After a long year of house hunting, Bill and I finally bought a house in Adlett, North Carolina in June 2008.   A cute little 3 bedroom, 2 bath house, it's just the right size for us, our kitty and any guests who would like to visit.  With a little over a half acre, there's plenty of room for our RV and for any guests, too!

 The inside of the house had much work to be done, especially in the kitchen where the floor had been destroyed by water damage from the previous owner's home improvement project gone amuck.  The kitchen cabinets were half painted in my least favorite color -- green!  And walls in the kitchen, living room and hall were all painted an ugly ibrown.   Shown below are before and after pictures of the kitchen and some of the other rooms.  Bare in mind that we still don't have our furniture,  but it will be here soon.

 BEFORE:  In the kitchen, some cabinets were painted green,
others were still natural.  The stove hood was a mottled copper
-- ick!  Except for the fridge, the appliances were in working order.

 AFTER:  We painted all the cabinets white, installed black hardware to match the iron light fixture, painted the stove hood black and added the bright blue accent color.  As we unpacked our kitchen and dining room boxes, we found many dishes and accessories that matched our new kitchen. Even the bananas in the blue bowl go well with the yellow wall (not pictures) on the opposite side of the kitchen.

BEFORE:  The kitchen dining area was painted brown. 
The floor was so rotted that it needed to be totally
replaced.  This was one job we didn't want to tackle,
so we hired a contractor to rip out and replace the
kitchen and laundry room floors.  The contractor also
inspected and treated all the areas under the house
for mold and fungus,  to guard against future problems.

AFTER:  We replaced the floor and installed VillaStone pearl tile.  Walls were painted yellow. Since the back of the house faces a wooded area and is quite private, we decided against full window coverings and just went with valences.  I couldn't find valences I liked, so I bought a bird print fabric and made them.  Had enough left for matching placemats!  That was a fun project.

BEFORE:  Living room had tan rugs and brown walls.  The ceiling fan was brown.  Since the rugs were all doggy smelling, even Gemini objected!  With the help of Jeff,
Carmen and Stevie, we ripped out all the rugs in the house.     

AFTER:  We painted the living room a soft blue and installed hardwood floors throughout.  Painted the fan blades white to match the woodwork.   When our furniture finally arrived, we were pleased to see that the area rug we used in our old dining room fit our new living room perfectly.  The wall colors also go well with our furniture and, of course, Robbie's paintings are the finishing touch to make our new house feel like home.

 After:  The opposite side of the living room holds our entertainment center and has a perfect place for the "little" peace lily that Linda gave us 5 years ago -- it's grown into a 3 foot tall giant that now guards our front door entrance.

BEFORE:  Master bedroom with beautiful windows and vaulted ceilings had the same ugly carpeting as the rest of the house.  Since this room also seemed to be where the previous owners dogs lived, there was a pervasive doggy smell and many stains on floors and rugs.  Walls were painted a dark brownish pink. .

 AFTER:   We removed all the rugs from the master bedroom and installed hardwood floors.  Ceilings and all woodwork was painted bright white, while the walls were painted a light lavender/pink that went perfectly with our bedspread and an old chair that we had at Jeff's.   This is a big room, so there's lots of space for our dressers when we get them.

 Before: The guest room had been painted a mottled darkish green.  Along with the taupe rugs, it was depressing and dark.

 After:  In the guest room, we removed the rugs and hung sheer curtains to let in the sunlight.  The walls are painted a tropical ocean blue that shows off the lighthouse paintings and the patchwork quilt made by my mother.  There's plenty of room for the queen sized bed plus a tv, dresser and chair (not shown).  Guests welcome!