Home Improvements are Fun

...And I don't mean that sarcastically! I love old houses. I think they have a lot of character and a great feel. We purchased our first home two years ago; a sweet bungalow built in 1917. No, not everything was perfect, but we saw the kitchen, high ceilings, and cat door to the basement, and knew that it was right for our family. Also there was a pot rack hanging above the bar where the big stove was in the kitchen. I think that was the kicker for Husband.

Just off of the kitchen is a sweet little dining nook. It had...potential. As you can see from this picture taken shortly after we moved in (notice the boxes), Husband is quite excited to be cooking breakfast on our new stove. But what I'm actually trying to show you is the dining nook behind him. That wallpaper! Wow. It's like...you know...you're sitting in a garden...

Well it wasn't quite our style. 

Happy Husband

Miss G practicing cello in "the garden"

We could only do so much at once, so a few other repairs came first. Meanwhile I even tried to cover it with maps and such. It wasn't much of a map room.

One weekend Husband was out of town and the kids and I decided to go for it. It was time to tear down all of the wallpaper. Yikes. Well we did it. 

Little helpers

I found that a wet sponge and plastic scraper worked better than anything else we tried, and it actually went fairly smoothly!

The end result is pretty nice, I think. 

Getting ready to eat bo ssam on my birthday

We would eventually like to put in a wooden built-in booth, but this will do just fine until then!

Do you do your own home improvements? I think they can be really fun!