Sweat Equity: Part 1

I'm pretty sure one day, in the year of 2075, Stephen and I are going to be that old couple that has a story about everything in our house.  I mean, we're only in our twenties, and already we sound like this:

• "I bought this on sale from the Target in Greenville six years ago!  It was supposed to be $25 but I got it for $7!!!" (yep. That specific.)

• "Let's just stay home and enjoy our new floor!" (Oh!  And apparently we'll be Stephen is  we're lame.

• "We can't get rid of those wine bottles!  What if we need them for a craft?!"  (Oh, and apparently we'll be I am we're hoarders.)

• "Remember that time we estimated a measurement for this desk and forgot to take the actual measurement, then cut all the wood, only to realize we were a half inch off on everything?  That was funny."  (It's actually not funny yet, but hopefully in 60 years it will be...)

Wow.  Friends, I totally forgive you for not wanting to come to my house.

But yeah, that desk comment?  That's a truth.  That we haven't addressed yet, because it has to do with a drawer, and building inset drawers are a pain anyway, so we decided to enjoy our weekend without stressing over a stupid drawer.  Okay fine.  Two drawers.

We've also kind of held off on desk construction because we have a potential move coming up, and there are some other little projects that need attention (leaky faucet, paint touchups, etc).  So I thought it would be fun to show you guys some stuff we've done around the house, since we may be getting ready to sell it sooner rather than later (which we expected!  Just not quite this soon.).

So here's a little tour of the common spaces in our home (I'll do another post on the other rooms another time).  Maybe you will decide you would like to buy our home - let's talk!  Owner financing available! :)

Kitchen

Appliances
While the fridge worked fine, I didn't trust the gas fumes coming from the stove.  Plus, we got an "appliance allowance" built into our purchase agreement, so an upgrade was in order.

Cabinets
I haven't blogged about this yet because they are with all my other pictures that moved to the island of Crashed Hard Drive, but hopefully I can share this journey (yes, journey) with you one day.

Island
Our first piece we built ourselves!  Well, Stephen built.  It only took him weekend, then another day or two for me to paint and stain.  It's my favorite spot in the kitchen.  Plans are adapted from Ana White.

Faucet
We initially replaced the 20 year old faucet with a cheap one that ended up breaking after six months and rotting out everything under the cabinet!  Thankfully Lowe's let us exchange it for a much nicer one that was on clearance (I wasn't kidding about remembering sales) and we've had nothing but bliss ever since.

Stenciling
I stenciled the kitchen wall.  Only regret is not doing it sooner!

Laundry room

Cabinets
In my top 3 favorite projects, for sure.  You can read more on that here.

Living/dining room

Laminate flooring
Hands down, my favorite update so far.  I even wrote two posts about it: here and here!

Coffee table
Picked up at Goodwill for $20, now one of my most treasured pieces.  Here's my tutorial.

Bar stools
I reupholstered the barstools.  Read more about it here.

Outlets and switches
We replaced these throughout the house.  Click here for a tutorial!

Removed popcorn
You can't pay me enough to rehash these awful memories.

Pendant lights
We replaced our share of lighting in the house, but these additions are my favorite.  We went from the ugliest light fixture ever (same as in the picture above) to two cute, functional pendants we use all the time.

Office

Clock
We took a look at this spray painted clock last week.

Desk in progress
Womp womp.

Yard

Landscaping
I don't care to recount my misery, but you can read about it here.

Update:  We got about 6 more square feet of grass to grow!

Bench
Stephen built this pretty quickly too, using these Ana White plans.  Favorite spot in the yard.

So there you have it.  Making a list like this makes me feel very accomplished, if not a little drained.  I thought I would feel motivated... oh well.  Maybe next week I'll have a desk for you!  Or if not, at least a life update.  I'm not sure which one I'd rather have.

Happy Monday!

posted by Emma