Before & Afters

"Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine."       
                                                                                                                              ~ Robert C. Gallagher

The Ugliest House on the Block - no lie.

Bryan liked this house from the beginning.  From the beginning I hated it.  It was brown, it was a shortsale, it had an awkward lot and an ugly kitchen.  However, it had hardwood floors throughout the entire main level.  It had 4 bedrooms. And a very large basement.  We went back for a second visit. And I believe a third before I was convinced that a little "elbow grease" would make this house a stylish little home.  And I was super pregnant at the time and just wanted a freaking home by the point.

A little elbow grease, and a few eye appointments later (Bryan did not wear goggles while spraying and had ulcers on both of his corneas)  we are no longer the ugliest house on the block.  Still needs more love but we are on the up and up.  Even had a neighbor thank us....

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 Large Over Grown Bushes - No Match for a Large SUV

annnnd no after pictures yet due to it being winter

 My neighbor's son gave us a lot of grief for these large over grown bushes that were in the front of our house.  Never, at one point did these look good.  He suggested wrapping a chain around them and pulling them out with a truck, and that is just what I did.

However, maybe just maybe I should have listened to Bryan and had an "after plan".  


I did not.  Now I have no landscape.  I have rocks, and landscaping tarp poking out of the rock.... waiting on the end of the season close out plants again this year (totally score some great hydrangeas last year - but they are in the back of the house).  So yes this is an "in between" project.  Unless a landscaping fairy decides to show up and fix my mess...

UPDATE:
Mr.Vargas got tired on my so called rock garden... and went nutso landscaping!!!

 Just needs a few more evergreens and a bit of color to actually call this a garden - but we are on the right track!

Where did this surge of doingness come from?!?! the inspiration came from my awesome find of free Hostas off of Craigslist.  Yup, found them... planted them, and then Bryan decided they needed mulch around them... Annd once you start mulching you can't turn back.

  

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Emily's Room

This was one of the first rooms we redid, okay okay, it was the first thing we went after the night we got the keys to the house.  I put the man to work.  The wall was a taupe color and I was not feeling it.  So we went with Avacado from Dutch Boy.  Still happy with the choice to this day, no ODing on pink in this room!

He is really good at these Man poses.... It is like he new I would be showing the world his good looks ;)

I am sure there is a better technique - but we like to learn from experience in this Casa.

Our sophisticated ladder, we have since upgraded - but it worked when we needed it!

Me, over 9 months pregnant still trying to fit into my pre-prego fleece.  Not successful.

We went with a vintage velveteen rabbit theme, the pictures are from a book we found and like the illustrations, so we cut them up and framed them (frames were over 50% off at Michael's - score).

I made this!!! I was totally inspired by the butterfly mobile that Pottery Barn has a few years ago (think they can now be found at Babies R' Us now) and wanted bunnies.  It took way too long but I loved it!  Found a sticker with the shape I wanted - traced it a million times and cut the bunnies out one by one.... don't believe I will be doing it again.  Ever.

This poster was found at a craft fair that my Grandma and I go to yearly, this time Bryan came with and we scored huge!  We had already picked out the illustrations that we were going to frame, and then tucked in a corner we found this gem in an ugly old gold poster frame.  It was the exact illustrator who illustrated the book we cut up.  It was also from the Christmas display that the downtown Minneapolis Macy's puts on every year (and I just so happened worked at the downtown Minneapolis Macy's Corporate office at the time).  It was like all the stars were aligning for me.  It was the Velveteen Rabbit.

So, now that Emily has transitioned to a big girl bed we have a bit of rearranging to do but I still love this room to death.  I don't know if I would change a thing.  But this room I would chalk up to a success!

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 The Fireplace 

 So this update to the house took a lot of convincing.  Bryan was not feeling my idea of a white fireplace - not at all.  but as soon as he removed the ugly brass glass insert - I knew I had him...  He wanted to paint the inside of the fireplace to make it look pretty... well those soot stains on the outer brick was not going to help with the "clean" look he was going for. Score for me :)

   We started by sweeping or "dusting" the fireplace to remove dust, soot, and any random spiderwebs that I may not have gotten on my daily cleaning routine (please read with total sarcasm).  Mind you we weren't smart enough to move our shelves or electronics - not so smart.  I highly recommend doing this :)

 We used oil based primer to cover up all the nastiness of the tan brick and the soot stains.  We used the nappiest roller to cover the majority of the bricks but the grout proved to be a beast to get to.  We started to try and paint it with a thin paint brush and then became quitters. Next option was the spray paint oil based primer Yay!  Solution!!!

... and then put the small one to work....

 And this is our final result... Would love a new TV with less wires but that is another to do at a later time... for now we are happy with our lovely white brick fireplace!