home improvement

home improvement, originally uploaded by dogglips2.

We had a busy weekend taking down every last remnant of Christmas
{ shut up. when you have an artifical tree the urgency to get it down is gone. Don't judge } and generally improving the ol' homestead. Which is saying a lot, because we have been talking improvements for a long time and we never seem to have the resources to complete said projects. Here are some baby steps we took this weekend, preparing for the big momma re-do.

1. Bart removed the kitchen table last month in an effort to confuse everyone who walks through our front door. (not really, but it's a fun side-effect). Until this weekend, the kitchen had a big hole in it. Now we have a little breakfast nook. A gathering place. Totally temporary, but if we like the general nook, we may make a permanant one.
2. Ugly ass bookshelf gone! Replaced with an Expedit bookcase. When we bought it, we intended it to be used lengthwise to mimic the brown sofa at the other end. Who knew we would like it better upright? We may go back and get another to place directly across from this one.
3. Our new table! It's actually old, and Bart has been trying to refinish it forever. He finally was able to do it over the break and now we have a larger, nicer table than we had before. Of course, the chairs don't match. Another problem for another day.
4. This is a long view of the living room. Both 'halves' are fine, but all together it's still a bit off balance. The main problem is the giant brown antique chefrobe (?) in the left rear corner. It's huge and takes up a lot of space and doesn't want to play nice with the table right now.
5. FINALLY we re-hung the 'e's in Emma's room. It only took us 8 months. She also inherited ugly ass bookcase to house all her books and knicknacks. It's conventiently tucked behind her bed and doesn't draw any attention. Hopefullynow she can keep her desktop clean and use it like a desk??? Is that too much to hope for?

All new products are from IKEA (excpt the table, which is old). We got the swedish meatball jones and went there during the massive snowstorm, mind you. I am liking it. Everything feels less cluttered and cramped right now, and that's a good way to start the year off.
Happy Monday!