After the dust has settled (161)

Well, here is my first effort I promised of "before and after", my extreme makeover on my house...I will try not bore you with too many of these, but significant work has taken place here. Sweat, tears, aches, pains, maybe even border line revisiting "mono" as I did last spring, but all in all, I kid you not, it was also a lot of fun. And it ain't near over yet, but enough is done that I can share some of what has been accomplished these last 3 months since returning from Florida.....

I guess truth be known, sweet pea kind of planted the seeds of all of this last summer and fall, pointing out to me from time to time, maybe some "cool" things that could maybe be done to this house to maybe "upgrade" it just a tad...As time went on I guess some of it kind of sunk in and the guy with the brawn and back kind of caught the vision on just how nice it could be. And maybe I caught the nations "stimulus package ideas" of throwing money in several directions all at the same time, just to see what happens...Well of course mine being on a much smaller local scale but never the less, our effort of stimulus, for the likes of Home Works, Home Depot, Lowes, Menards, Sherwin Williams, Russell Drywall and even a few others, but you get the drift, it all cost mucho moolottus, aka, lots of bread....But we both did a lot of labor also along the way that probably cut our cost by maybe 40 or 50 percent....and some of the expense stayed in the family or went to some good people I also consider "friends".........

So to the right is the first two before and after shots...both taken from the exact same spot in the house with the same camera, but a couple months apart...off to the right side is the reference points the door into the guest bathroom, the heating thermostate on the wall and the "mickey mouse", light ficture above now slated for replacement some time soon...But in the lower picture you see the old walls arrangement of an entrance hallway and a door going into what is now the new "study"....aka office......several walls were removed, ceilings repaired so good there is no evidence they were ever there, a 22.5 degree angle wall was added containing a stained french door highlighting the room as well as the new entrance...some nice painting happened and staining, some excellent electical relocation work, lots of tile cemented into place, and of course the tigerwood 3/4 solid hardwood flooring all down, and actually as I now notice essentially the same picture spot taken on the third picture down of the hardwood being installed, and reinstalling the baseboards made it "home again".....and the house more functional, and opened up than before, I like it a lot...

So, how about we all belt out a couple verses of "back home again in Indiana", and call it a day.....

PS...lest we not forget to mention my part time doggy, Buddy James Pickerill asleep there on the porcelain tile in the bathroom...One of his favorite spots during the day...