110 hours later...

The house renovations are coming along nicely! We've had a couple minor set backs (ask my husband about his first experience laying tile!), but overall things are going well. We've accomplished a lot in the 100+ hours we've put into it so far. All the painting is DONE (can I get an AMEN?!), all we have to do now is use a paint pen to cover the nails we're putting in the freshly painted base boards. But of course, when I say done, that doesn't mean we've attempted the bathrooms and bedrooms yet... done means the foyer, dining room, kitchen, living room, and down the hall. :) Done means all the trim and those pesky base boards are painted, which was quite a task. Done means the areas our guests will see the most, ha!

The kitchen floor is tiled and will get grout on Tuesday night. The new dining room floor is installed, we just have to finish taking it into the living room, foyer, and down the hall... I cannot wait! The dining room is beautiful and so far, my favorite room. My second favorite will be the kitchen. I've removed the cabinet doors, washed them, and installed new hinges and handles. It makes the doors look brand new and I am so very excited about this. They were looking pretty dodgy. I had my first experience painting using ragging and it was a lot of fun. Not nearly as difficult as one may think. My kitchen looks like a tuscan coffee house. :)

Overall, we are thrilled with how the renovations are coming along. We love our oversized windows and screened in porch. I love that we can sit outside and see every star in the sky. I love laying in the grass with Lily and just looking up at the dark night sky. It's wonderful. I love talking about the house, looking at the house, transforming the house... it's really a dream come true for us.

My goal for 2009 is to have the rest of the upstairs painted before Christmas. I'll start with the hall bathroom in the spring (eh, maybe February), and then work my way onward from there. Once the upstairs is completely painted, we'll start working on the floor. We're still deciding if we want to do the same floor from the rest of the upstairs into the bedrooms. I'd love to, but we'll see. We may just install newer carpet at some point.

Hopefully in 2010, we'll begin working on the basement. We have some exciting ideas for the basement and it's definitely going to take the longest to transform because it'll have to wait on a bigger budget.

Overall, things are awesome! I'll have some photos soon. :)