Mary Tyler Less, or something like that....

Sometimes independence is a scary thing.  There's no one to give you perspective late at night when your thoughts are running rampant.  (And by "give you perspective", I mean there's no one to tell you you're being ridiculous and stop that whining and go to sleep. Ahem.)  Lately have been feeling like my little life was falling short of everything I want, or at least falling short of where I expected myself to be.

That dumb Mary Tyler Moore theme song has been rattling around in my head lately.  "You're gonna make it after all...."  Sweet loveable Mary Tyler Moore, who captured the hearts of a 70's generation with her cute smile and infectious youthfulness.  She even had a catchy little uplifting theme song, and looked great in tight pants.

Bitch.

Surely she didn't have 3 dogs whose primary goal in life is to shed their body weight in fur daily.  Or to eat things like fence panels and mini blinds.  And her apartment was CUTE.  She didn't have to buy a place that needed a good coat of fire, and attempt to make it liveable AND cute.  (I really need to have a strongly-worded conversation with the script writers of my show, and let them know I'm none too fond of some of the twists they've thrown in.)

All the same, it wasn't until I actually took a brief look back at how far I'd come that I actually started to feel better about things.  No, I don't recommend ruefully pining away for yesteryear.  But an occasional glimpse back on the track to see how much progress you've made can be a good thing.

So here are a few shots of the house when I started out, and where I've taken it.

Welcome to the asylum....  This was the the living room.  CHARMING shade of "Institutional Kill-Me-Now Green", yes?  Oh and those aren't shadows on the carpet.  That's staining.  The only thing worse than the color was the smell. 

And after.  No more carpet.  Or asylum-green walls.  :)

Looking the other way

And after

This was the kitchen.  While it LOOKED fairly intact in these photos, the tiles were all loose, and a small eco-system of mice had taken up residency in the falling-apart-cabinetry.  I ignored their squatters rights and their subsequent protests, as I tend to prefer a smell and vermin-free kitchen.

After.  Anyone who knows me knows I have a thing with checkerboard flooring.  I'd ALWAYS wanted a kitchen with this kind of floor. (Wide plank pine, stained and sealed.)  The beauty of it is also that it only cost around 5k to do this entire room.  I shopped smart, got deals from Craigslist and the Habitat Re-Stores, and poured myself into it.  I truly love this kitchen, and adding the island makes it one of the easiest-to-work in kitchens I've ever had.

 
The janky, off-kilter doorway.  Pretty sure that home builders in the 80's were all high, since this doorway was drastically out of plumb.

After, with an archway and some simple stained timber posts to flank the doorway.  

The upstairs bathroom before.  Rotting cabinetry, leaking toilet, and generally tacky.  For anyone considering a remodel, vinyl cabinets, flooring, and fixtures do NOT age well.  At all.  

After.  It only took me 6 months and learning a whole new sailor-type vocabulary to get the old tub out, and the new tub in, but I digress.  My favorite bathroom, because I learned how to use thick, uneven slate tiles, and interlace uniform, thin glass mosaics, and make it work.  Whole bathroom was only around $800.

And the vanity.  With leftover "mountain" slate tile backsplash.

And lastly for today, my stairs.  These were an eyesore after ripping out the stained and rotting carpet.

A little paint can go a long, long, LONG way:

Before, looking up:

And after.  Saw this on a sign in Estes Park, and loved it.  Used a paint pen and some carbon paper to sort of stencil/freehand paint it.

No, it's not a palace.  But it's affordable.  And it's mine.  And I did it myself.  And despite not having my own theme song, or a beret to throw, I think I'm gonna make it after all.