This isn’t the worst we’ve seen, but it’s noteworthy. 2010 Marks our fourth winter in Syracuse!

(Note the mailbox)

This was one of our biggest projects. We had already started the framework when we built a wall to divide the playroom. We had no idea that, less than a year later, we’d have baby #4 on the way and would need to add a 4th bedroom! These rooms were getting pretty bad, actually. I had done my best to repair the walls when I removed all the paneling and wallpaper, but I had no idea what I was doing. Micah’s friend through work is a professional when it comes to drywall, so he helped us. I can’t believe the transformation. When that was done, and the walls were painted, the next step was to remove the nasty old carpeting and add laminate flooring. It seemed like the best choice for the lower level. We went with DuPont’s Montreal Gunstock (Real Touch Elite line) with premium underlayment.

I am embarrassed to show this, but here’s a glance at the walls and carpet that once dominated these rooms:

Ick!

A quick preview of the rooms after:

The rest of the photos are in the slideshows for Molly and Mia’s room and playroom.

The girls got a “new” dresser, mirror and nightstand (a craigslist find – $100 total!) and the baby will get their old dresser. We also found a full size bed for $100 on craigslist, which we set up in the baby’s room.

Up next: The baby’s room!

Molly and Mia decided months ago that they wanted a dollhouse for Christmas. I started doing some research for Santa, of course. It seemed that no one sold finished wood dollhouses anymore (at least, not at an affordable price). There were a lot of plastic ones, but they looked flimsy. Kits were also expensive, and I found them to be risky. So, we decided to get a bit creative and lend Santa a hand this year. My parents brought over my childhood dollhouse, which had also belonged to my sister. It was from the 1970s, and it needed a lot of work before it would look new again. The dark brown wood staircase was broken off and in pieces, and the rest, well, see for yourself:

I started with a coat of white paint on the window frames, roof, and exterior. It never ceases to amaze me when I see what white paint can do:

The walls were next. I used the bright pink paint that was formerly on the twins’ bedroom accent wall. Micah cut all of the vinyl flooring, and we made “hardwoods” to replace the 70s shag “carpet”. Lastly, Micah repaired the staircase, patched up some holes, and painted it white. Here’s the end result:

They’re also getting new furniture for each room, from the Fisher-Price Loving Family collection.

I think it was worth the effort to finish this! It actually took hours of work, but it will be so cool to hand this down to our kids (without them ever knowing we did a thing!).

In our family, the Christmas season begins on Thanksgiving. We’ve bought a lot of new decorations this year, with a silver and gold theme in mind. I filled the glass bowl on our coffee table with champagne filler jewels and a glittery candle. The tree has a mix of bright and warm white lights and a sparkling gold star. The dining room was a lot of fun to set up, with nothing but black and silver decor. I would like to get some new Christmas dishes, since we’ve been using ours for almost 10 years (I think I paid $10 for the set). That can wait until clearance time! And, of course, the girls have the pink tree in their room.

Outside, our display is a bit more humble than it was in previous years:

Parents always buy the best Christmas presents. This year, my parents presented me with an early surprise. I am getting a new storm door! There will be no present under the tree this year, but this is perfect.

Our storm door was bent and never was installed right by the PO. It also was a piece of junk. I painted the outside of the front door recently to match the shutters and garage doors. It looks so much better, but it’s still masked by that ugly storm door. You also can’t leave the door open and let a breeze in because it won’t shut completely, and bugs get in. Having a new one (Andersen 2000 series fullview, to be precise) is going to be great. A little tax rebate doesn’t hurt, either.

We made some progress in a few unexpected areas as well. My Dad figured out how to fix the leaky toilet in the kid’s bathroom. We hired a tree company to remove 8 stumps from the property (I’m talking about these, along with a few shrubs). They were working in our neighbor’s yard, so we stopped and were pretty shocked at the good price.

Next on the list is to replace a heating element on our dryer ourselves. It takes 90 minutes to dry a medium size load of laundry on high heat, so something is not right.