Home Sweet Home

I have been asked by several people to post pictures of my house. So here goes. Lee and I bought a house in Woodway in December. It has three bedrooms and two and a half baths. (The half bath is in the garage...Does that count?) It was owned by an elderly couple that was moving to a retirement home. They wanted to sell it quickly so we did it with no realtors and we got a great deal. The only problem was that it had not been remodeled or updated since the mid 70's. I'm talking harvest gold appliances, countertops with gold splashed in them, lights that looked like tulips in botht he kitchen and dining room, wood paneling in the entire living room/dining room, and to top it all off, no ceiling fans at all. Now that may fly some places, but in Texas it is unheard of to live without a ceiling fan! So slowly but surely, we started working on the house. We pretty much tore out everything except the carpet. We left that in because it was still pretty new and nice. We started in the kitchen, ripping out a tiny oven that was mounted in the cabinets. We cut out kitchen drawers, ripped out the carpet in the dining room, and the flooring in the kitchen and all the bathrooms/entry hall. The next big project was tackling the paneling in the living room/dining room. It was going to be too expensive to knock it all out and put up textured walls. So we decided to put up textured wallpaper over it. We had to fill in all the grooves with putty and sand down all the walls. We had A LOT of help from family and friends with this. In fact, the house would probably be the exact same it was when we bought it if my dad hadn't been so handy! Anyway, once we were all done with the sanding and we had taken down all of the other wallpaper we were replacing, we had a lady come in and hang all new wallpaper. Then came the daunting task if painting. The house had not been painted since it was built. So you can imagine the dirt and grime that builds up after someone lives there for 30 years. Pretty much everyone we know came over to help paint. It ended up taking a lot less time because of that. Lindsay pained all places close to the ceiling or floor. She did a great job. Molly painted a smiley face on the back door and left us with no choice but to paint the whole thing! We had a good time doing it all but it was hard work. We finally got all the painting done on the inside and my dad and lee laid new tile in the kitchen, dining room, laundry room, both bathrooms and the entry hall. It looks so good! We got granite countertops put in both bathrooms and the kitchen and Lee and my dad put in a new tile backsplash in the kitchen. Our final inside project was doing something with the fireplace. It had been painted white over the bricks. It stuck out like a sore thumb! We found some textured paint (it had sand in it) and painted it a rustic redish color and it looks so good, it blends with the walls so much better! We also got nice blinds put up in every room. Once we were done on the inside, we (or should I say Lee) started on the outside. He ripped out all the existing flowerbeds and cut down a tree. He build new flowerbeds with large stones around them. He and my dad painted the trim of the house black. We have white brick so I was a little unsure at first but I love it! They also painted the garage door black. We put in a new front door. I LOVE it, its painted red with a large glass star in the window part. We also put up a new mailbox that is a Texas flag! Lee has also brought the yard back to an incredible color green and it is so thick! I like to walk in it barefoot. The last thing we did was get a fence so miss Macie can just roam around in the back yard. It ended up being a lot of work but it was also a lot of fun. The end result is great and I am so happy that I finally got to move in! Lee lived there all summer by himself and I made him sleep in a spare bedroom until I moved in! Anyway, you can use the link on the right side of this page (under where it says links "My Pictures") to see all kinds of new pictures of the house. The album is called Our House. There are a few before shots and a lot of after ones! I hope you enjoy and you should all come and visit!

Woo-hoo: To the incredible shoe sale Molly and I found this weekend
Boo: To my dad and brother being in Louisiana/Florida for an unspecified amount of time.