home improvement

(...insert grunting from tim the toolman taylor, here)

this holiday month (dec to early jan), my roomie is out gallavanting across the west coast, from la to hawaii. in her absence, i've kept very, very busy and done lots of home improvement projects around good ol' thirteen seventy one spruce. i am hoping she'll come home and not even recognize the place! (please note that due to lack of cosmetic restructuring improvements on the exterior house, she will, obviously, still recognize the place).

as a single woman with only a handful of tools (hammer, nails, a screwdriver, tape measure, and a fabric ottoman from target to stand on for a ladder) i am quite proud of my following accomplishments:

... took off old and replaced new weather stripping/sweep on the back door (so long, mouse house!)

... hung up (with actual nails) 'prayers go up, blessings come down' plaque in my kitchen.

... also moved three frames in hallway to the living room, hung up three paintings in the hallway, and a painting in the kitchen. feels so fun to have art in my house that i (or old roomie!) did!

... found and put up a window shade for the craft room window (see below pic for finished room and closer view)

... organized my wrapping collection (seen here, yikes!). now my tissue paper is all folded and color coded, my bags are organized by size and decoration, and my paper is tightly rolled. funny how one whole corner condensed into one little box...

... found tons of paneled curtains and ironed every.single.one.of them (while watching top chef, just desserts, goooo yigit!)

... bought curtain rods for the whole house (8 total) and hung them. then hung the curtains on most of them! (still need curtains for roomie's room and a valence for kitchen)


dark and hard to see, but you can see how good it looks!)



living room curtains. and josh's head.

... moved and displayed picture frames in craft room

...  painted a bookshelf and a lamp in craft room, as well as a hallway light fixture, to bring the color scheme together (yes, the color scheme. it's brown).

... painted all my old frames to get ready for new pictures to hang in my room.

... went through all my old pictures and got rid of LOTS of old ones (mostly pics from the ex,ex and ireland. interesting nostalgia).

... painted two old frames from the thrift store, hung ribbon on them (just like my christmas card holder) and hung them in the craft room for all my fun keepsakes and pretty things. it's my own version of an inspiration board!

... re-invented a leopard/rhinestone framed picture frame into a photo collection of paper birds. hung in the craft room, with the large, empty ribbon frames.

... found a rug, vacuumed said rug and placed in the middle of the craft room. it actually looks like a real room now. this is the finished room, minus the rug.

... took down all christmas decorations and stored them away for next year.
 
alright, 2011. i think i'm almost ready for you! bring.it.on.