After, Part 1

The "after" will be a multi-part series that will extend between now and at least Friday. See, I can only show you some of the after right now because other parts are in various stages of completion. So, for example, Friday I'll get the chair and ottoman for the living room that will make the furnishings for that room complete-ish, so I'm not done showing you the living room yet. And I need to organize my closet so that I can figure out where the dresser goes, etc., so my bedroom is not yet ready for public viewing. And the Nook... well, it's very, very close, but not quite, because of a minor setback involving needing to get rid of my old desk and then needing to assemble a really crappy desk to replace it (but, even though it's crappy, it was only 40 bucks, and I needed for it not to be expensive, so there we are).

Anyhoodle, I know the suspense is killing you, so here are some pictures to tide you over.

This is the living room as it now looks. As you see, I bought new curtains to warm the room up a bit, and I also put shades up on the front windows, mainly because with no shades my across-the-street neighbors, who really like to sit out in front of their house (they have no porch - they just have chairs plopped out in front, and they sit there most nights, and often past dark), can see right into my living room if I don't close the curtains. Now, closing the curtains is all well and good, but if it's not a gajillion degrees, and if you want to have windows open, guess what? That means that closing the curtains is stupid. And if you don't close the curtains, then the whole neighborhood can see straight through your house. Uncool. And thus, shades. As for the curtains, you can't really see how great they are with this stupid camera phone picture - they are a golden sort of color, and they have a leaf texture that is really pretty when the sunlight shines through.

Ok, so now, the next picture is of the Dining Room, which seriously took like 3 days to complete. That wallpaper. The filthy walls. The ceiling which we totally think had never been repainted for at least 20 years. HIDEOUS. So here's the room now:


You will notice that the walls are pretty bare and I don't have a ton of furniture in the room. I do intend to decorate as time moves forward, but I'm going to take my time. I'll post a few more pics of this room once I get the third bookshelf downstairs to stick along the wall that you can't see, and once I get the curtains for the window seat put up (I need to take them to get cut down and hemmed, but the rod is up so once that's done, up they go). Oh, and the curtains. The former owner didn't have real curtains in this room. On the one hand, cool, lots of light, and the windows are pretty. On the other hand, total glare from the windows at nighttime, and if you actually eat in the dining room you feel like the next door neighbors can watch you eat. (Our houses are separated by only a driveway. I do not live in the country or something.) And so, I'm putting up real curtains so that I at least have the option to close them. I mean, seriously. Anyway, though, I'm really, really happy with the green that I chose, both because it looks nice with the color of the living room walls and with the kitchen (which is a sort of buttery yellow), and because I really think that it makes the woodwork look gorgeous.

So anyway, I do believe that's enough for now. I have things to accomplish, like spraying feliway in my stupid nook because the Man-Kitty just said no to a) home improvements and b) my mother's insane whirling-dervish-style approach to said improvements (which I'll tell you all about once I get over the trauma of experiencing them for a week), and he expressed his dominance and EXTREME displeasure by marking his territory with urine. (And by humping Mr. Stripey, because when the going gets tough, the Man-Kitty apparently needs to show who's boss. And yes, apparently it's normal for neutered cats to do these things.) I hate the chaos of moving, but not as much as the Man-Kitty does. I know all of the above was too much information, but let's just say that it added to what was already a slightly stressful week with my mother.

(In case you were wondering, Mr. Stripey remains unflappable and happy as can be.)