Blogland is overwhelmed by beautiful images of perfect houses, so I thought I would bring some balance into our pristine world and show you the UGLY.  When it comes to home renovation we all love to see before and after pictures, but those before photos are fleeting.  They don’t give us the credit we deserve for living in chaos, scrubbing until our knuckles bleed, and painting until our arms feel like falling off.  It’s all about the ‘after’ in those photos, but in real life, it’s about work and making do with the mess.

So today I am going to show you the before.  By the end of this post, you’ll be feeling pretty darn good about where you live.

Let’s start in the kitchen.  About a month ago, I wrote a post showcasing my kitchen and all the work we had done, but I neglected to show you the other side – the dark side – the ugly side.  The side that needs more money, more materials, more time.

The scary side of the kitchen

It’s downright disturbing, isn’t it? It needs a refrigerator in that right corner, a dishwasher and countertop with a cabinet above, another cabinet to be built around that sink, etc.

We hauled that sink out of the basement and when I say we, I don’t mean me.  It weighs about 500 pounds and is cast iron covered in porcelain.  It is also so big and deep that I can dirty every dish at once and fit them all into the sink.  I haven’t decided if that’s good or bad.

Don’t even ask about the mirror.  Lest you think we are a total lost cause, you can see pictures of the other side, the good side, by clicking on the ‘kitchen’ photo in my right hand sidebar.

Here’s another ugly space. The walls need repair, the chimney needs repair, a new surround needs to be built for the woodstove and our bathroom pedestal sink is in two pieces.  It’s also NOT in the bathroom.

That wooden sign with the aqua paint is my very lame and failed attempt at creativity.  I thought I would salvage some very old wainscoting from the bathroom and make my own art.  FringeMan is still shaking his head.  Those mirrors behind the stove are projects waiting to happen.

Can you handle more?

Ugly in the Bathroom

Don’t even make me explain this one!  Let’s just say that everything you see is going to be destroyed.  We moved the bathroom door and caused chaos.  Now all that plumbing needs to move to the opposite wall in order to put our sink back in.

Please don’t ask what is hanging in the window, but yes, that is a moth living on it.  I guess I can be happy that the toilet is flushing, we have calamine lotion, and no room is complete without a hair clip lying around.

So many projects, so little money.  I’m sure you thought I was going to say something about time, but I assure you, if there was money, we’d make time.

Last, but not least, I give you the partially finished hallway.

This space is ‘in progress’.  We did put in that shelf and all those coat hooks, twenty-four to be exact; however, this space needs new flooring.  The paint around the ceiling also needs to be touched-up and all those frames need to be hung.  I don’t want them just sitting on the shelf, because I remember what happened to Humpty-Dumpty.

We did add the new light and Roman Shade to the front door.  I am going to paint that front door, but I’m not sure what color to paint it.  Any suggestions?

I framed sheets of scrapbook paper and I really love the look.  It’s a very cheap way to hang ‘art’.  Yes, I use the term art loosely.

So there you have it – The UGLY.

No cleaning for these photos and you can forget staging.  This is real life mess from my camera to your computer.  One day I’ll show you the ‘afters’, but until then, remember not to ever buy an old house.

Kidding.

Really.

If you’d like to see finished or semi-finished rooms, you can click on any of the photos in my sidebar.  Have a great weekend!!!