By Popular Demand (or at Least at the Urging of My Little Sister)....

It's hard to live across the country from my sister. Whenever one of us remodels, or moves, the other just has to imagine the changes. Of course, there are always photos. Now that I'm posting the "befores and afters" from my place, maybe she will show me photos of the changes at her house! :-)

Our house was a foreclosure, and had been vacant for months at the time we purchased it. The backyard was pretty wild:

It is still a work in progress, but here's the latest "after" photo:

Probably the biggest changes inside were in the kitchen and the adjoining dining area. I remember floral wallpaper being very popular, and I remember pinks and blues being used quite a bit, but I don't remember the combination being used along with brick floors:

I hardly knew what to think. Everytime I looked at the kitchen, I laughed. Fortunately, we have a friend who is a contractor, and he had suggestions for us. I don't find my kitchen laughable anymore:

I learned that the fastest way to remove wallpaper is to use the steaming machine. It was well worth the cost. Even with it, though, we removed wallpaper for what seemed like forever! I have a tiny bathroom that remains completely wallpapered. One of these days I will be ready to tackle that project, but I still am haunted by memories of this room:

With wallpaper removed, painted, and curtained, we get this:

I do want to put in a disclaimer of sorts: I am a terribly practical sort of person, and I realize that I don't NEED much in a house. None of the projects we tackled were true needs. I enjoy seeing the changes, but what I love most in a house is the feeling of home.

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Ten Things of Thankful: Live from Oregon, part 2

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