Home Improvement 101

I’ve discovered that the best way to complete home improvement projects around my house that I started (maybe years ago) but never finished is to: a) invite everyone I know over for dinner; b) wait until 2 days before said dinner, and; c) stay up for 48 straight hours finishing above referenced projects as to avoid embarrassment. This is how I spent my recent holiday weekend. It really works! The Husband and I got a lot done, including painting the kitchen (also hanging wallpaper), landscaping the backyard (planting and mulching), and putting together a new dining room table, 6 chairs and a shelving unit. The key to really pulling off this technique with finesse is to pretend like you had a very relaxing weekend drinking beers and chillin’ and your house has been totally pimped-out forever.

I mentioned earlier that my weekend of hard core decor included wallpapering, but I don’t want to freak anybody out. I don’t mean the 1988 flower pink and blue stuff that I usually imagine when someone says “wallpaper”. The wallpaper we chose is really cool (to me) and kind of Victorian – textured (vinyl) squares that resemble those old tin ceiling tiles, but not really squares because it’s on a roll.

I’m no expert, but I think it turned out pretty well for my first wallpapering job. It’s definitely more fun to hang wallpaper than to remove it. When I moved into this house, the bathroom and spare bedrooms were cemented with layers of hideous 70’s floral explosion paper. Actually, one of the bedrooms had 2 layers of children’s border, very creepy rabbits and worms driving cars, both layers of which were adhered to the wall like nobody’s business. Anyway, that was a bitch to remove. A giant, hairy bitch with a runny nose and bad teeth. I will never buy a house that has wallpaper that has to be removed unless I win the lottery, then I’ll hire a crew to remove it for me, the way rich people do.

Here’s a picture of my new dining room.

I truly love it. Here’s a couple of the backyard wonderfulness.

Yes, that is a bowling ball by the birdbath. Don’t judge me, it was free.