Matt and Bobbie's House::::::: Part 2:::::::

BEFORE: the living room wasn't in real dire need of rehab, but the sloppy paint job, dirty & rusted vents, pheasant and evergreen light switch covers, and old front door begged for some love. 

 We had new doors and windows installed throughout the house which helped matters immensely. Some nice bright white paint freshened things up and we spray-painted all the vents. 

Is this the same place? Hard to believe, I know. The hardwood floors through the whole house were worn and dirty. Step one was to rent a floor cleaner (a small version of what janitors use on gym floors) with a scrubbing pad and along with some hot water and special cleaner, we got these babies clean in one day. 

Step two was to sand lightly with a small hand-held power sander to even out the surface and remove superficial marks and scratches. We could have used a large floor sander, but didn't want to ruin the floors since we hardly knew what we were doing. 

Step three: apply one even coat of Golden Pecan Minwax stain. I was amazed by how the stain brought out the character in the wood and just made it glow. 

Once the stain was completely dry (I waited 24 hours to be sure) two coats of polyurethane went on to seal and protect and give even more silky glow and gorgeousness. 

Hmmm...I don't remember that sofa from before. That's because I just bought it! Yes, it hung 3 feet out the back of the Jeep, tied in with 10 feet of rope but I would have carried it on my back if I had to. For $100 at the thrift store, it is exactly what I have dreamed of finding for our new house. It had some ugly brown wood arms but a quick swipe with my jigsaw and they were adios. Hello, gorgeous. 

 Our Expedit now serves as room divider so the front door is not as visible from the living area. 

 The once-pink guest room now looks fresh and delicious. There are still lots of things to unpack, including art, so the pretty white walls remain blank. 

This is the air return vent in the hallway. Completely coated in a thick layer of dust. Enter ShopVac and spray paint. Fixed. 











I will be sharing more as we get more done and continue to have fun with our home. There is an entire upstairs we have grand plans for, as well as the bathroom and my studio. 

I would be remiss not to mention and thank those who have been generous with their time and helped us immensely. My sister put it several solid weekend's worth of work getting a lot of painting done (which I soon grew too tired of), along with my mom who labored over the filthy bathroom floor and in the yard chopping down a forest's worth of weed trees. My amazing in- laws have been more than generous working on anything and everything we needed help with, as well as a much-appreciated shopping spree at Menards.  We are so lucky to have our amazing family. Love you guys, and "thanks" is never enough!!