Six Hours Later

So, there has been a change of plans.

Rule #1: NEVER, ever, ever expect things to go according to the plan. Home improvements are just not meant to fit into a nice, tiny box and be tied up with a pretty red bow. Nope. They have a mind of their own. Things change. Projects are inevitably expanded and cost more money. So, thus, projects get cancelled so they don't drain the pocketbook.

 Remember when I was really excited about our plans for the sun porch? Well, they have been put on hold. On our way back from my roommate's wedding, this past weekend, Jonathan and I were discussing plans for the sun porch. He commented that we needed to insulate out there and thus the walls needed to be ripped down. Well, upon further discussion we realized that it would cost us at least a grand to redo the porch.

Sun porch project is now a pending process.

How's that for alliteration?

Long story, made short, we really didn't want to start a project that we couldn't fully fund from the beginning. We have the money in our savings, but are working on building up our emergency fund. So that money is not truly available. Plus, we estimate that it would cost about the same to redo our guest bedroom. Well if that is the case, we should do that first! A guestroom is much more important than a sun porch.

Needless to say, we were both pretty sad about the situation. We were really looking forward to having another room finished--seriously, look at the state of that space!! Having that tower-o-boxes unpacked was an exciting thought. So I got to thinking, "Why not just do something out there that would look nice and be a good temporary solution?"

And that is exactly what I did.

My goal was to utilize the mattress that was out there and also unpack a majority of the boxes. I also wanted to make sure that the space still functioned. This meant that at least one dog pen and various other things that have been stored out there, needed to continue to have a home. Easier said then done. But the room couldn't get much worse than it was before.

First I cleared the space out as best I could and then gave everything a good vacuum, sweep, and mop. At this point the room was smelling lemony-fresh! Plus, all those balls of hair just had to go. Definitely not the accessory that I was going for :)

I decided to buy another white bookshelf--those cheap $15 Walmart bookshelves are really great in a pinch. I also bought a fitted sheet to use on the queen mattress and create a temporary place to read books. I brought in a rug that I had on hand and got rid of the old, stained green one. Finally, I used a bunch of things that I had stored in the guestroom to gussy things up a bit. I really like the overall result. Definitely an improvement. :)

I surprised Jonathan with it last night...and all he has said since then is, "Wow. I just can't get over how nice it looks!" --That's my man!