Home Improvements

My house was pretty awesome before, but now that we've started some *very minor* improvements I've  experienced quite the rewarding feeling.

The home needed some basic elements such as blinds, curtains, and a washer & dryer. However, The Husband isn't handy, and although I like to think I could be handy... it's not really true.  We only owned 2 screwdrivers and I'm not sure what we used those for when we lived in the apartment.

The weekend before we closed Hubs went to Home Depot and picked out his very own electric drill.  And my-oh-my... I had no idea how sexy the husband could look holding a power tool.  Love him.

Back to my point... handy jobs aren't our forte.  (and aren't handy jobs so... ummm... 9th grade?)

However, the husband stepped up and installed our washer and dryer all on his own with very limited cursing.  He didn't even flood the house one time.  :::proud:::

The blazing Texas sun floods this house, making window coverings a necessity.  I was still price comparing the 2'' blinds I wanted, so I picked up enough curtain rods and finials for every window in the house (clearance, baby).  We 'recycled' as many of the curtains from our apartment as possible, but most of the windows in the new house are so large - they couldn't work.  I ended up buying curtains for the master bedroom and the dining room and we hung old curtains in the playroom and the 2 extra bedrooms.

Master Bedroom.  Look how perfectly those "kiss" the floor.  The Husband is a curtain hanging rockstar.  

These curtains are pretty awesome (and wrinkled).  They are blackout curtains and keep our room significantly cooler during the day.  

The Playroom.  These curtains were in our living room at the apartment.  I would have loved to buy new ones that were a little bit longer, so I could hang the whole thing about 5 inches higher... but I couldn't justify the money.  

I could justify the money on finials that were marked down to $6.99/set.  Apparently the clearance at Bed Bath and Beyond gave everyone the same idea so there wasn't 11 of any style that I liked.  I ended up buying these squared finials for all of the bedrooms, and the rounded balls (below) for all of the open space areas:  dining room, living room, playroom, etc.  All rods and finials are oil rubbed bronze to match the hardware through the home.  

Dining Room finials.  

On Tuesday the 2'' faux wood blinds arrived and the husband insisted HE could install them and scoffed at paying someone $118 for the entire house.  Who was this man of confidence?  I was ready to pull out the checkbook and pay someone for that job... but apparently the husband found handy jobs rewarding.  (Oh, the irony).

Look at what a fantastic job the husband has done.  He got the blinds onto the windows that don't have curtains pretty quickly (privacy, yo), but hopefully he'll finish soon.  Hanging blinds is actually so much easier than I imagined.  (Says the onlooker that won't even climb that ladder to try).

 

Living Room

Back Entry Way

Kitchen

As you can see, there is still much more curtain and blind hanging in our near future.

I have also been super busy trying to seal all the grout.  There is loads of tile, and sealing it is important to keep it from staining since grout is much more porous than the ceramic tile.  I think I've gone over the whole house once... but I still need to hit the "wet" areas (bathrooms, kitchen, laundry room) for a second round.  

Let's do a few "let's get real" photos.  My house is a disaster.  I would say we're 85% unpacked... but there is shit everywhere.  I'm still trying to figure out where everything belongs.

This week has been super busy and we already have list going of additional items we need to do.  We really would like to stain and seal the back patio decking and stairs.  We also need to mow our yard for the first time.  Plus, the never ending chore of unpacking!