Yep, we’re still NOT working on the house. It’s lovely. I have seen my friends and family more in the last few months than I have in years! The house is nearly spotless… no drywall dust, no caulk guns lying around, no extra lumber being stored in the kitchen. The physical and mental chaos created by 2.5+ years of constant remodeling is slowly subsiding. At this rate, I may even get a manicure just to prove that I can make one last more than 2 hours.

But, it makes for boring blogging. And it makes me forget what this house looked like when it started. So I’m pulling out another oldie but goodie from the archives…

This was our living room. It had really big cracks in the plaster, many of which were held together with scotch tape. Notice the picture I hung over one in a vain attempt to minimize the appearance of that one bulge? NICE TRY. You do very odd things when you’re desperate.

Also notice the cigarette smoke stains. We washed the walls and ceiling with soap and hot water, then primed everything twice with the extra-strength Killz in order to block the smell and discoloration. That worked, thank goodness. Killz is a godsend. We should have bought stock in that a long time ago.

Check out this old post on fixing holes in plaster walls, but also be sure to check out this post for more tips – things learned later on in our DIY process! Also perhaps useful, there are pictures of our drywall ceiling/wall seaming technique for wonky and overly large gaps here.

And to give all you fixer-uppers a small ray of hope, here is the living room as it stands today:

No holes, no badly placed closets, no ugly shag carpet, and no scary wood floors hiding under said carpet. It has come a long way. Someday, we will own nice furniture, lighting and draperies and it’ll look just marvelous!  At least now it’s got good bones.