Before and after. . . the kitchen (one more time)

Before and after. . . bedrooms

Before and after. . . the bathrooms

Downstairs bath before and after. . .

Upstairs bath before and after . . . (w/out the blue bucket)

Before and after. . . the living room

BEFORE...

AFTER. . .

Before and after. . . other stuff

Dining Room before and after ...

Laundry Room before and after. . . (w/out washer and dryer which came yesterday)

Attic before and after. .

Just a few other afters. . ..

"After" is almost here. . .

Saturday is moving day! And, if you can believe it, the house is almost done. Only by the grace of God really. . . only a few small things are left (I'm still saying a mighty prayer that when they finally turn the shower on in the upstairs bathroom that it will work--we'll know tomorrow if that prayer is effective. . . )

There's not time right now to post all the before and after pictures. . . but, here's a little look at the kitchen transformation. . .

BEFORE


AFTER

More to come!

There is hope. . .

. . . that the house might actually be ready when I move on August 2! Between the contractor and crew, the painters, my church home group coming over to help this Sunday, some other helpers here and there, and the good grace of God, it might actually happen. I am cautiously optimistic (but check with me later to see if it sticks!)

Pictures don't do justice. . .

Two exciting new things have happened in the last week. . .

Floors are refinished and really beautiful. The pictures really don't look as nice as the floors do. It took 6 days instead of the 2 I was told it would take (that put a bit of a crimp in the schedule, let me tell you). But, they do look nice.



And, the countertops are in! Again, they look nicer in real life than here. They are black granite. Very cool. I don't think I ever want to eat on them. And, I particularly like the note the granite guys left for the workers. . .



Moving day is set for August 2 (but don't tell the contractor--he thinks it is July 31). Any bets on whether or not everything will be done? Before you place your bet, know that the list on the laundry room wall is two pages long. . .

Floors halfway. . .

Slowly but surely things are coming together. One highlight is that the floors are being refinished and refined this week. Some are being sanded (master bedroom). . .



Others are going to be brand new (this is the kitchen and dining room). . .



This is one of the first times I can see the potential light at the end of the tunnel. Only glimpses though. Then some new problem is uncovered or a worker doesn't show up or something! But, I am now hopeful that I might get to live in the house and not have to brush the sawdust off my duvet cover each day.

Bonus picture: power tools in the living room.

Guess what happened here?. . .

Top ten things I spent money on this weekend for the house. . .

10. Ordered new appliances (refrigerator, stove, dishwasher, washing machine and dryer).
9. Ordered carpeting for the stairs and attic.
8. Finalized order for the countertops
7. Cabinets for the laundry room and kitchen peninsula
6. A toilet
5. Vanity and mirror for the downstairs bathroom
4. Shower rods & towel rods/etc for both bathrooms
3. A security system from ADT
2. Ordered the bug killer people to come in on Tuesday to kill the spiders (see post below)
1. Lunch for Don the contractor and me

I'll be eating a lot of ramen noodles in the fall.

Spiders!!!!

I discovered a very unpleasant and awful thing at my new house. . .

Spiders (similar to this one, i am not kidding) are all over the ivy and in the garden. My mom and I were weeding. . . my house has ivy down all of one side. It's bad cause it grows into the foundation and under the siding so it all must come out. As I was tearing it out, I kept seeing spiders. . . and then. . .ONE WENT DOWN MY SHIRT!! A big black spider (similar to this one, just to remind you) was in my clothing. I freaked out. One guy working at the house (not there at the time) asked me if I "got naked" in the backyard (i.e. removed my shirt to get the spider out). Not quite, but I would of if I couldn't have gotten him off me. I can no longer touch the ivy. I'm not even kidding. I'm hiring a high school guy from my church to get rid of it for me. I did warn him of the spiders. . .