This Ol' House: Blood, Sweat, and Tears

These are the before pics of our living room--I realized I never posted. Getting the paneling off and covering up the damage was awful!

I've been feeling kind of nostalgic this past week as I've been working on the house. We've only been here two years--but it seems like so much has happened here. The old saying of putting one's "blood, sweat, and tears" into something is really true for me. I've bled quite a bit working on the house (due to my clumsiness--I have scars to prove it. Though, anyone that knows me well wouldn't need proof of my clumsiness.), I think I'm always a pile of sweat (especially when I was pregnant), and I've broken down to tears more than once as labor was approaching and the house was still a complete disaster area. It's been a good little house to us. When we bought it, the master bedroom door had fist holes in it, the bathroom door had a kick hole in it, and there was another kick hole in the drywall in the kitchen. There were beer bottle caps and cigarette butts in the weeds (aka "yard"). It made me sick every time I saw the holes, especially because I knew there had been a child there (crayon on the walls). For me, what really got me painting was the desire to change the feelings that had been in this house--to make it our own, special home. And it has been. Not just because of the new paint and trim, but because we started our family here.


PS. The above pics are the ones Andrew took for the listing. They give kind of a fish-eye view (he took tons of pics and stitched them together), but it enables people to see more of the room. When we finish the other rooms, we will take pictures of them as well.