out with the ugly

We've always said new floors and some fresh paint would go a long way in this house, and after this weekend, we're happy to say we have have one room, and the most important room, completed (sort of).  Our living room now looks like this, but we still have to install the TV, artwork, and some quarter-rounds along the baseboard.  It's about 95% complete I guess.

Living room with new paint and trim

My parents offered to come up to Portland for the weekend and help us get some home improvement projects out of the way.  Most importantly, we wanted to build a temporary fencing system to keep Basil in our back yard and out of the neighbors, and finish painting the livingroom, breakfast room, and downstairs 'office'.  We had painted the walls in those rooms before we moved in, but the wall trim and windows were so dingy and yellowish, the rooms still felt kind of wierd. 

On the walls in the living and breakfast rooms, we chose a light, warm gray from Olympic Paints called 'Whispering Wind'.  We chose a darker paint in the same family called 'Quill' for the office area.  And for the wall trim, doors, and windows, we chose a bright white color called 'Delicate White'.  The old dirty wall trim was so yellow, that it was making our wall paint look very pale blue.  It wasn't bad, but it was a little too blue for my tastes.

Completed breakfast room with vintage table.

Mom and Dad showed up around noon on Saturday and we immediately began finishing painting the office, and Dad and I built the fence.  Then after a quick break, we began painting the second upstairs bedroom the 'Alpine Shadow' color....kind of a muted seafoam green.  We ended the night by cleaning all the downstairs trim and windows with Spic n' Span.

Living room from entry hall.

Sunday began with taping the floors and walls, and lightly sanding all the wall and window trim.  Then we wiped the trim down with a wet rag and painted two coats of our 'Delicate White' in semi-gloss trim paint.  There was a lot of trim in those rooms, particularly around the windows, but we managed to finish all the painting and remove the tape and rearrange the furniture before meeting some friends at a neighborhood bar and grill that evening. 

We've still got a lot of work to do, but I'll be glad to have the living areas completed.  Andrea is still insisting we paint the kitchen cabinets, but I like them as they are. 

Old kitchen looking into updated breafast room.

We should have some electrical work done this week, and then have cable and internet service installed Friday.  By Saturday all initial work downstairs should be complete!