My to-do list

It just seems like my list of home projects is getting longer and longer.  At this point in the game, I have to choose my battles. Right now, the battle is over dust, dirt, and felines.  But as soon as that is conquered and we are moved in, we will start addressing our little nuances.  For example, as soon as you walk into the living area you spy this:

This is a built-in entertainment center complete with surround sound.  "Great" you say?  Well, I say a bookcase or fireplace would have made better use of this wall.  Believe it or not, we don't watch television and we don't have cable.  Occasionally, we may pop a DVD in, but that rarely happens.  Our life does not center around the tube so we really don't care to have it as the center of our living room.  I have a couple of ideas on how to mask or completely get rid of what we perceive to be an eyesore. 

Next up, the kitchen. 

 
I love the storage in this space.  In fact, I'm not sure if we have enough stuff to fill all the cabinets and drawers.  I absolutely love it.  We are going to take care of the wall color over the next few weeks so that isn't the issue.  However, the counter tops are going to have to go at some point.  The color of the cabinets . . . well, I'm tempted to paint those too.  My husband gave me a "are you sure about that" look.  Honestly, I'm kind of scared to paint the cabinets.  If I did paint them, I would make them white.  I have all sorts of ideas in my head, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they will ever come to fruition. 

Let's take a look at the master bath.

Once again the color choice on the walls is not my forte, but I can easily look past that.  The sinks and the vanity on the other hand, are not so easily ignored.  The sinks are shaped like shells and the vanity has no cabinet doors.  Those little white slide-out drawers are going to have to go.  I do not run a beauty salon so I truly have no need to store hair rollers and cutesy hair things for everyone to see.  I know exactly how I want to remedy that (hopefully it will work).  

Speaking of bathrooms, check out the bathroom my little girls will use:

Does anyone see what's wrong here?  Okay, okay look beyond the color.  Now do you see it?  Something must be done about the separate sinks, the mirrors, and that awkward space between them.

I think that's enough to keep us occupied for a while.  What do you think?

Just in case you're wondering . . .

Just in case you're wondering what's taking us so long to move in, I want to show you something. 

What's the matter?  Can you not see it?  Come closer . . .

a bit closer, I'll show you more . . .

You're getting warmer . . .

There you go!  This was on the back of the door to a bedroom (not a garage) that once belonged to a teenage girl.  Once again a case of pure yuck strikes.  I've never gone through so many scrubbing pads and sponges.  But see, this is not the best part of the teenage girl's room.  There is also a bonus room attached that will be my daughters' playroom.  In this bonus room, there were plenty of extra bonuses . . .

Can't see it . . . come closer again . . .

As if the textured wall isn't bad enough, do you see the little black hairs intertwined?  That is CAT HAIR!  I think this texture was created on these walls for the cats to scratch their backs.  I couldn't wash the hair out of the walls.  I had to sand it off with my poor little sander.  I think this deserves three YUCKS!  Yuck, Yuck, and Yuck!

This was just a snippet of what we endure day in and day out.  We are cleaning machines here.  Walls, ceilings, ceiling fans, blinds, windows, windowsills, doors, and floors are no match for us.  Our house will be a cat hair free zone.  It is so amazing what you don't see when shopping around for a house.  Sellers maneuver furniture and pictures to cover up their ugly truths.  They use air fresheners and temporary fixes in order to mask odors (which never work when animals are involved).  We knew we wanted to paint the walls and get the carpets out of there, but we didn't know they never cleaned their house.  I'm not exaggerating.  There was thick dirt and dust indicating that they never wiped down anything other than their furniture and counters.  I should have taken a picture of the ceiling fan in the master bedroom, but I didn't.  Once I don my gloves, there is no stopping me.  More to come later . . . And by the way, I still haven't taken a picture of the outside of our house.  We're too busy trying to get moved in first and that is all my tunnel vision allows me to focus on. 

 

Now it begins . . .

We closed on our house this past Thursday and upon receiving the keys, we picked up a friend of ours and immediately proceeded to pull this out of the house. . .

If you look closely, you can see stains.  What kind of stains you ask?  Just ask this little guy . . .

He was one of several feline and canine inhabitants of the home.  They also had a pet lizard, but I doubt he wreaked half the havoc those furry little animals did.  I was so afraid the previous owners would leave one of them behind.  Luckily, that didn't happen.

There was only carpet in the four bedrooms and the stairs so the  removal process went pretty quick.  

Rows and rows of pure yuck!

Next, we intend to tackle the walls.  They need a good scrubbing down (and vacuum) to remove cat hair and new paint to brighten the rooms.  I mentioned in a previous post that I have no desire to live in darkness and these walls scream it . . .

Sorry about the glare, but there are so many windows.  

It does feel quite overwhelming at times, but I am excited about this (so excited I forgot to take a picture of the outside of the house).  This is our home and it is going to look awesome once we clean it, paint it, lay down new flooring (NO carpet), and finally move in.  The outdoor stuff such as landscaping and painting the exterior will come in time.  I will do my best to document as we make these incredible transformations.