A Man Gift for My Wife - Pt 1

I have done some nice things for Renae over this past month. We have spent some quality time on dates, did some family things, I have surprised her with gifts, we hung out with some friends, and did a lot of Christmasy things...but the gifts that I gave to her this weekend we more of the "manly" type (disclaimer: I am not saying that only men can do these things, but and implying that these are types of things that men enjoy doing when they are of their own will and not on a honey-do list).

To give you the wow factor I first need to rewind to, ohhhh, about 16-18 months ago when we first looked at the house. Let me show you what our dining room looked like. Beware...this may get ugly ;)

These were pictures that Renae took of the house on our very first walk through of the house back in April 2010.

I have to draw attention to those ugly green walls if for some odd reason you did not notice them yet.

This was the first time we saw the home in day light when we had the home inspection.

After we moved in we began tackling the house room by room.

Luckily the walls didn't need much help outside of some "mudding"

After the move in the dinning room was actually our "living room" because I needed to run some electric, paint and install flooring in the living room.

Renae and I decided on a light green color for the dining room.

After a year though we decided that although we liked the green, an entire room of that color was simply too much, so it was time for a make-over. So I gave Renae the keys to my car, and while she was out shopping I was getting to work.

Lines were taped up and ready to go.

More taping...

And more taping...

Boom! First touch of paint, and it's looking good already!

Finished out the rest of the room and was very happy with how it was coming along.

Had to time a time out to paint the chair rail and let the walls dry a bit.

And voila!

The room has been kicked up a notch.

I love the two tone colored walls.

Soon this wall will be changed, and will hopefully have a counter top for bar seating .

And we cannot leave out the job foreman, who approved the work that I had done. Logan used the broken blind turny stick thingy to point out any spots that he thought needed to be touched up. Thanks buddy!

A Humbling Experience:
So, although the painting and chair rail installation went well...the war to stop the drafty doors was a fail. I thought that it would be great to purchase a high density weather stripping foam to put around the door frame to stop that nasty cold drafts we've been getting. Yeah....ummm...3/4" is way to thick. After stripping the crap out of the door I realized that the only way that I can now close it is by shoving my shoulder into it with full force...o and it only stays shut if I dead-bolt it :) Looks like I created more work for myself.