Making progress...kind of.

Yay!  I finally got my husband to help out with the big project.

We worked on putting in the can lights for the family room.

This is me learning to wire some lights.

I thought it was really fun!

When I told my husband that, he looked at me like I was crazy!

I was all happy until I tried to put that light up into the ceiling and it wouldn't go in!

Ugh.  A giant sewer pipe right in the way.

DANG!  

So the light is still hanging there. 

Until we move the hole which requires much more work than it sounds.

Bummer.

Some before pictures

So right now I'm in the middle of a HUGE project.

Of course I forgot to take pictures at the very beginning, but this is where I am now.

I used to have bookshelves on either side of the fireplace.  I know, it sounds lovely right?

Not so lovely.  I promise.  They were big nasty oak beasts that took over the whole room 

and made it look dark and small.  

You can see a glimpse of them to the left of my bunch of halloween cuties.

The kids: Cute   The bookshelves: Gross

The trim is also 90's oak through most of the house. Ick.

And here is the kitchen:

 

Oak, oak, and more oak.  Disgusting.  Enough said.

The plan:

Rip out the oak bookshelves...done!

Paint the trim around the windows... just finished!

Build new bookshelves... in progress.

Add overhead lighting in the family room

Put up curtains

Add crown to the cabinets

Paint kitchen cabinets

New cabinet hardware

New tile backsplash

New kitchen faucet

Paint the walls

Replace the flooring

Replace the oak wall trim

Add crown moulding

Replace oak door casings and doors

 

and probably a bunch more I'm forgetting.

 

So what I tell people is "Don't mind the messy house. We're under construction."

That's a good excuse, right? :)

Well, I'll keep you updated!