Before and After

 Holy cow it took forever to tape off the breakfast room so I could paint strips

 Once all the paint was applied I was nervous to take it off. What if it turned out to be a mess after all that work? While on the phone with a GF she encouraged me to pull off one piece assuring me she would "be there for me". The first piece came off, then the second, holy cow it's working!!!

 Here is the before from a week ago, or was it a week and a half ago? I really liked the striped wallpaper but it had seen better days, the natural wood trim and moldings were looking dull and dated. The bottom walls had taken a beating from normal wear and tear along with the grands who can put a hurt on everything! Ha

 So here it is, all bright and fresh. I painted 4 inch strips instead of the 2 inch ones from the original wall paper. The strips turned out perfect!!! I learned a few things along the way. When marking where to put the strips I used a metal tape measure that left marks along the top of the wall that had to be touched up with paint. Next time I now know to use my sewing tape measure! duhhhh. While the new on the market "Frog" tape is more costly that the blue painters tape it is worth every penny on a project like this. I had absolutely no bleeding under the tape. Every strip turned out with a nice crisp line

I know DD#1 is going to fuss that the window treatments should be long enough to meet with the floor but from past experience shorter is better in our kitchen. I still need to paint the grills for the upper windows (what a pain), notice also that the two upper side windows are not painted. Those durn windows are frozen in place :( I know hubby will be able to get then moving again so once he gets home I will go back and paint that small part.

As the little girls say "I rike it!" I like even more that it's done!!!! The big girls will help me hang all the pictures back up soon as I stink at getting pictures straight on the walls. I also still need to fluff the window treatments. Stuffing each swag with plastic grocery bags will give it a nice poofy look, tissue paper would do the same but there is cost involved in that. I put the call out to my GF's that I need plastic grocery bags as I only have a handful here at home. Remember last month we were eating from the pantry for the pantry insurance challenge, which BTW I need to do an update on.

Lets get down to the cost.

2 gallons of paint - $76.00
Frog tape - $7.95
Window treatments - $45.00 (that includes two sets of curtains I will make for the kitchen)
Disposable paint tray's and brushes - $18.00

Grand total - $132.00

The pros cost would have been

$200.00 Labor
$76.00 paint
Who knows what for the decorative strips?
Woodwork, that one is sorta easy as I had gotten an estimate for all of the woodwork and trim for the kitchen and breakfast room from the pro's. A whopping $2,300.00!!! YIKES

I figure using some sloppy math the cost for the pro's would have been $1,300.00. Who needs that! Throw an old tee shirt of hubby's on, slip into a pair of shorts that should never ever be worn in public again, add a pair of hubby's undies as your hair covering and your all set.

Today is clean up day. As with anytime you work on a big project the rest of the house has gone to h... I need to get packed for our family vacation, pay some bills, do some baking and snack making for the cabin, put together a Nanny emergency box for the grands, wash the car (car wash), you know the drill when leaving home for even a few days. We are SOOO excited as hubby will be able to meet us at the cabin!! He is already on his way! We never know for sure if he will be able to get away from the project or not, this time we scored! The poor mans "Honey Do" list is growning by the day as he hasn't been home since September and then only for two days. He will have plenty to keep him busy over Thanksgiving.

Anybody else doing any freshening up around the house for the holidays? Please let us know in the comment section so we can cheer you on and get some ideas to use around our own place!