More Befores and Afters

Now that the holidays are over, I feel that I can really start all the winter projects in earnest.  I've done a few small ones; touch up painting, cleaning out and reorganizing all the freezers and fridges (we have five), things like that.  The upholsterer finished the dining room slip covers and now I have to find fabric for the curtains in that room and either hire or make new ones myself.

You can see the curtains here that we are going to  replace.  The wall color is still in question - leave red because it really does look pretty in this room or pick a new one - I love pondering paint color!

Last year, and I didn't even blog about it, I redid the little game room and powder room off our downstairs family room aka the Smoking Room.  Here are befores and afters. Some of the befores of the game room/powder room are how they looked before we even bought the house and others are after we moved in but hadn't finished the redo.

 Above is where we put in the new sink but hadn't started the remodel of the rest of the rooms.  Below are the afters.  The game room is a tiny room that is located between the very large family room and the cellar.  The sink is in the game room and the wash room contains the toilet (I know that doesn't make sense but the sign was already on the door).  Both of these rooms were a dirty dark beige color with holes and chips and lots of exposed pipe.  Now they are freshly painted, I built shelves, patched and repaired all the walls, the wooden floors were refinished (not by me), new plumbing and light fixtures were installed and I hung all of my old blue transferware plates in the wash/powder room.  Now they are both cheery and cheer.  The shelves hold games, toys, and books for visiting little people and the bathroom is handy for both the family room and the pool that is just outside the family room.

 The wash room door goes into where the toilet is located and the door on the right goes into the cellar where we keeps odds and ends, tools, all the freezers and fridges, food storage, the "appliance center", and the furnace that reminds me of the one on the original Home Alone movie.

I painted the marble picture last winter.

I painted that little boat last winter too.

Now, for even more exciting befores and afters.  During December while my son and his wife were in Washington state for Christmas, we hired a contractor to remodel the bathroom in the Barn apartment over at the Yellow House property.  It turned out great!

 The three above are the befores

My kids, the tenants, will repaint the walls and the vanity - the vanity once resided in the Rye House.

Now for some projects that I have calendared for January and February.  I've penciled in what dates they will get done and I have to obey the calendar.  When I do this, I can't make any excuses or schedule any thing else to get in the way.  I'm going to …..

 This dish cupboard, top and bottom is going to be painted a color not yet firmly decided - I will just surprise you.  I bought the bottom cupboard in 1989 and the top piece at an antique shop in 2002.  This room is what we call the butler's pantry off of the kitchen.

 The cookbook cabinet in the butler's pantry is going to be painted red.  The bottom drawer in that cupboard smells divine!  It holds all our our essential oils used for the potpourri bowls all over the house as well as scented candles that I melt and burn in little bowls.

 This old armoire in the Queen Room is going to be painted a color not yet decided.  I bought this at an antiques shop in 2008.  I also just gave that plant a big hair cut!

When I bought the Yellow House back in 1998, the previous owner left the rag rug you see below with the house and told me she had made in over 30 years previous.  That makes the rug about 50 years old!  It is now in the Rye House at our feet in the kitchen below the sink.  It's made of old wool and cotton strips and it's been washed numberless times and is reversible.  I appreciate Katherine Frazer's project and handiwork that we now possess and enjoy.