Frost Bottom New Year Weekend - We Know How To Party

Last week I decided to take some last minute time off from work to be home with Mrs because she was off from work while her office was closed for the holidays.  I took off this past Saturday night as well as New Year's Eve.  Those combined with my normal days off gave us a 4-day weekend together.  She was antsy to work on some projects at the house and wished I'd be there a couple more nights.

I've lived in this house since I was 9 years old.  Technically 8 years old since we moved in the day before my birthday in 1979.  The house is a typical small ranch which originally had 2 bedrooms and one bath.  Several year ago we added a great room, pantry/laundry, foyer, mudroom and bathroom in the spot where the original garage was.  The kitchen layout remained the same, save for some cosmetic and appliance upgrades.  Prior to the big renovation, the dining room was next to the kitchen separated only by a counter and overhead cabinets.  When the addition went on, the old dining room became a sitting area and the old living room became the dining room.

We've been wanting to take down the cabinets over the counter for years, but just never did.  Well, we finally did it!  The results are wonderful and the spaces are so much more inviting and guest friendly.

Here is the before picture taken by Mrs on her cell phone:

And here is the after a few days later taken on my cell phone.  Sorry about the quality.

We added the shelf (bookcase, really), which we bought at an unfinished furniture store that Mrs finished with a milk paint.  That was a bit of a challenge to hang, but with Mrs's smarts and perseverance it is securely hung.  The drywall on the ceiling where the cabinets were was not too badly scarred, but with 40 years of ceiling paint around them, we still had to add some joint compound over the area as well as fill the nail holes.  Once dry, I wet-sanded that area to smooth it and keep the dust down, added more joint compound and repeated that.  After all of that was dry, we painted the area with primer, and then repainted the entire ceiling in both rooms and also repaired and painted the walls.

What an amazing difference.  The feel of the rooms changed completely and I cannot wait for some people who have not been here lately to see it.

We spent our New Year's Eve cleaning and painting, vacuuming, and scrubbing walls and some floors in other rooms.  This weekend we will finish up the kitchen by repainting the remaining cabinets that really need a fresh coat, as well as purging more stuff from the drawers and making room in our dining room hutch.  We're trying to cut back on all of the 'stuff' we have and we're getting better at it.

We also recently went through our closets and eliminated a LOT of clothes, much of it still good and donated to charity.  After cleaning out the hanging clothes in my part of the closet, we had over 50 empty hangers.  I also gave up 22 t-shirts, several pairs of jeans and khakis I no longer wear and I think a pair of boots.