Finally!  After nearly two years of planning, saving, putting up with contractors and dust everywhere, and living half out of boxes, the end of PHASE ONE is basically here!  This weekend we celebrated this milestone by bidding farewell to our painters, who did a very good job overall.   Then we made a big steak and drank a bottle of wine

Without further ado, here's what you're really waiting for: the pictures!  All of the before shots were taken while the PO still occupied the house, so in other words, that's not our junk!
My log-awaited red dining room.  Window treatments and a few custom pieces of furniture from The Federalist are still to come.

The stairs.  Ahhh, the stairs.  Take note that in the "before" shot there were multiple thick layers of oil paint covering the entire staircase.  Not to mention that filthy disgusting rug that was literally nailed and stapled to the ancient stair treads.  The after photos of this staircase represent a huge amount of labor--and Peel Away.  There's also a lot that's hard to notice at first glance, but obviously the walls were all skim coated once the wallpaper came down, and the floors were refinished, and new light fixtures were wired and installed.  Also, we got rid of some moldings that made no sense and replaced all of the crown molding with a lower profile in order to try to visually heighten the ceilings a bit.  and, obviously:  paint.  The only thing left in this area is a stair runner, along with brass stays.  The runner will be installed on Wednesday and we will be doing the stays ourselves at some point when they arrive from Van Dykes.

The upstairs hall...I think I already did a before & after on this, but at any rate here is the fancy Photoshop version.

This is our laundry area, which is not exciting to most people, but I'm happy with it.  Hey, if you have to do laundry, it should at least be done in nice looking surroundings! The biggest changes here are that we 86-ed the nasty linoleum floors and built in closets for the washer & dryer and supplies. The closed door at the end of the hall is now my home office, which is painted, but isn't quite ready for an "after" photo yet.

Lastly (for now) is our formal living room.  Please pardon the sparse furnishings in here.  We hope to be able to actually buy furniture for this room sometime in this millennium!  For now, we hang out in the family room.  This room will ultimately be a formal room, more of a sitting room than anything, and generally used for company.  No, there will be no plastic on the furniture.  It also houses my Mom's Sohmer upright piano, which one of these days I will try to remember how to play. 

Still to come, at some point...before/after photos of the fammily room and some other stuff.  In the meantime, enjoy!

Wow. It looks so much better now. Congratulations!

Love the red dining room. I think my wife is planning to paint our living room a similar color.

It looks gorgeous. What a great job you've done.

Just incredible! The improvments are fantastic!!!!

Niiiice...
Very nice...
Really nice!...

Yikes!... all of this was just Phase *One*? My phases are embarrassed. Did you save anything for Phase Two?

What's that tannish/yellowish paint color called? It works nice with the white.

Steve, Are you asking about our hallway color, which basically shows up in every picture except those of the dining room and living room? If so, it's a custom formulation made by my husband. It's basically a half-strength formula of Benjamin Moore's HC-38. If you are interested in checking it out,email me and I'll put you in touch with him. He owns a paint store on the LES and he'll be happy to work with you to find the right color for your project!

And YES we have plenty of phases left, believe me. Hello, there's a reason I rarely post pics of the exterior (aluminum siding-BLECH!). Or of any of the other bathrooms (all in various states of horrific decay including one whose ceiling is tenuously attached).

With the JPEG, lighting and all I couldn't tell if they were the same color. Actually, I really like them both. Yes, I'd like to speak with him about paint colors for my bedroom, hall and entry. Where's his store on the LES?

It all looks great! That's one heck of a 'Phase I' you've got there. Congratulations!

Impressive! It's nice to see all the before and afters. I finally got a chance to see what it is you have been talking about all this time.