window treatments

next step of the downstairs remodel was window treatments.

we got roll down vinyl curtains which look boring right now but later i'm hoping to paint a pattern onto them or even switch them out for fabric but for now they're fine.

we had to put up valances because our windows have arches that can't be covered easily.

we really liked the idea of wooden valances but didn't want to pay a million dollars to buy some so instead we bought nice plain boring wood and cut it to size then stained it and made it awesome.

we drilled the board right into the wall which wasn't working too well with just me and the hubsy doing it so we called in reinforcements a.k.a. my brother Steven.

while putting them up we learned one very important lesson: don't use screws you bought at Walmart.

screw after screw stripped and made Matt super frustrated.

then we went to Lowe's and bought new screws that worked way better.

i hate when Walmart fails me.

but after Lowe's saved us the windows looked great!

i don't know why Padme is sitting all weird like that. she sat like that the whole time i was taking pictures that day.

we're going to cover up the screws with wood putty later but so far i'm really loving the wood valances.

we had the blinds up behind the roll down curtains initially but i didn't like the way it looked so we took them out.

i thought i would really hate to pull up the curtain and see straight outside which means people can see straight inside but i actually don't mind it.

it looks pretty good!

and our house has never been brighter!

memory lane

so i found some old pictures on our harddrive that i haven't seen in a while.

these are my favorites.

six flags trip with Josue and Elba

engagement pics

we couldn't stop laughing during the cheesy poses

baby Padme

mexico trip

downtown mesa

hottie mchott hott

laughing at my best friend

date at Oregano's

Golfland

farewell wall, i shall miss thee

in addition to our amazing wall construction we made another huge change in our house this past weekend.

one of the first things we did when we moved in was create our beautiful green wall.

it was the very first thing we painted in our house because we were sick of all the white walls and i love bright green!

then Matt made this tree design and sketched it out and we painted it.

no decals here!

it was the very best part of our house!

so very "us".

and the fact that people talked about our green wall made me happy.

one time at church i heard some people talking about how people paint the strangest colors in their house and they went on to describe how they had visited someone in the ward who even had a bright green wall.

they had no idea that i was in fact the person they were referring to and it made me laugh that my favorite wall made people think there was something wrong with me.

but Matt said it was time for a change so we took some pictures with our pretty green wall before it went bye bye.

this is Matt's "i painted that" face.

Matt said we had to look cool.

and then we started the process.

took down the shelves and plastered up the holes.

and then did the taping.

and said some more goodbyes.

and then it was time.

sad day.

my amazing green wall is gone and in it's place there is this.

boooooooring grey and a puppy bum.

we're going to hang stuff up and make it cool again but right now it's ridiculously dull and i miss my wall.

project reveal

so Matt and i have been working like crazy to fix up our house.

we had a super huge project to do and it's finally done.

YAY!

it all started because we have a window on every single wall of our house and we were super annoyed by it.

there's no place to put a tv without a window being behind it which is so stupid so we had to always have the curtains closed which is ugly.

plus the window behind the tv can't be opened because it opens out to the park where people like to look in our house and give me the heebie jeebies.

so basically we wanted the window behind the tv to be a wall.

here's the before pictures.

now let's make that window behind the tv a wall!

first things first, get rid of those blinds.

then we put contact paper against the window to protect it and so you can't see the drywall when you're outside looking in.

then comes all the hard work the hubsy got to do.

first he built a wood frame so there'd be a place to drill the drywall.

a piece of wood on each side and one in the middle with pieces to connect them.

big tough working man.

we made sure everything fit in the window nicely.

and then connected the wood pieces together with screws.

and then it was time to screw everything into the window frame.

perfecto!

we toyed around with ideas of what to put up on our wood frame to make our wall and we ended up buying actual drywall.

it turns out it's super cheap and obviously the best way to go since the rest of the walls are made of it right?

so we cut the pieces to size and started drilling.

holy moly that man made a wall!

we were halfway done!

next Matt caulked around the entire window.

and then went on a Home Depot run and got plaster and tape and scrapers and spray texture.

he started with the joints, he put the tape over them and then started plastering.

we let that dry overnight to make sure it was extra dry and then started on the rest of the window.

we let it dry and repeated the plastering 3 times.

then it came time to sand that puppy down.

Matt wet the wall down first to try to keep the dust situation under control but it didn't really help.

our house was a giant dust storm during the process.

after the sanding Matt put on the spray texture and flattened it to try to recreate the texture the rest of the walls have.

it didn't work perfectly but it's close enough.

the only thing left to do after that was paint.

we painted a primer and a satin top coat.

ignore my painting clothes please.

and then we were done.

i can hardly believe it.

we actually turned a window into a wall and it looks good!

sorry about the mess. painting ya know?

better pictures are to come but here's the finished project.

and here's what it looks like from the outside.

WE DID IT!!