Update: The basement

Ah, the basement -- the project I once thought would take me a couple of weeks is stretching out to almost a year. But now, there is progress. First, the before:

Inspection day, May 2010 (!!!)

And here we are today...

June 2012

Always a kitteh (he sort of follows me around like a dog)

Section by section ...

Look at my super-neat and clean laundry space!

Woody absolutely loves his rugs

Blackout curtains for all four windows

Runners from Crate and Barrel

Getting closer to finishing ...

Fun corkboards (also Crate and Barrel) for above the laundry table

Kitchen overflow (anything I don't use often -- keeping it dust-free)

Shelving

Benny checks out the kitchen unit

Who, me?

Update: The bedroom

OK, OK, OK -- I'll get back to blogging already. (You're welcome, Mom.)

I'm still angling to get new bedside tables, and Leeza has been commissioned to paint a piece for above the bed, but otherwise, it's just about done. Ricca came in and installed new plates, switches and plugs, as well as our new (itty-bitty) ceiling fan. I put up curtains, more pictures, and generally made the room look less like a spare room we barely live in. 

Absences

From one absence, hopefully another will spark some work around HoB.

Rich heads off this Saturday to sunnier climes, leaving me to my own devices. Without fail, this means I get more projects done around the house -- unimpeded am I to do as I wish, without someone underfoot/beside me/asking me to do laundry/wondering what's for dinner/telling me I'm doing it wrong.

I dearly love my husband, but how can you miss someone if they aren't gone?

So as Rich departs early Saturday morning, I'll begin the prep work for the yard. I've even been given "permission" to buy a new lawn mower -- with a bag. Leeza's loaner has been great and we're super-grateful, but with the new lawn down, I don't want to rake up fresh shoots once I'm done mowing.

And then I'll get my mulch delivery, and then I'll buy two trees for the front yard, and then I'll plant my "rock bed" on the side of the house and buy planters, and then, and then ...

OK, maybe I'll aim for mowing and planting the two trees this weekend. Mulching might not be a one-woman job, and the gravel will have to wait until Rich's return.

Also this weekend, I'll finish painting the ceiling in the bedroom (didn't do a hot job around where the fan will go). And then I'll put up pictures of the basement progress.

Yes, there has been progress on the basement. The hard part, she is done! There's more stripping-then-painting ahead, but it's mostly the floor, which is obviously easier than corners, walls, etc. Rich hates the runners I put down, but I love them. (He'll get over it.)

Maybe once we get HoB in spring shape, we'll get back to focusing on another project: ourselves. We've let too many weekends of pig roasts, Indian splurges, Thai extravaganzas, porters-'n'-stouts fests and the like get to our bellies, and it's time to get back into an exercise routine and put the kitchen back into better use for home cooking, which is always healthier. Despite the fact that our docs tell us we're pretty healthy, the weight additions can't be denied, and so: Rich will aim for a trimmer spare tire, and I'll aim to get my almost-Michelle-Obama arms back (or "wedding arms," as Rich calls them).

Ah, spring: renewals, hope and promises of change. I think mulch might be the only solid bet here.

Where the magic happens ...

It's still a work in progress, but at least it's down to the finishing touches. I still have to put in new plugs, plates and switches, find the right curtains and wait for the curtain hardware to be delivered; there are a few more pieces for the walls that I'll know are right when I see them. And the blinds have to go -- they are terrible.

Still, it's a massive improvement.

Before:

Inspection day, May 2010

August 2010. Unfortunately, it had been this way pretty much ever since.

And after a long Presidents Day weekend ...

Need to find the right ceiling fan 

... and a headboard

Gratuitous cat pictures!!!

A bedroom at last

I don't have pictures yet, but the House of Bich checked off a biggie on this year's to-do list over the weekend: Brooke painted the bedroom.

It finally looks like a room!

Amanda came over Saturday to help Brooke get a rich blue on the walls, and Rich rewarded us with porterhouses, baked potatoes and roasted Brussels sprouts. And plenty of wine, of course.

On Sunday, Brooke tackled the trim. On Monday -- it's so nice to have Presidents Day off -- she tackled the ceiling, which is no longer home to the world's ugliest ceiling fan.

Pictures to come soon -- time to get some long-awaited photos and art on the walls first!

Girl with a drill

With Rich away, I've been actually getting things done -- including touching up the stairwell and painting the ceiling. Thank goodness for Renee coming over to help; I may never paint without her again.

That done, it was time to finally put up the shelves and photos that have been sitting in a box in the basement ever since we moved in.

As usual, I had plenty of ambition to start, and naturally assumed that this project will take no time at all (an assumption I make with every project despite the fact that I know it will take at least six times as long).

Edited to add: Just to highlight the difference, here's the stairwell before we even owned the house.

Inspection day, May 2010

I did have the patience to make brown-paper templates so I could properly place the shelves and photos, instead of the usual "let's nail it to the wall and see if it sticks and rip it down later if I realize I screwed up" mentality.

I mark my drill holes (yes, I went and bought my own drill; Rich will have to deal instead of borrow) ... and realize that my walls are Damn. Stubborn. We'll pretend there isn't a new hole in the wall. After an interminable amount of time screwing anchors into the wall with no progress, me getting mad and wondering how the hell I was going to finish this on my own, I took a break.

A little "Project Runway," some sauvignon blanc, and I got my courage back.

Oh, yeah.

Somehow I even had the luck of starting a drill hole into an already existing anchor. I almost laughed, and then I made that wall my prisoner.

I can be a little messy.

But, at last, success!