FOREVER), floated the wall, then painted... but it turned out the wall was a little bumpy and looked pretty bad. So... I decided to wallpaper the one wall as sort of an accent wall, and to hide the bump. The paper I liked was $80 for a double roll, but I found this cute cottage floral print closeout for $8 a double roll. It matched the paint perfectly. Kent and Dad Eichman put in the crown moulding, then Mom Eichman wallpapered (thanks!). The chandelier was found at a garage sale for $9, and I bought the medallion at Lowes for a little extra class. So now I LOVE this room, and all the furniture was either estate sale, or family hand-me downs. The rug, mirror, and lamps came from Marshall's. I still need to hem the curtains, but need a sewing machine (which I have but forgot in California). Come visit and eat with us!

Video of the Living Room!

First, look at the original pictures from the real estate listing, then look at the new! It still needs some work (a couple of wingback chairs by the fireplace would be nice) but it looks so much better.

The Laundry Room

Our laundry room (LR) is tiny. We have to find a way to accomodate a washer and dryer, yet still be able to open the door to the outside. This is the primary way we enter our home, as we park in the garage and then come through the back. But, the washer/dryer will not fit where they are meant to go, because then the door won't open. There is evidence on the wall that there were once some nice cabinets in the LR. However, the previous owners ripped out the cabinets, put in the shelving, and then coated the ENTIRE room in banana-yellow hi-gloss paint (including the ceiling). And they chose a rosy pink tile for the floor (barf barf).

The last 2 days I spent ripping out the shelves, patching holes in the drywall, priming the walls, painting the baseboards white, and the walls the same lovely "waterscape" color that is in the downstairs bathroom. I went to Home Depot to investigate cabinets, but ouch! They will run about $200. Then, I am putting in a wide-plank chair-rail around the room with chrome hooks for hanging coats and doggie leashes. So I am not quite done, but soon!!! Here is a before and a current pic. The future finished product is coming soon.

The Downstairs Bathroom

Downstairs there is a 1/2 bath that was in need of a serious facelift. The previous owners had put in cute bead-board, but it was painted dark red, with yellow walls and a floral border. Plus, the bead-board was not finished well at the top and needed some more molding to look right. So, we ripped off the old molding, and added a wide border at the top with a ledge for setting pictures, etc. We painted all the wood white (taking several coats), and then re-wallpapered using some cute vintage-style paint-on wallpaper from Lowes. I used the color "waterscape blue", which we used in other parts of the house. We installed a new light fixture, new mirror, soapdish, towel holder, and TP holder, and... VOILA! It was done. It turned out great, and I love this bathroom.

First Blog- Monumental

Hello friends and family!

Some friends of ours (Mainly Debbie O) have encouraged Kent and I to document some of our home renovation, and general Texas experiences... so here we go!

The set-up...

When Kent and I came to Texas to look for a house, we had about 3 days to find one and make an offer. Our budget was 170k or less, which in Texas gave us a lot of options. It is SO HARD to decide where to live when you can live about anywhere, and we started plugging away looking at old homes, new homes, not-even-built homes, etc. I love older homes with some character, but the oldest home in The Woodlands is late 1960's, thereby squelching my dream to own a craftsman bungalow - for now anyway.

Kent disliked most houses we looked at, because he is one of the 90% of buyers that cannot look past ugly decor and paint and imagine what our own furniture would look like. Any house with white walls was his favorite. On the other hand, I am one of the 10% of people that walk into any room and instantly start redecorating in my mind, and see potential even in total dumps. So in the end, we compromised, and bought our home... ugly paint, ugly curtains, ugly lighting, but good bones and a nice neighborhood.

After some negotiating we got the price down to a fairly affordable amount, signed a ridiculous amount of paperwork, coughed up some closing costs, and moved into an empty house on August 28th, 2007.

Our furniture was 2 weeks late, so we slept on an air mattress with sleeping bags, and ate take-out everyday while the renovation began. Mom and Dad Eichman flew out from California right away, and the biggest undertaking I have ever attempted began!