Let's Catch Up!

I have to admit, I got a little behind in November with getting ready for the holidays, trying to fix up our house, and getting sick. Then, as January came, I realized just how far behind I was and didn't want to even think about organizing everything to try to get caught up ... which means that I got more and more behind and the thought of digging in sounded less and less appealing. It's a horrible cycle. 

Now add onto that this horrible winter, full of snow and storms and all kinds of "fun" stuff. I am not a winter person. I do not like snow. I do not enjoy being cold. I tend to go into "survival mode" when winter hits. Last year was pretty bad, and I ended up playing a bunch of sudoku and reading a bunch of novels to shut down and block out the cold, grey skies outside. I really didn't bounce back until Hubby intervened and got me back on track.I must pick a different defense mechanism each time. I'm just so looking forward to that first real warm day. I think I might cry when it comes. Not kidding. 

View of our driveway in January after the big storm. I'm so ready to be done with all the white!

We got stuck inside by a giant drift. Couldn't open our door.

King of the mountain ... er, snow drift!

 

It's a good thing I have this little man to snuggle up to when I get a case of the winter blues!!

Not sure why, but he loves shoving his nose in the gate, lol.

 

So, let's try to figure out where I left off and what we've gotten done on the house, shall we? When I left you last, Hubby and I were "Living in Transition".  I really don't think that helps much with Seasonal Affective Disorder either. Still feels like we are living out of boxes and all crammed together.

As of right now, we still have our upstairs blocked off to try to keep the heating bill to a minimum.  We've also moved our bunny, Gus, out of the office and into the dining room. And then we moved him into the bedroom. We blocked off our office and have packed all of our bedroom/family room furniture into one room and that's basically where we spend the majority of our time. 

Let's focus on the bedroom for now... The bedroom is still under construction. 

For those who don't know, we bought the house in October and the state of the bedroom was not so great. It was half drywall and half plaster/lathe. The drywall was not taped or mudded or anything, just screwed on. There was some moisture damage and that had turned into mold since nobody had been around to maintain it. 

 

So we tore it all down. All of it. Plaster/lathe and drywall and trim. We would have probably torn the ceiling down with it all, if there had been a ceiling. We did have a tall ceiling, but we now have duct work from the new furnace we had put in, so we constructed a new ceiling, below the duct work. In addition to the new ceiling, we spent hours and hours trying to level out the studs. Apparently they decided to use them at all different angles and just smoothed the plaster over it. So after we added lumber to get all of the walls level, we put up new drywall. We taped it up and threw some mud on it! 

Hubby is getting ready to do some damage!

 

Tearin' down the walls with a friend of ours!

As of now, we've managed to get almost all of the mudding done and have sanded. We just have to do one more touch up coat and sand that. And then we can get to priming the walls! I am so excited for that step. I feel like it will be a turning point to getting our house back! But for now, it's drywall and a bunny tent! 

Working on the corner guards.

Taking advantage of the new ceiling, we installed a new light/fan... decided to wait on putting the rest up until after painting.

We'd like to eventually get some carpet in there and paint, of course. And then we can move our things into it. Gus will just have to be shuffled around until we get my office done. It will probably be the last room, so it may be a while. But Gus doesn't really seem to mind. I think he likes switching things up. And I do his pen area a little differently each time I move him. The only thing that would be a bummer is that when he is confined to his pen he doesn't have as much freedom as he did when I had the whole office blocked off and he could run around the whole room. But I still say he's rather spoiled. So I don't feel too bad! : ) 

Before, when he was in what will become the dining room... lots of room.

And now, in what is slowly becoming the bedroom. Not as much room, but now he has a fun canopy and an igloo that we got him for Christmas!

Now, as for color and how we want to decorate the bedroom. Eventually. When we get to that point... I am obsessed with grey right now. I've pretty much decided that our whole house is going to have a grey theme and then we'll liven it up with colorful accessories. Now, I will be the first to admit that I know absolutely not-a-thing when it comes to decorating and being able to put things together so they'll look nice. This is just what I happened to put together and I liked it. 

And this model isn't an exact replica of what our room will look like when finished either, it's just an inspiration board. I'm still learning how to work the website, Olioboard, but it has been such a help. I am a visual person and I have a hard time making decisions unless I can SEE what it will look like. So this has been a great tool. I really can't remember how I happened to find it. I think I may have just searched for inspiration board tools and tried a few. There is a free version and a pro version, but the free version is pretty darn spiffy, if you ask me. It's sometimes a little hard to find exactly what I want, but there are a ton of options to choose from and the combinations are endless! I highly recommend checking it out if you feel the desire to create an inspiration board of your own! : )

So now, I leave you with one of my all-time favorite things ... a before/after (or progress) shot!