Before. And After, or I Mean Current: Part Two.

I know I know!  I forgot.  No, I shouldn't say that, I didn't forget to share part two.  I got wrapped up in projects and work related things.  My bad.  I'm sorry.

Totally meant to pop this out right after the first floor tour but obviously did not get on it and therefore I stink.  So here we go!

Oh but seriously, before I start, you guys, you should watch Patriot.*  Sure, I only worked on it for three and a half days, well, I'll be back there next week for two and later in June for four more, but it's good.  I read the episodes my help was required of and this is definitely one to watch.

All righty.  Where did I start last time?  Oh, the back of the house and moved toward the front.

Mike's office.

Oh that color.  My stomach is cramping.

One of the less smaller, yet still tight, bedrooms there on the ol' second floor.  It is now Mike's office and ironing station.  Heh.

Can't capture the entire space with my camera.  Click the post link for more photos.  And yes, the dead plant has yet to vacate.

Ah, the library!  Yes, the library.  I still feel like such a snot for saying we have a library but this room, it, it's a bizarre lot of square footage.  I mean it's what, 5' x 11'?  Oodles of projects in this lil' space.

Heh, lamp on the desk.  Um, zero outlets in this room.

So it's now our library.  Which has worked out superbly for book storage even if we only pop in there, or I should say I pop in there once every few months.  Mostly to get my eyes filled with the joy of black walls.

Heh, lamp on table.  No outlets.

Mmk, hall bedroom!

All these blow-up staging beds...don't think a single one was even normal twin size.

Two walls were of one color, two walls another.  I mean...why....?!?  Then I ended up with the incorrect color (though I didn't know it in that post) but no worries, I repainted, added the pendant light ahem twice, and the fun wall mural.  Oh and the barn type sliding door of course!

I know, the color looks gross in this photo but I swear, in person, it's better.  Unless you're Mike and dislike all brown paints. 

The hall itself?  Not much has changed other than painting the banal and reasonless-two-tone out and my need to still patch and paint where the insulation went in.

Before.

Opposite direction view, pre-barn type door on the hall bedroom.

The hall bathroom.  It appears I have no "before" for you.  Hm.  Don't be sad:  it was the lighter peach-upchuck color of the hall bedroom above.

Current status.

Can't say I'm thrilled with this.  Here is where I was originally going to do the temporary wallpaper.  It too has since been repainted twice.  Once to match the hall bedroom and the second time for a whole whopping dollar, a graphite color I much prefer.

Light fixture will hit the trash bin one day and surely I'll be tweaking further as I'm not satisfied.

Heh, no project is ever truly done ya know.

Ok, the master bedroom.

Wow yeowy yeow yeow.

Some paint, then some darker paint on the bed wall, oh the pocket door!, yes the glorious pocket door, my giant curtains.  Ah, the headboard, swoon.  The dresser I stripped and refinished which I loooove.  Love love love.  Again, way in transition, the whole room.

Better.  Gettin' there!  Heh, Finn and his crossed feeties.

Shelves and a light fixture went up in our master closet which is currently too disheveled to share with you, heh, sorry.  Besides, it's boring and white.  Yawn.

The master bath?

Before and generally current.  Sorta.  It's all still there.  Sniffle.

More current, view the opposite direction.

Still a work in progress and I'd sure love for it to be our next major project but, I think Mike wishes other things done ahead of this.  I know our bank accounts do too.

The new vanity has been uber-faboo and I love the sink.*  I seriously want to curl up it I love it so much.  That'd be awkward though.  Not to mention me not fitting.

Ah right, the stair.

So sad, omg.

Pre-new handrail.

It went from dog vomit yellow to foyer stripes then a happy shade of deep teal.  I made a fancy new maple handrail, installed new light fixtures (pre-blog), and painted three sweet portraits of dogs.  Yes, I know, the stair itself, ugh, cheap a** carpet removal TBD.  Someday.  Bleech, it's vile.

Anywhooo....Oh the front yard went from dirt patch to way lovelier.

Dirt patch, hard to see.

And today.  It's not perfect but it's wow, a vast improvement over a patch o' dirt.  I literally cannot go out front now without Pete the Sweeper coming over hence a photo from above.  Weinie move but hey.

And oh, the back yard has gone from nasty mud pit and weeds to ahh, happier with several summer's worth of grass seed spreadings, our spiffy patio, of course the deck which is crazy ridiculous wonderful, and plants many of which are finally coming in.

Last summer patio photo I believe.  We have more grass than weeds finally.

Just yesterday photo.

Oh and the basement....who can forget the basement.

Ouch.

Transformed from Scary Paint Land to workshop with my utilized-every-single-day workbench and the recent clutter busting canvas curtains.

Ok.  Kinda unkempt here, whoa, but I wanted to capture the same angle.  Man, gotta tidy up.

Mike mentioned to his brother recently that the basement has become All-Becky's-Workshop; kinda feel bad that I unquestioningly commandeered it all but it's like a dust bunny:  touch the workbench and the area multiplies.  Right?  Shrug.  Sorry babe; it's all for good though!

Long story short, Mike and I have been working quite hard to make this city plot better, correct the horrid, improve and turn the place into what it should have been.  Still lots more to go though.  Lots more to go.

Oh so much lots more to go, heh.

After being hesitant to start this blog, I'm sure glad I did, have a record of all that has transpired.  And I'm thrilled you guys are here reading it, cheering me on.

In the mean time we galavanted along the Riverwalk again, had some fun.  My fave photo of the day:

All that fun quickly washed away when the neighbor to the east knocked on our door at 10 pm last night.

We had a big rain.  He said he had a foot of water in his basement.  We had very little.  He's furious, blames us, Mike's grumpy with me for I don't know why, it's hardly my fault, everyone's pissed.  Yay fun.

Mike has now pivoted to resolving his main complaint, the water pooling in our backyard, in order to drive home the point, show him it's not us, not our backyard that's causing his problem despite his raging stubbornness.  He's an incredibly nice guy normally and we like them a bunch, please don't get me wrong.

At this point, after chatting with Mike and thinking about it, I kinda almost suspect it's his problem causing our problem, the reverse of what he's saying.  Ya never know.  Water, man it's insidious as Mike said.  But Mike is on it, researching, making calls.

So there's that. Sigh.

So.  Um.  Queen of Subject Change I am....

Per usual it went from winter to summer in a matter of a day so heh now it's too warm to work on my outdoor projects.  Ah Chicago weather....

I do have an insane table in the works for our deck.  Fingers crossed I can pull this thing off.

The first floor bathroom is about to restart its journey.  Thanks to our neat pal Gia (who is as much of, if maybe more, a power-tool-loving, re-doing junkie as I) providing a plumber's number, he capped those pipes in a jiffy and now the ball rolls again.  Time to pick up drywall babe!

Yay, all capped!  Time to close this puppy up.

(Leo the plumber is marvelous by the way so if you need a plumber in Chicago, let me know.  I now know where the actual water shut off valve is thanks to him.  But he suspects our neighbor's problem is much like the downspout problem we had:  too much downspout water at once into the catch basin overflowing into the guy's basement.  Sure, all speculation but it a. sure beats my busted sewer line theory and b. it makes tons of sense.)

Lastly, hey, happy birthday to my cool woodworking friend Scott!

*The Patriot link is an Amazon affiliate link though the pilot episode is free.  Watch it!  It's good!  And the bathroom sink is Amazon too.  Mwah, thanks!  Please see the "boring stuff" tab for more info.