Surprise!

 Remember when I said that Randy offered work to our painter if they needed it?  They showed up on Monday, ready to work.  So we had them start on a room that hasn't been my favorite since we moved in.  I didn't hate it as much as the orange room that we had painted last year, but I didn't like it.  And now it is gone!

I was on a walk around the neighborhood when they showed up, so they'd already begun before I got a good Before picture.  However, when you consider that the Before and After pictures are taken at the same time of day, you'll see exactly what I wanted you to see-- the perfection that is a freshly painted room!

Doesn't it look so much better?  It's not a hole any longer.  You'll notice that we don't currently have a light.  I'd rather have nothing in there than that old, hideous chandelier.  I am so happy.  

Because they had an entire house project fall through on Sunday night, they had plenty of time to do other rooms.  So we decided to do the walls only of our main area and upstairs hallway.  We couldn't afford to have them do trim, doors (we have 18 doors, inside and out), and bedrooms too.  We'll do that at a later date, especially since we still need to do trim in the Master suite.

I love pictures that show the lightening and brightening in progress.

Our house looked like this for two full days.  The house was picked up spotless before going to bed on Sunday, with thoughts of a nice relaxing Monday.  I woke, went for a walk, and came home to work already started, and Randy telling me we needed to get stuff off walls. 

It doesn't seem possible that there would be a light blue tint in certain lights, but it really does.  I love the color best in natural light.  With bright white LED lights upstairs in our no-window hallway, it does take on a bit more of a baby blue hue.  It's still better than the dark beige it was before.

They're going to take care of the speaker covers for us.  But I wanted to show the different colors that this house has had.  First, it was that dark orangy/peachy/beige color.  Then it became the beige we're covering, and now it will become the light gray.  I like to believe that we're making this home better with our choices, cause those two colors are hideous in my opinion.

The last part of our two-part project was the downstairs handrail.  Because it's seen from the front door and many angles on the main level, we only did this portion.  We'll do the longer upstairs handrail when they come back next time.

Tyson had been at a friend's house when everything was being finished.  He walked in and said two things: 1) It stinks in here, which it did because of the oil-based enamel paint they used for the banister, and 2) I don't like that everything is basically white in here.  The gray really is a subtle, light color.  What he doesn't really like, I love.  I want things to brighten up in here.  It makes it feel so much bigger, cleaner, and happier.

We're glad to give them work and wish we could have it all done at once, but we're thrilled at the transformation.  I'm also really looking forward to the day when we can have it all done.  I love this house so much.  It was my dream home when we moved in, and continues to become even more dear with each passing day and year.  We currently have lived in this house longer than any other home in our marriage.  I'm the luckiest girl in the world to live in my dream home!