oh my god... I have never been this exhausted in my life

Over the last week, Marcus and I have painted the entire downstairs.  Painting the living room and dining room wasn't that bad.  The walls were already white, and I actually painted them both in one day.  The kitchen and den were another story entirely.  This week, we primed the kitchen, the den, the trim in both, and the old stains on the ceiling.  Then we painted the kitchen and den, the trim in both, and started our Rustoleum kit for the cabinets.  Most days, we've been working on the house from  eight in the morning until nine or ten at night.  Ridiculous I know.  But it was all to be done in time for our wood floors to be installed tomorrow.  And guess what... the installer called and pushed our installation back another week and a half!  I'm disappointed, but it gives us more time to finish a few things.


Other than painting and painting and painting... we also did a few window enhancements to the front of the house.  I may have mentioned before that our windows are original to the house (34 years old to be exact), so they're not energy efficient and so much light gets into the house that it's roasty toasty inside!  We chose to do two things to make our windows a little better: an application of film/tint to block light and heat from getting in and cellular shades to further the process and for privacy.  The film was made by Gila and it was so easy to apply.  All we had to do was spray the windows and film with Windex, then stick the film to the window, and cut it to size with the tool included in the kit.  The cellular shades are Levolor.  At Lowe's, all we had to do was pick out the basic measurement and color, and then they cut it to the exact measurement you need.  They look really cool and are easy to install.  

I picked sand to go with our Irish Cream walls and colorful decor.

I did finally pick up some fun stuff... lol to me, fun stuff is the furniture, curtains, comforters, etc.  As far as window treatments are concerned, I stuck with a neutral for the living room because the couch is patterned.  I chose a formal looking floral print for the dining room because our ideal dining room is simple but elegant.  And for our den, I chose a chocolate brown print to go with our golden yellow couches and autumnal throw pillows.  Can't wait to share pictures!

There was one mishap though... I chose a paint color called "mandarin glow" for the kitchen and den.  The paint swatch (shown above) seems like more of a butter-cream, but on the walls it seems like a pastel shade of melon.  Marcus thinks it will look better once the floors are installed because the lighting will be different... but I'm worried.  I do NOT want to paint again, but if our couches and decor are warm colors and the walls are cool colors it will look horrible.  Time will tell...  

But all this hard work has been taxing.  Marcus and I have been so irritable because of the level of exhaustion.  We've been staying with his sister so it's been tough going back and forth... but at least she's been really sweet about having us.