Fuming.

I guess the paint fumes have finally gotten to us. We have just been soo... SILLY lately. It's got to be from days of painting and not opening the windows.

Anyway I am pretty pleased with the results. Here are the colors so far:

Xtra Bedroom 1: Lion

Xtra Bedroom 2: Sandstone

Kitchen: River Rock

Living room: Light French Gray

And I'm thinking of Martini Olive for the Dining Room.

Can you tell I'm a sucker for a good color name?

(It's the one in the lower right corner)

2 Month Update

I just realized it's been 2 months since we bought Ardsley! I can't believe how it's flying by. It doesn't seem like we are moving as fast as we did in the first month. I guess that's because we are now onto alot of cosmetic things and they take more time.
Anyway here's an update on what we did in September...

Finished both of the extra bedrooms - from paint, to new blinds, to even setting up furniture.
Painted the living room. 1 coat only - I need to do a 2nd coat..
Painted over the hideous wallpaper in the kitchen.
Pulled up 2 layers of old linoleum in the kitchen - put down new peel and stick vinyl tile.
New drawer and cabinet pulls in the kitchen.
Re caulked the tubs and showers.
Stripped 2 of the 4 walls in the bedroom.
Pullled up the carpet in the dining room.
And Dave started cleaning out the garage so he can build his work bench. We ripped down that wierd makeshift cabinet in the back of the garage - and found a ton of wierd stuff. Including a huge sign that read "Dr. Carl Hackel"

Wood, Jerry....... wood!

We had every intention of keeping that berber carpet. We even spent the money to have it steam cleaned. But after 2 months it was back to looking like a dirt road. So one day while I was at work I got the phone call:
"Honey, I ripped up the carpet in the dining room."
(Eeek!!)
"What does it look like underneath?" I tentatively asked Dave.
"Actually - beautiful hardwood floors!" Dave said proudly.
(Whew!)
"Good! because I was afraid -"
"- Except for one thing." He said.

Please see Exibit A:

A giant pee stain in the corner. Apparently someone couldn't make it 5 feet down the hall to the bathroom.

And yes it has got to be urine because it STINKS.
Well it's only that one spot. So I figured there's got to be a way to clean it. I researched online and found that you can wipe Hydrogen Peroxide on it and it will bleach it slowly. So I tried that for 2 days, and it barely lightened. So then I decided, let's just dump it on there and see what happens. I mean it's already ruined right? So I poured a big puddle over the spot.
It worked a little too well. Now I have a huge white puddle over a big black spot. I guess you have to help it soak in evenly.
Kara had a good suggestion. Why don't we just leave the stain - and that will be the naughty corner. "That's it - URINE trouble mister! Go over to the smelly corner and think about what you've done!!" "PLEASE NO Mom no!!!"

Rain rain go away...

It's like we're in some kind of wallpaper purgatory. We've got half the house stripped off... the other still on the wall... some painted over... some not... and for the past 2 days we've been trying to get to the house to finish stripping it, and we can't even get there - it's been raining so hard in Jacksonville our streets are flooded!! Some schools even cancelled classes because parking lots were underwater. Crazy!
Anyway, so this is the stage we are in. And it stinks.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO COME HELP STRIP WALLPAPER THIS SUNDAY (insert laugh here) I WILL PAY YOU WITH BEER AND PIZZA. Or our first born child. Whichever you prefer.

Before and after photos...Enjoy!

The back bedroom...

The front bedroom...

The kitchen...

We have paint, people!!

Very exciting to see paint actually going on the walls! We did one of the extra bedrooms first, because it needed the least amount of work. The color is called "Lion" by Behr.

I think in the living room will be a light grey/blue color... dining room will be navy.... and kitchen will be green.

I sink I'm in love....

Dave and my dad attacked the kitchen sink.... I love the new look.

Strip.... tease.

So the big project yesterday..... me, my mom, and my sister Kara.... we all stripped wallpaper off the dining room. If you've never done this in your home improvement history, let me try to explain what it's like.

It's like being made to sit in an uncomfortable chair, while the Spice Girls CD is playing in the background. You're starving and all there is to eat are some old soggy grapes and maybe old ketchup where it's separated and the water is floating on top.... and there is someone poking you in the eye with a plastic fork.

Just really uncomfortable and icky to the point where it drives you insane.

BUT we managed to get most of the paper off - the glue remains. But we've decided to paint right over that! Thank you mom and Kara!

Progress!!

The carpet cleaning lady did a FANTASTIC job! Now it just looks like a slightly used carpet... instead of a really tired carpet. And we had her steam clean and strip the tiles in the bathroom - best idea we ever had.

Yes, that's right. After almost 2 weeks of constant scrubbing on my hands and knees, I gave in and paid someone 50 bucks to finsh the job. You can call me a quitter, if you want.

So here are the before and after pictures, you can see for yourself......

Too tired to blog.

I am seriously slacking on my blogging.
I have heard from the masses - "What's the latest? What's happenning on Ardsley? We are dying to know!"
Well we are quite literally just too pooped to blog. Everyday after work we are heading over to Ardsley, we do projects until about 10 or 11pm, then drove back to Belmonte and crash. Let me amend that - I crash, Dave is up until 3 am. His insomnia is back, and it's worse than ever. I should just leave him over there to keep working.

So I apologize for not keeping everyone up to date! Here is a quick wrap up of what we did in our first month of ownership:

Got the yard and overgrown bushes under control.
Pressure washed deck.
Got the airducts cleaned and sprayed for mold.
Got the entire house replumbed from top to bottom.
New toilets, new faucets, new sinks - not a single old one remains.
Ripped out old crusty sliding shower doors.
Ripped up old linoleum in bathroom to find beautiful tile. Scrubbed for days to get the glue off.
Ripped down mirrored wall in living room. Sanded and refinished wall.
Started priming walls with Killz (thank you to whoever was the crayon artist!)
Started stripping wall paper in dining room.

And today the carpet cleaners are steam cleaning the carpet, and hopefully reglazing that old tile in the bathroom.

We'll let you know how it goes...Ta ta for now!