Never Underestimate The Power in Overscheduling The Living Hell Out Of Yourself. Holy Crap.

I think that Jackson Browne sang it best with, "Running on - Running on Empty."  I feel like a zombie.  A painted, stained, dirty clothed, icky, no-makeup-in-three-days zombie.

I started out this project pretty ambitious, no?  I did, really.  Because in the past I have had no problem tearing out an entire new room in two day's time.  What I failed to see this time around was that I was not just painting a room.  I was actually working with two rooms, a hallway, a stairway, two portions of wall that needed to be replaced, making curtains, new shelving, new bedding, closet floor tile, new carpet...  You get the idea. 

Insanity!

We have really accomplished a lot in the last three days.  (Is that all it's been?  Three days??)  I have put a good 10+ hours work each day into it, and I've made hella progress.  Kevin and my dad worked Saturday morning and most of the day Sunday, and they too made hella progress.  How about some befores and afters?  (I'll save the "still to do's" for the end.)

Stairway lighting, before:

Truly classy, and timeless as well, no?

Here's the after:

Bedroom & Sitting Room ceiling lighting, before:

And after:

You saw the one wall when it was a terribly, horribly, awfully built-in dresser:

Then when Kevin built my poor cat into it:

And now a finished, painted project (minus hooks that still have to go up)

For the colors I went with a cool green, light khaki and a basic white to make the trim pop.  You kind of get the idea from this picture, with all three colors:

Turning around, here's the Steepest Stairs Ever Built On The Planet Amen, before:

And after, they are still as steep as ever, but the walls and ceiling have been painted, new shelves cut and stained, and the railing stained.  The upper stairs still need to be repainted.  Ignore the mess.  And the collection of nearly 600 cd's?  Has been cut down to about 100 with a remaining 500 waiting to be loaded into iTunes and sold for a sweet profit.  (Go us!)

You see those little pink and green specks at the top of the stairs?  It's where KJ hides when he sneaks Valentine's candy.  Too bad he never remembers to take his little foil wrappers down with him.

The paint part has definitely been the longest, and most tedious part.  The trim goes on for miles and miles.  Here's Sant's room before:

This is green, about 18 hours in, where death was near certain.  (Though I did not perish!)

And after the paint (still needs curtains, closet drapes, bedding, carpeting, etc.)

   

The sitting room pre-paint:

And post-paint (again, missing all the details)

In case you cannot tell, it makes me cringe to show you this project half-finished.  Originally I estimated four to seven days to completion, but thanks to Lowe's 10 to 14 day estimate on our carpeting order and the limitations of my physical self, this may go a full two weeks.  Which is very sad, and very taxing on my OCD-wired brain. 

Now that the painting and staining is almost finished, I can move on to sewing window treatments and closet covers, and tiling closet floors.  Then I'll work on finishing touches.  By the time this project is through I will either go into the house-flipping business or never want to see another can of paint in my life again.  Until I have to paint the entire main floor of this house before we hit the market in July.  You know. 

Comments

[SJ]

I absolutely LOVE it! What a great transformation, you should be so proud! I can't wait to see the final product with all the 'details' but I already know that I'm going to LOVE it! :)

[Frema]

Boy, I love that shade of green. Is that the same green you used in KJ's room? Either way, it's fabulous. Just wait 'til you've got the carpet and drapes installed. Then you'll have to pull Sant out of there with your cold, dead hands.

But you should give yourself a break now. Instead of sewing tonight, you should totally hash out BlogHer hotel reservations with ME.

[Rachel]

It looks great! You guys have done really well. I would love to have done that in my old house, but, when it comes down to it, I just don't have the patience and I get side tracked easily. Also, we didn't own the house, so why bother putting my hard work into it only to move and someone else make a profit, pfft!

[Erica]

It looks really nice. You have got skills girl! We are getting our house ready to put on the market in a couple of weeks and I am guarding our walls like they were the crown jewels. LOL, hard to do w/ 3 grimy children running around.

[Bethany]

I love the green. You are amazing, all of that would have taken me three months to do.

[Sant]

love love LOVE IT! I could not believe the transformation when I walked in! I would invite guests just to come over and sit! All that it's missing is a fireplace, and it really is it's own little apartment (well, minus the kitchen and bathroom, but we'll let those slide... and not down the steepest stairs ever built amen that will no longer be as noticable an issue with such an awesomely HOT upstairs going on)!!! In case you cannot tell, I think what you've done is lovely, and much like the Designed to sell houses, you've been doing things to this house in recent weeks that make me want to stay forever (though not).

Wonderful, wonderful job, ideas, color scheme- you name it! Well done Low, well done all of you:)

[Number Twelve]

I absoltely LOVE LOVE the color choices. You're a mess-flippin' machine I tell you ... A MACHINE!

[Stacey]

You guys are awesome. But I am very, very exhausted after reading about alllll that WORK!

[Amy W]

Very awesome, hopefully you will sell it for a big fat profit.

I am also embarking on a sewing project! After a quote of $4,000 for curtain for 4 rooms, I decided, dammit, I am doing it myself. I have bought the fabric and will show everyone when I do it!

[Silly Hily aka The Hilarazzi]

Holy shishkibob. You are a-freakin-mazing! It is looking so, so, so good. I adore popping trim with all my heart. And it is most definitely popping. I LOVE that green color. Go on with your bad self, girl.