Brrr...It's Cold in Here

Leave it to us to move in to our new house on a day that began at -20 degrees. It certainly made for a memorable experience.

On Friday night, my mom helped me polish all of the hardwood floors on the 2nd floor. They hard woods will eventually need to be sanded down and refinished, but for now, the budget dictates we clean and polish them as best we can. 

The former dining room that is now our family room (aka "the pine panel room") is the worst offender in terms of the condition of the floors. It appears several large spills/accidents happened on a rug over the floors and the rug was never pulled back and dried properly. The finish is just gone in some areas.

I gave Bone Hardwood Floor Cleaner and Bona Hardwood Floor High Gloss polish a try figuring it certainly couldn't hurt it. 2 coats of the polish actually made a visible difference.

On Saturday my Dad helped us by replacing all of the light fixtures that posed a threat to residents and guests over 6 feet tall.

Heavy A** Dining Room Chandelier

Family Room Light and Fan combo.

Hallway from Master Bedroom Doorway

Bedroom Section of the Hallway (A second light. Yes, we had two of the lovely blue pendant lights)

Not putting a table in the middle of the kitchen...

The ceiling feels taller

It's amazing how much lighter and brighter the house feels by just making this change. I am thinking I will put matching hall lights to the upstairs in the downstairs hall as well. The kitchen and hall lights are LED lights that do not require light bulbs. The down side is in 10 years we will need to replace the entire fixture, but for $30 a piece, I think I can spend that down the road. They are very bright. I wouldn't suggest them for a bedroom, but for places like windowless hall ways or our 1 window kitchen they are perfect! We are even rethinking the shade of gray we will use in the kitchen because of how much brighter it is now.

My mom and I spent the day on Saturday preping and painting the Master Bedroom. Selfishly, I decided this fixer upper is more of a marathon than a sprint like our last one, and Jeff and I needed a retreat in our Master Bedroom to feel settled and remind ourselves of how great the house can be when we put in the work. Our old Master Bedroom never got a lot of love. As Jeff put it: "I didn't dislike our bedroom at Garson, it just never made me feel very excited."

What didn't hit me at first are two points:
1. Our Master Bedroom is HUGE! Awesome, except when you are painting it.
2. There are 4 doors (hallway, bathroom, linen closet, and closet) and 3 windows to cut in around!

Before. Beige

This picture of the Blue after is half dry and taken in the fading light around 5pm on Saturday.

Once we get our new curtain rods hung and finish putting the boxes away I will provide a true before and after. The blue is a really pretty color and works well with our brown curtains.

Sunday was move day. It was insanely cold. The 8th coldest day on record. The movers had to take the front door off it's hinges and even with the space heaters I put on the thermostat located about 7ft from the door registered a temperature of 47 degrees at one point. I was standing in the yellow living dining room by the front hall and I could see the waves of heat evaporating out of our front door like heat off the pavement in the summer.

After the furniture moved in, we got to work on the baby's room. we wanted him to feel as settled as possible. Here is a quick shot I snapped before bedtime.

Still a work in progress, but all of his clothes are put away and we started unpacking his toys. It was better than Christmas for him to see the movers bring in his things like his little chair and his scooter. It was a crazy weekend. We hope to get more done next weekend. I will try to snap some photos of the rooms we have gotten somewhat unpacked later this week.

On Monday morning, we woke up and looked out our Master Bedroom window to see this:

If that doesn't say welcome home, what does?