Front Room -- Check!

The front room seemed to take longer because it seemed to be the "catch-all" for papers, bags, and all kinds of things we didn't know what to do with. I'm still trying to remember what I had on the black shelf at the other house, as there are still three almost completely empty shelves...but I'm pretty sure it was Roby's random stuff or nick-knacks. We'll come up with something better than that! ;-) As of now, though, it is pretty much pulled together. I think we're going to put the coat rack up by the front door that I got from a vendor in Germany, and maybe something else on the wall in there as well. I'm not sure. There are a couple boxes in there that need to go in Natalie's room, but that needs to wait a little longer or go to the basement for now.

My first houseplant in our new house!
(We had some in Germany, but haven't had any in Nebraska yet!)

A finished front room!!!

See, boxes...ugh. The vacuum seems to be an always present item in my pictures! :-)

I love the cathedral ceilings! It makes it seem so much more open and spacious!

From the top of the stairs.

Video of the finished front room, stairs going up, down (cuddling dogs), dining area, kitchen, pantry, and back into the front room.

There is still lots of random stuff throughout the house, but I think it takes a while to find homes for it all. We're getting there!

* * * * * * * * * *

Last weekend I ripped up the carpet in Natalie's room. Pulled up the padding and all the staples holding it down. Used a crow bar to tear up about half the rooms worth of carpet tack strip. (Whoever invented that stuff is a mean mean person!) Roby helped get the rest of the tack strip up as my hands are all bruised from my efforts. We both pulled up the staples that held that down (instead of nails)...they stapled it every INCH. UGH I used bleach and water to clean the floors. It smelled about 80% better in there!!! I painted the floor with sealer...I did two coats just for giggles. I had to buy a full gallon, so I had enough. We're going to put the cheap, brown, area rug we had in the "long" room at the old house in her room so she can use her room until we can get carpet.

We talked about doing some other type of flooring (pergo, bamboo, hardwood, etc), but I think we both came to the decision that it wouldn't be worth it. We're not going to live here forever. With the dogs, I'd be worried about their nails scratching the wood all the time. And lets not even talk about how much money we would have to put into it. It may entice someone to buy our house over someone elses if there was wood flooring...but I've only seen one house with wood floor here (during my online house search of hundreds of houses). I think we just both think the effort would be better invested in our "forever" home. And because Roby just had his 7-year Air Force anniversary on the 21st, we have a while. Who knows, though, by the time we get the $$ together to put carpet back into her room, we may have changed our minds again! ;-)