As one door closes...

As a sentimental gal, I felt it only necessary to pay a loving tribute to my home in a photo montage. We'll start at the top and work our way down. Please join me in the tour, but remember to bring tissues. For me.

I wore these jeans every time I painted a room in the house. You can see all the many colors I experimented with. Last night I realized that the only walls I did not paint were in a small hallway. The only thank you I can say to the people who owned the house before me is, thank you for not having wallpaper anywhere. Every wall was white, a veritable blank canvas for me to go nuts and paint every wall a color that no one but me would probably ever like.

This is the master closet. This room looked absolutely nothing like this when I bought the house. It had insulation everywhere and there were no walls. We hung drywall, got carpet, had recessed lighting installed and painted. My husband was kind enough to finish the trim around the door and window. This, by far, was my favorite before and after. What a difference. This is where I had all my clothes and my vanity. You can't tell too well, but the walls were a light green. Love it!

Another photo of the master closet. Something tells me the gentleman who bought my house will tackle this wall first...
The master bedroom. The house is a story and a half. So I made this area my bedroom. Painted walls, pulled up carpeting, painting the railings. Track lighting was already there.

Another pic of the master bedroom. Those white doors are closet doors. This house had tons of storage for being built in 1942. This side is where I had my lounging chair and lamp for reading. I think I read there one time. But it looked fabulous!

This is where I tried to get creative. In one of the downstairs bedrooms. The wall was brown with this light blue square. Fancy, eh?

If you thought that was fancy, get a load of this! 3 squares! Handpainted by moi! Three of the walls were this light blue and the one wall was the dark brown accent wall. I totally love this color combination. I had super cute curtains in here too although they were removed prior to taking this photo.

Another bedroom. This one had little pink bunnies at the top. I didn't care for them so I painted this room orange.

Ah, the bathroom floor. (The previous owners had carpet in here. Horrible idea.) This bathroom is small yet it took my Dad and me two days to lay this peel n' stick tile. We almost got divorced over it. To spare my Dad the embarrassment, I didn't take a photo of the one section where I turned my back for 5 minutes and he put the tile on wrong, he matched up the white with the white, thus eliminating the nice checkered pattern. That area is now covered up by the garbage can.

The bathroom. I painted the cabinet and mirror black, the walls periwinkle and got a new toilet. I, for one, think it's tres cute.

The bay window in the dining room. Lovely.

Another shot of the dining room. Check out that curvature of the walls and coved ceilings. Try finding that in a new house these days. (I didn't take a photo of the living room because it had crap it in still, but it was the tan color you see in the alcove. It complemented the dining room nicely.)

My red kitchen. Second favorite room in the house. I absolutely love the way it turned out. My Mom did a fantastic job standing on the counters to paint above the cabinets. I couldn't have done it. White cabinets, white appliances, Pergo flooring (already there).

The basement. Ugh, this is the room that caused me the most grief. It leaked and I cried everytime it rained. So I had it waterproofed. If you're thinking that's cheap, you're wrong. What a mess. But right around the time we got a lot of rain, I was sleeping like a baby because I knew the basement was safe. So I paid for peace of mind and it was worth it. You're welcome, new guy.

My backyard. Not large. But totally big enough for me to put a lounge chair so that I could lay out. Plus it took 15 minutes to mow.

And, here we are at the front of the house. I got a new roof and painted the porch and spent many, many hours on flowers and weeding. I only wish this photo was taken when my tulips and lillies were in bloom. The flower bed on the left is filled with red and yellow tulips in the Spring. They are gorgeous, I will miss them. When I bought the house, there were these two large (taller than the house) skinny evergreen trees that we cut down. One unfortunately (read: hilariously) fell on top of my Dad's car that was sitting in the driveway. Oh the laughs we had over that one... the next day.

So, there we are, good 'ole 2643 Tully. Four and a half years of sweat, blood, tears, independence, happiness and comfort. It was the perfect first home for me. It was so cute and is filled with so many wonderful memories. I will be sad to say goodbye.

HOME SWEET HOME, indeed.