It's time to renovate the next bedroom! Mostly it will be a place to relax in solitude, away from the TV and each other; but it needs to house a guest or two (on rare occasions). Unfortunately, even a twin bed takes up half the room, so some creative thinking is in order. We were able to find a small futon at our local Sam's Club that should work nicely- it's something like 86" wide, as compared with the standard 93" futons we saw. Getting that sucker in the car was pretty fun... The box dented the roof of my car, so we sat in the parking lot, pulled the sucker out of the box and put the smaller pieces in the backseat, and the mattress on the roof. Right now it's sitting in pieces, waiting to be assembled.


Last weekend we painted the ceiling and trim, and this weekend we're doing the doors and walls. The room will be a dark sage, and I'm really excited to see the color go up tomorrow. So far I think we've spent about $760 on paint, the futon, wooden blinds, hinges and doorknobs. We still need a small end table, bookshelves, lighting, and some decorations. Then of course, the new floor. We plan on putting in bamboo floors ourselves sometime in September. That should run us about $300.

Of course, as we fix one thing, it's inevitable that other things go awry. First the little rack we use for the dog leash came down. We had it screwed into the drywall (nothing fancy- it's only holding a leash) behind a closet door. While two little wood screws may be plenty to hold up a little rack and leash, it's apparently not enough to keep it attached to the wall when the leash loops around the door handle and then someone tries to close said door. Oops.

Next time we'll watch out for that. Then, earlier today, Scott grabbed a hand towel off the rack and the whole thing came with it. One of the set-screws holding it on had come loose, so it's an easy fix, but there is an ugly new mark on the wall. Stupid, cheap towel bar...

We also finally replaced the missing/broken window screens. After learning how easy it was, I wish we had done it earlier. The house looks much less ghetto without ripped and missing screens.

It's actually sort of difficult to remember that all the things we're doing to the house will pay off in the end. We've been in a new apartment almost every year for six years, and it hasn't sunk in yet that this is OUR house. When we paint a room, we're fixing all the little defects that eat into the value of the house, and we don't have to ever worry about painting it white again in a year before we move out or risk losing part of a security deposit. When we finally get around to improving the kitchen and bathrooms, it will add assloads of value to the place! I'm sure it will sink in over time.