My dream closet

The first of the rooms that I actually remembered to photograph now that it's (mostly) done:  my closet!

Okay, our closet.  Joe's stuff is in here, too.

Before, with peach walls and random hooks over the windows:

And a shot of the truly hideous wall paper that was on one wall.  It's a tough call, but this might be the ugliest wallpaper I had the joy of tearing down.

And the after.  I repainted with a cheerful blue-green on all of the walls.  We decided against any structural changes to make it attached to the master bedroom or build in the shelves since most people wouldn't devote what was obviously a bedroom to nothing but clothes.  It's right next door, it takes about five extra steps to walk over.  The next people to own this house are going to think we're crazy enough and it would wreck the resale value. 

Left wall is all of the hanging clothes, drawers for stuff that doesn't hang up well (socks, tee shirts, undies) across the back, and the right side is mostly my stuff.  We still have a printer cart tucked up next to the door that will probably get moved upstairs to the offices at some point so I can have a spot for hanging up the long stuff.

  
 My vanity, with hooks for my necklaces.  My bathroom is too darn small for a lot of this, so it's nice to have the girly stuff all together.

One entire wall is devoted to hanging space.  Top row is Joe's, bottom row is mine.  And the green basket is Cowboy's portable bed.  If he's napping, it's easier to just move him from room to room in the bed rather than wake him up.  I still need to find a storage solution for my shoes.

Close up of the vanity.  We covered the walls with those Command hooks and it's made a big difference for storage and using up the wall space we usually ignore.

Other than some fiddly details like hanging up the full length mirror by the door and getting the shoes straightened out, this room is done.  I love how it came out and it's resulted in less bickering with me and Joe.  Everything has space and we don't trip over each other in the mornings when we're both getting ready.  The entire third level is like a sprawling master suite, with the master bedroom, the two bathrooms, and now the closet. 

Next up I'll chase the vacuum around the offices and get some pictures.  We've got a bit more time to go before the snow is gone and I can work on outside projects, so might as well make the best use of my surge of spring fever.

Spring fever

Finally, finally, we're getting our first indications of spring.  After weeks where we barely got out of the teens during the day, we got up to 35* today.  This week is supposed to be 40's every day and we might even see 50*!  Spring fever is upon us.

I let the chickens out to romp while I added litter to their run and flipped the bedding in their coop.  They enjoyed the change in scenery. 

Our little rooster isn't so little anymore.  I'm pleased that his crowing is barely audible in the house and doesn't bother me a bit.  Our neighbors love hearing him in the distance, it adds to the ambiance.  He's also turned into a gentleman, so he gets to escape the soup pot.  For now.

While I've been cleaning and getting my dream closet in order, Joe's been hard at work in my little bathroom.  Toilet is back together, new sink and mirror are in, new lighting is in, and he's got the new dry wall up in the nook.

Pardon the mess, since it's a bit of a construction zone, but it looks downright massive with the slim sink and the new lights.

And here are my new LED dome lights.  I think I could get a suntan in there and I will never, ever have to hit my head on that stupid pendant light again.

You can also see the new outlet cover.  I installed that.  It was my great contribution to this phase of the project.  Mostly I'm in charge of wallpaper destruction, painting, item selection, and financing.  I'm not supposed to use most of Joe's power tools.  Could have something to do with getting distracted in the middle of projects while using a nail gun . . . 

A better view of the new sink and mirror.  Much more appropriate for the size of the bathroom and I just love this mirror.  The sink is from Ikea, since they have all of the stuff for tiny bathrooms.  The mirror we picked up from Home Depot.

And finally, the nook with the new drywall in and joint compound drying on the seams.  It was a serious challenge getting dry wall through the opening and into place.  Joe would like everyone to know that just putting sheet rock over the old, nasty popcorn was my idea, not his.  He wanted to get in there with a respirator and a palm sander.

I think he's crazy.  But that's nothing new.

The nook will be painted white and have some new shelving put in, ready to tuck towels and bathroom goodies away.  I can't believe the bathroom overhaul is almost complete!

With the spat of warm weather, I've gone into spring cleaning mode.  I've also realized that we have almost no pictures of completed rooms, like our offices once we got fully moved in or the updates in the kitchen.  I need to fix that, starting with my amazing closet now that it's mostly done.  I just have to vacuum first.  No need to advertise that our dogs love to throw stuffed animal guts all over the house.