bookcase shuffle

The family room bookcase before:

And now after:

Meanwhile, all the books, pictures, etc were transferred to the basement shelves (which have finally been installed).  Nothing is permanent, because I now need to go through everything and get things better organized, displayed, etc.  And the painting of the family room will resume this week, so we'll get to see the two new colors together, instead of the one new color (bookcase) and the one old color (beige).  

upstairs hallway: before

Short post today, but just a couple of pics of the upstairs hallway before it was painted, so you can see how filthy the walls were.  Four little hands touch these walls every.single.time they go up and down these stairs.  I've scrubbed them, and while the dirt would come off, the flat paint the builder used was so cheap it would always still look "greasy".  As opposed to the trimwork, done in a nice glossy sheen, which wipes right clean.  Sigh....

The upside is that it's DONE though!  So happy!  

Back with after pictures soon!

room by room: family room

Now that progress has started on the family room, it certainly seems fitting that I would show you what the room looks like *before* we make too much progress.  I'm putting it all out there - the room is clean (well, clean enough...) but I'm keepin' it real - so yes, you'll see my messy bookshelves and all. :-)

Here is the back fireplace wall - looking into the room from the kitchen/eat in area.   

Main fireplace wall.  Plans for new mirror above fireplace (we've had that print for a long time.  I love it, but it's time for something new). 

Built-ins for television and components.  Need to remove pots above (can you say dusty?) because they don't fit the space at all (came with us from Arizona), and there are more plans for the built-ins.

Built-in bookshelves.  Plans for these similar to the television built-ins.

This is the view of the room looking towards the front of the house/foyer.  If you look closely, you can see the new paint job extending down from the upstairs hallway, and the hallway patch job for repairs.  :-)

Room facing the back of the house (west) and the large windows.  The mirror will come down and get moved, and there will be new curtains.  There will also be a new furniture layout, and possibly refinish the end/coffee/console tables.

So there you go!  Next up are some *before* pics of the upstairs hallway before we painted it.  I swear my kids touch the wall every single time they climb up or down those stairs.  So they were filthy!  Keepin' it real....keepin' it real....  

Stay tuned!