Home Improvements

I spent the last few days trying to find paint for my office and son's bedroom.  I think I'm going with with a sage green-gray (Behr Koala Bear) for my office, but I think a warm brown (Behr Peanut Butter) might be a better and smarter choice in the long run, and it's what my husband prefers.  I'm conflicted.  Anything has to be better than the pale blue I have now which I despise.  I had curtains, but I think I'll put up mini-blinds instead.  I'm not sure whether to get the light blocking or light filtering.  My office still doubles as our spare bedroom for now, so the light is a factor.  Here's what we have now:

I definitely like warmer tones.  I had thought gray for my office, but I can't do it.

My son wants a gray with blue undertones (Behr Gray Tradition) for his room to cover the bright yellow and baby blue he picked out when he was 8 years old. He's leaving for college next year.  So yeah, it's definitely time for a change for him.

I tried the online paint designer apps at Home Depot, Lowe's, Valspar, and Benjamin Moore, but the colors don't look anything like the chips.  The last factor is our potential move out of this house in a few years.  I want to make smart re-sale choices, but ones I can live with.  Any suggestions and comments are greatly appreciated!

We're looking at front doors, too.  Our current front door is wood and has taken a beating from the direct afternoon sun.  I love wood doors, but it just doesn't make sense with the full sun and expense.  Fiberglass it is, then, which is what most of the neighborhood has, and a new screen door.  Here's what we have now.  You can clearly see the issues we have:

I'd really like to replace them this year, but it may have to wait until next year as windows are the bigger priority.  Outside talking to the neighbor, I looked at my house and saw this:

The damn woodpecker's been tearing apart one of my windows.  There used to be a cedar tree there, but one of the snowstorms this past winter brought it down.  I guess the woodpecker thinks my window trim is an adequate replacement.

We also had a new dishwasher delivered this morning.  We bought a Whirlpool when we moved in 9 years ago, and it hasn't been great for us and has been even worse lately.  We have to run the pots and pans cycle to get the dinner dishes clean.  I hate wasting all that water and still getting dirty dishes.  We bought a lower-end Bosch to replace it.  We were looking at a KitchenAid, but since Whirlpool owns KitchenAid we nixed that.  The Bosch model we ordered has good reviews and uses less water.  I'll let you know how it works out.  Here's the in-progress pictures:

We're still amidst a prolonged bathroom remodel necessitated by two leaks.  When we moved in, every room in the house had an ugly border on the walls, which you can see in the following pictures.  We painted over all of them, except the ones in the bathroom.  When we repaint, I may put the Behr Peant Butter or a shade or two lighter in here.  Do darker colors work in a smaller bathroom?  Here's the soon-to-be un-stalled progress:

Last but not least, we had carpet installed this summer in our family room to replace the carpet that had ripped on the seam.  What an ordeal selecting carpet was.  I'm not completely thrilled with the color, but I'm hoping it will grow on me as time passes.  On the plus side I hope, we bought the Smart Strand which is supposed to be better with and for stains.  After dog issues, red wine, and numerous other mishaps, that is a definite improvement.

I was tempted to post pictures of my husband's home office, but I won't because I'd like to stay married to him.

What has perhaps made me the happiest and most improved my life?

New felt pads on the corners of the drawers in the bathroom.  The old pads were smashed or missing and the drawers would stick.  Such a small thing.  I could have taken care of it a long time ago, but I always forgot to put it on the to-do list.

Now I really have to work (at my real job) after spending all this time paint, door, and dishwasher shopping.  Sigh.