Home Improvements!

We wanted to show some of the many home improvements that we were able to do around the house with the help of Lauren's father, Dale, during the trip that he and Jennifer made to see us (and the puppy, of course)!

The first major project was to repaint the entire living room, main hallway and entryway, and one of the bedrooms. The living room and hallway areas mostly had scuffs and other imperfections (where pictures and curtain rods had been hung and later repaired, for instance), and the bedroom had more of the same and was a light blue that we didn't care too much for. Luckily, the previous owners left us a bucket of paint for nearly every room in the house, so getting a color match was a breeze.

After the paint dried, Lauren's decorating skills went to work. She and her mom, Jennifer, did a fantastic job shopping and found both a bookcase and mirror that matched the living room décor that we had already. They even found a pair of lamps that went with the wrought iron look of our coffee and side tables. I was very impressed.

Here is a quick picture of the formerly blue room, now home to our bookshelves and other odds and ends!

Next up after the painting was some electrical work. Dale showed off his skill in tracing down voltages and putting in switches, and even hung a brand new ceiling fan in our bedroom. It helped solve two problems we were having; the bedroom didn't have a light fixture that worked via the switch at the door, and it meant that we could pack up the floor fan that was previously in our bedroom and get it out of there! Bravo!

One of the last projects that Dale completed before heading home was to help us wire and mount some new lighting fixtures in the hallway and dining room. Lauren once again came through on the decorating front and showed that she knows exactly the look she wants to create and is able to find items to make it happen. Below you'll find the dining room light fixture followed by the hallway fixture, with one more (not pictured) still to wire and mount.

That's all for now, but the decorating work has been a real work in progress the past few weeks. As soon as we're able to wrap up some of the other projects that Lauren's parents were kind enough to help us start, we'll be back with another update. Thanks for reading!