Here is a room by room breakdown of our renovations. We still have a few furniture pieces to get and all the decorating in the nursery, but that will get done eventually. Lori was requesting pictures asap, so the lighting is not the best in all of these. 5:00 is what I had to work with.
Living Room
We moved the end table to the opposite side of the couch, rearranged the wall shelving, moved the college diplomas, and moved the chair to face the TV. New flooring and baseboards, new curtains, new bookshelves, removed the large armoire and put a smaller TV stand in the room.
Dining "room" and kitchen
We bought a smaller dinette set to fit off the kitchen. We finally eat dinner at the table like adults... but we can still see the TV while we eat. We removed the tile in the kitchen and put down laminate instead and painted the kitchen walls a darker beige. Still small, but so much more enjoyable to be in.
Den
We moved the armoire from the living room into the den and are using it for our office storage. We bought a new, smaller computer desk, and bought new window blinds. We painted the walls a darker beige and put in new baseboards. We also bought a TV for the den, and Alex is currently sanding and staining the stand for it. We will also be getting a small couch or love seat, which will be my perfect place to cuddle with the baby. We still have to figure out a plan for the computer wires. I hate that.
Half bathroom downstairs
We got rid of the awful baby blue walls in here by painting the same beige. We bought a new mirror and new light fixture and added a few decorative pieces. So much better.
Stairs
We had the stairs rebuilt to get rid of the plank slats type stairs so the baby would not fall through them. Then we recarpeted the stairs and the upstairs with a berber. The under side of the stairs is lined with new drywall, and Maggie got a new dog bed for her favorite spot under the stairs.
The Nursery
We painted a blue and beige combo and Alex hung and painted the chair rail. We also put in new blinds on the window. We had new carpet put in here and painted the baseboards. For now an empty slate, but we are thinking we are going with the Fire Truck theme.
It may not be the stuff out of Better Homes and Gardens but we are enjoying our new spot, which has brought us more peaceful and relaxing evenings, and made the house cleaner and less dusty for baby boy's new lungs. And we are proud of the tight budget we worked with. Big thanks to mom, who helped us by gifting us the flooring, both laminate and carpet.
