Holy Renovation, Homeowner!

Our home updates have been going slowly due to recent schedules, but we're getting there (and by "there" I mean, "post-1995"). Some of my new best friends are at Home Depot. The associates are actually in tune with our projects. "Hey, how's that re-paint going?" or "Here for another can of knockdown?" or "See you Saturday for that plumbing job." I imagine by summer time we'll grow closer ("My wife loves your pot roast.").

For any of you updating your homes, don't hesitate to ask questions. Our methods are "Learn As You Go" and "Sh*t. I should've learned more before going."

Our updates to the
Master Bathroom include:
Completing wallpaper teardown
Plastering the wall with "Knockdown texture" underneath the wallpaper to match the rest of the wall (8 cans of texture.)
Priming and painting the master bathroom and water closet
In the pictures, the new gray wall coloring appears blue, but when viewed in person it appears a sort of stone-colored gray.

Still left to do is painting the ceiling, paint the cabinets (next to the gray paint they are now brighter than ever), new hardware, new shower door, new fixtures and probably repaint the trim. This will probably be finished by Halloween.

The National Home Center closed their Bentonville store so we snatched up a bunch of light fixtures at 75% off. Here's Troy putting up his first light fixture.

And then there was light.

This one is also a National Home Center steal.

This gem of a gas range is a Best Buy steal we had to take advantage of.

A woman had returned this stove to the store after using it. We considered buying it because they were selling it with a deep "open box discount" of nearly half the price. But we just couldn't get over the fact that it had been used. So Best Buy offered to sell us their floor model (never used) at the same very low price. We scooped it up and invited our plumber out to reroute the gas line to our kitchen, replacing our electric stove with our new gas one. Gas ranges are excellent selling features for home buyers. Not only do they look great, but "Foodies" love them. This upgrade helps us compete with other upgraded homes in our neighborhood and makes our home more attractive to buyers. Mmm... looks like someone's cooked up a delicious batch of French Toast.

With high ceilings, it's tough to fill the space. We got these at Hobby Lobby during their sale on wall decor. We may relocate them somewhere else when we reach the point of having more money for decorations. But for now, the iron goes with our coffee and side tables.

We also have an excellent store here called Arty Crafty. The long dried stems were purchased during their exceptional moving sale. The vase was chosen by my mama when she decorated my apartment in Birmingham.

Thanks to Dionne Haglund of The Shooting Gallery, we have an incredible wedding photo on canvas. And thanks to Uncle Bob, we have an insanely beautiful gold leaf frame. This is currently the only furniture in our gathering room, but it sets the tone for a lovely formal, traditional space.