Paint and a Minor Demo

Ryan and I spent the weekend removing all of the stuff we did not want from the house. We have a charity scheduled to come and do a pick up next week.  In the meantime I decided I wanted to get up there and get working.  STARTING IN THE KITCHEN, it is official. This is where I need to start.

First I took down this cabinet.

The cabinet bothered me because it is blocking light in an already dark area of the house.  Plus it is just holding cups, I am sure I can find a different place to fit our glasses.  We only have six years worth of stuff, not 50+ like Ryan's grandparents did. 

I was so proud I had to take a picture of myself!

Better, more open, but now we see that terrible light.  Another problem another day.  Next I wanted to prime the walls to be painted.  This took hours.  I first cleared many many spiderwebs.  Then scrubbed down the walls, then scrubbed them down again.  Patched holes.  Sanded uneven spots.  Taped and started priming.  During this time Samara got stung by a bee on her lip.

Sweet girl just let me take the stinger out.  She did not even try to turn her head away from me as I did it.  She looks like such a goof.

Back to painting.  We started with a room this dark

This is just primer but give me a glimmer of hope from the darkness that was the kitchen.

More ugly light fixtures to deal with another day

And the constant reminder as to why we are doing this

What We Are Starting With

This is a project.  I love projects but I may be a little over my head here.  We are moving to Ryan's grandparents property in the beautiful Sonoma Mountains.  This comes with many benefits: the beautiful surroundings, the quietness that comes with 50 acres, wonderful cycling but it also comes with A LOT of work.  The house is very outdated and the land and house have not been kept up for many years.  Here are some images of what we are starting with...we are just focusing on the house.  The outside will come after I can be comfortable in the house.

Outside of house:  This is considered outside to me so is on hold until the inside is livable

Living room.  Beautiful view out the window, but you get to see the curtain that is covering the view

The kitchen and TV area.  There is a tight race for what to work on first, kitchen or bathrooms.  Both make me really nervous about moving into this house

Many awkward things about this house.  In this picture you can see that stirring cooking food will be a challenge.  Another strange thing (that Ryan LOVES) is that in the picture of the kitchen above you can see there is an aquarium built into the wall?!?

To be our master bedroom

To be office

Your guest room when you come to help us fix up the place

What We Are Starting With..cont

Ohhh the bathroom...where to begin???  Kitchen, yellow bathroom, turquoise bathroom....

View out the big living room window.  Only one or two lights to see at night.  I LOVE that

Ryan and I at the pond.