Moving Right Along

I've been working on my rental house for a while and little by little, I'm getting things done and making it my own. My family has been a fabulous help. Friends too. We spent last weekend cleaning and painting and doing all sorts of handiwork. By Monday night (I took the day off work to finish painting and such), the dark paneled living room, which offended my senses by totally sucking up every bit of sunlight that came through the windows, was painted a relaxing shade of blue/green/gray called Zen with white trim. I'm proud to say you really can hardly tell it's the same room, especially after Christine and I set up the furniture. Now I just need to find my cream colored curtains (which I had hanging in my house in Rockford 7 years ago but are now somewhere buried in my Abercorn house, sigh) and paint the two big bookshelves that I got from my sister in law's great aunt, which I think will finish off the fireplace end of the room quite nicely.

This weekend my mom and step-dad come back to help me pack up more of my Abercorn house things, a job which is daunting both physically and emotionally for oh so many reasons. Living in two residences at once is confusing and frustrating, especially since I'm still not quite sure when I can move out of Abercorn and into Poplar. My goal is to be completely moved by the time Zan starts school mid-August so that he is going through as little transition at one time as possible. I think that's possible.

As for the Abercorn house, it's officially on the market- sign in the front yard and all that jazz. Disappointingly, we had to list it at less than what we paid for it six years ago- and we finished the basement after that! Financially we'll be taking a big hit, but after looking at how long all the other houses in our neighborhood sat on the market at higher prices before finally selling (and having dropped their own prices down considerably), we decided our only option was to undercut the current sellers from the get-go. So on top of all that we've been doing on the Poplar house, we've been cleaning and readying the Abercorn house for sale. Having spent until 9:30pm tonight scrubbing the walls and other surfaces, I can easily say I'm ready for even just one night where I do nothing!!! Not seeing that in my future any time soon though, LOL. That's okay, all that hard work just keeps me busy and helps me get through this a bit easier.

And now, a little less conversation...
BEFORE- My living room- dark paneling made the room look SOO dark and closed in!! I bought samples of the four blues you see on the far wall and settled on the one second from the left. I then settled in to the task of taping and priming and painting... it took MUCH longer than I expected. But then again, I've always been horrible at estimating how long it will take to get something done.

AFTER- Even though these pics are taken at about 1am (when Christine and I finished moving furniture), I still feel like the room is brighter! I want to get back over there on a really sunny day and take some good natural light pics.

I'm proud to say that I did all the painting and prep work in this room by myself, save the last half of the trim work, which Christine came over to help me with (even though she hates painting- how's that for a friend?! Awesome). The room is definitely a labor of love for me, but I think having done this myself is what makes me like it even more. :)

I have two [currently green] tall bookshelf units that I want to paint a deep chocolate brown to match my furniture- you know, in my spare time, LOL. They will be centered in the space that is on either side of the fireplace.

I also have curtains that will be put up and lots of decorative stuff. Yay, living room!!

I have taken a ton more pics of the entire moving and renovating process and am still deciding what to post. Stay tuned family... :)