Finishing the Kitchen/Dining Room 'Contented' Paint

I finally finished painting the green (Contented) that extends from the dining room in to the kitchen. I will use a different color for the interior kitchen. I had to strip the wallpaper, spackle, sand, and then paint. Some tips to remember: The more spackle (thickness) used, the more sanding needed and dust to clean up. I always forget this. I used a small roller and matching tray which made this small space really easy to do. I also used the roller to touch up other places in the kitchen and dining room that needed it. Finally, I need to remember that the more paint I pour into the tray, the more I have to use or it has to get poured back in, which I don't like because sometimes it isn't as clean after sitting out in the tray, or the more that has to get poured down the drain, which isn't good. It is better to have the refill the tray conservatively than to have extra paint.

Living Room - Still a Work in Progress

This is the living room as it was when we first saw the house:

We had the living room, upstairs hallway, and dining room painted. The living room color is versatile gray. We still need curtains and a new coffee table. The artwork was from a local

Maryland artisans store; however, we found out that the material stretched on a frame is fabric from a Finnish company - www.marimekko.com

Some additional updates include a newTV cabinet, coffee table,  and painting from my grandparents (not shown yet).

Half Bath

This was the bathroom when we first saw the house.

At one point, Alice, Mike, and I were all squeezed into that bathroom trying to get the wallpaper stripped in time for the Arbonne party. Thank goodness Alice was here.

It's hard to see, but we painted the

vanity a taupe color, which looks good. We changed the hardware and added some

pictures we ordered through shutterfly.com

The mirror is from Ikea. The curtains were

always there, made by Ann.

Wallpaper stripped, new curtain rod, new towel rod, artwork (another picture on third wall), walls, ceiling, baseboard, vanity, and door painted, plus mirror - probably about $200 and quite a fews days of wallpaper stripping.

Stone Wall

The stone wall had to be removed in order to get control of the lilies.

Stone wall before: (This is a picture of the backyard before we moved in.)

During:

After:

And the bulbs removed just in, under, and around the stones: