Trumped by the Tour

Apparently, my bookshelf was not interesting enough. Al decided to high-jack my blog and post his own pics. The reason I didn't post those pics originally may not be so clear to all...
Let's start from the top:
I didn't take these pics, he did. He didn't notice things like, my lamp shades are so crooked. The plugs to my lamps are blaringly visible. The rug that is in the dining room right now is a temp. It is just a carpet cutting from the playroom, until Mr. Virtual Tour buys me this one. We have no curtains yet. Carlene, I noticed you are reading, come on over. My bulletin board in the background is so boring (but, functional!) This weekend's project is to cover it to look like this:


I thought about taking Al's post down because of our dining room being still such a decorating work in progress. I haven't gotten it all 'fluffed' and ready for it's close-up. (I spy a 5 gallon paint bucket in the corner of the living room in one pic.) And, there is all but dirty laundry on the floor.

To the naked eye, there isn't a whole lot of difference in the before and afters. Here are a few things handy husband did. In addition to the things you don't get to see, new wiring, plumbing, central heat and air, a new roof, a hot water heater (were people living here with no hot water?), the windows had to be repaired and reglazed. All of the rotten trim, (covered in paint) and missing trim, had to be re-built, The floors were re-finished 3 times before they turned out (don't ask) and probably the biggest renovation of that room was the um...textured(?) red wall paper was holding up/in the 100 year old crumbling plaster walls. I am super proud of my super talented (and super handsome) husband. So, I will leave it up.

At some point, you must allow me to redeem my decorating abilities. Truth be told, this is how we roll. Al always jokes, "In Laura-world Style trumps Function." Judging from the pre-mature full view dining photos, in blog world, Virtual tours trump Style!