Picture Overload

If you come to read my eloquent speech, this my friend is not the post for you...nor are any of my other posts because eloquent is the last adjective I would use to describe my writing.  We are in the new place and I am loving it.  I am not loving the loads of crap that cover every surface as I try to unpack and organize, but I'll get past it.  While I am rambling about the things that annoy me, I would like to add that most of the pictures in this post are blurry.  Drives me crazy.  I also cannot figure out a good way to photograph a room as a whole. OK. Done ranting.  So below are some before pictures and some progress pictures in the new place.  Be warned.  My house is currently a hot mess.  Now it will look that much better in the after pictures!  Setting myself up for success.  Also, keep in mind that we are renting.  So home improvements have to come on the cheap.  I pride myself on cheap home improvement projects and making a rental feel like a home. 

KITCHEN: Didn't take very good before pictures.  But lets just say it looked like Barbie barfed on the walls.  So that was the first room to be painted.  Plans for the kitchen include finding some artwork for the wall, a mat for in front of the sink, and finishing the new light fixture I put up.

Progress

 Progress

 Ahhhh no more Barbie barf.  The counter tops now look less green too.

 Much better

 LIVING ROOM:  I was nervous about the carpet and the massive window, but I think this room has some potential.  Plans for the living room include: Sewing new pillow covers for the wall.  Finding a Credenza to put the TV on (right now it is on a coffee table), painting the front door, hanging some type of art on the walls, and frosting the glass on the cabinet so we can store ugly stuff in it.

 None of the wood or trim in the house matches.  At all.

 Paint and curtains make a HuGe difference.  I would have liked green curtains, but didn't want to shell out over $100 for the fabric I loved.  So reusing the white curtains became the plan.

BEDROOM:  The before is the bachelor pad shot from before we moved in.  Plans include painting the walls, returning the target pillows now that I know I want to do the room in yellow, brown, and grey, making new pillows much cheaper, hanging art on the walls, and hounding my landlord for the closet door.

 Progress

 I am aware that I own too many articles of clothing.  Encourage me to purge.

LAUNDRY ROOM:  This room was disgusting and also painted in Barbie Barf.  It remains that color at the moment but will be changed in the near future.  I don't think anyone has ever moved the washer and dryer to clean around them.  I was going to take before pictures but I was too disgusted and didn't want to be judged.  In the laundry room is this weird closet that has never-been-updated wall paper and cobwebs from hell.  When I get up the guts I will clean that room out too.  For now I am closing the door and pretending it doesn't exist.  I plan to build shelves to the right of the dryer and paint the walls in here.  I also plan to paint one of the walls in chalk board and magnetic paint where we can have our calender and organize our stuff out of view.

Before.  

 Progress.  Massive cleaning and moved machines close to window

Now there is space on the side for my future shelves that will serve as our pantry.  To the right is the creepy closet with the furnace and water heater.

 The ancient wall paper.  In case you didn't know, the spine of a book is it's binding.  The wallpaper says so.

 What I am pretending does not exist in my home.  Gross factor ten.

BATHROOM:  I didn't take progress pictures yet, but here are the before.  We aren't doing much except for hanging a different curtain and putting some over the toilet storage.

The other rooms just contain out loads of crap.  Eventually I wan to take before and after pictures of the garden and those rooms, but right now I have no desire to touch them.  Here is a picture of some of my amazing friends at Joy and Nathan's going away party.

Now that I have put you to sleep with my pictures, I am going to head out for some Chinese food.  I am open to suggestions on house decorating/improvements, especially when it comes to rentals and not wanting to spend much at all.  Have a good weekend!