Around the House

I'm sorry, there are no pictures.  Unless you count the amazing imagery my wordsmithing conjures.  Then there are plenty! 

Over the last few days, Derek and I have finally gotten to some around-the-house projects that we have been procrastinating for one reason or another, and now that they're done we can't figure out why we waited!!  You'd think that having a handyman in the house would mean that projects would get done, but that hasn't been the case.  He's been pretty busy and I'm no help. 

The biggest "Why didn't we do this earlier?!" project was ordering the hardware for our wide baby gate and then hanging it.  I got a big gate at a yard sale last summer but since we didn't have the stuff to hang it, it has just been leaning against a wall in our computer room.  Until now, we didn't really feel the need for it.  Cadence used to be happy being boxed-in--literally--in our living room.  We had two boxes that filled the open spaces between both ends of our sectional couch and the walls.  But she got restless and learned how to push one out of her way making it possible for her to go anywhere and get into anything.  Now that we have the wide gate set up, we can effectively keep her in our main living areas safely.  Well, sort of safely.  Just this evening she started trying to climb up drawers she's opened in the kitchen.  That didn't work out too well for her.  But having the gate up is awesome!  I don't feel like I have to be following her around every waking minute.  I can actually get stuff done!! :D

Another project we're so glad we've finally gotten to is painting the rest of the hallway and BEHIND OUR TV!  You have no idea how many people who have come over have asked, "what are you going to do there?" pointing at the odd blank rectangle behind the TV.  We'd laugh and tell them, "paint it!"  The honest truth is when Derek was painting the living room, he didn't want to go to all the effort of moving the tv and furniture to paint when he thought we'd just be building built-ins that would be covering that wall anyway.  Well, the built-ins haven happened...yet, and he finally bit the bullet and painted.  It looks so much better!  

And so does the hallway!  When the builders built our house, they painted the trim and walls the same color.  A nice creamy beige color, but just one color.  We picked a darker shade of the same color to repaint the walls with and it really looks nice!  The doors and trim really pop.  We're even painting a section of our hall an accent color, deep red.  It may be too deeply red and we may regret it, but we aren't finished yet so I'll hold off on judgment 'til then. 

The best part (at least for me) about painting the hallway?  My giant family tree project!!  I have big plans for my looooong hallway wall.  I'll post pictures once I get it all set up, but until then you'll just have to wait!!

What around-the-house projects (big or small) have you been up to lately?