Progress... or, A Tour of My House

I thought I would take some pictures to show what I've been up to the last few days. I'll start with my big project for the day - our mudroom. Of course, being a mudroom, it will never be spotless, but we won't even discuss how bad it had gotten. I spent a bunch of time in there today cleaning and straightening. The room isn't heated with the rest of the house because it was an addition, so that's where the space heater comes in. The other things you see in the room are my old bench (with boots on it that will go under it once I've had a chance to vacuum in there tomorrow), the clothing rack where we hang Surfer Pirate's uniforms and jackets, his hamper for dirty uniforms, some boxes (mostly hidden behind the other stuff) containing paperwork that I don't dare let get lost in my basement, a bag of dog food, Pirate Munchkin's snow boots and Surfer Pirate's work boots. I'm not sure why our pickup outside is reflecting lights that make it look like it has eyes.


Next up, the dining room.
The piano and the table are the biggest improvements. They were both piled with papers and random stuff. I'm the 4th generation owner of that piano. It's a player piano, but the player part doesn't currently work. The blanket chest to the left of the piano was my sister's. It contains... what else? Blankets. On it is Pirate Baby's car seat (yes, at 14 months old, he's still little enough to fit in an infant seat), his coat, the box of hats and gloves for Pirate Munchkin, and my diaper bag. To the right of the piano is my quilt rack with two quilts my sister made on it. The one on the left will be going on the guest bed. The one on the right is going to eventually hang in my stairwell where it can be displayed and will help cut down on the echo in there. Next to that is the rocking chair my mother used to rock me in when I was a baby. (Between them is a photo sorting project I'm working on.) To the right of that, but not in the picture is my long table where my Dragon has his big bay window view. (I need to take a picture of that one of these days so you can see how spoiled he is.) On the table is a puzzle Pirate Munchkin is working on and Surfer Pirate's western hat that I need to clean. On the chairs are my coat, Pirate Munchkin's coat and snowpants and my in-process filing project.

To the right of the last picture, OH LOOK! Another project! (Some sewing things I'm working on.) The cabinet in front of the window used to belong to my grandparents. It was a stereo cabinet, but my grandfather modified it. Grandma used to keep magazines in it. Next to that is the DVD rack that I designed and built. (Yes, we love movies at our house.) On top of that is a tea cup and tea pot that were my sister's and a porcelain doll that my dad bought me this year for Christmas (don't ask).

On the other side of the room is Surfer Pirate's desk. It's a one of a kind piece that came with our house, and I love it. On top of the desk (left to right) is the tank where our tarantula lives, the computer tower (obviously) and my old printer/copier/scanner/fax machine that I might manage to get hooked up one of these days (needed for the photo project), and the VW bus that I gave Surfer Pirate as a wedding gift.

I also have to show off a little of Surfer Pirate's collection. Obviously, he's a Packers fan. (The Unicorn will please keep her opinion to herself on this subject.)


My foyer is next.
(Darn puppies are camera hogs.) In the background there is a hand-painted piece made by one of my mom's friends. It has gorgeous tiny flowers painted in each of the letters. Please admire the pretty woodwork on my stairs and my beautiful bench. (Cielo means Heaven in Spanish.)


My living room.
(Hey look! Dogs again!) Our couch, complete with my sister's "Nap Quilt", comfy recliner, one of my pretty stained glass windows, a tub full of clothes that Pirate Baby has outgrown (one of these days, I'll get that back to my surrogate sister who was kind enough to let me borrow them - although I've recently discovered it makes a great footstool, so maybe later rather than sooner), and my antique stereo cabinet (actually works!) with the tv on it.

This is the center of my world. My Ikea chair (aka: My Throne) with my football pillow (and hey! More project stuff!), my laptop desk, sewing basket and Pirate Baby's rocking ship, all in front of my gorgeous fireplace, complete with lots of gargoyles. This is where the magic happens - where I come up with brilliant blog posts, search for Stupid Criminal stories, and spend way too much time on Facebook and Pinterest.


Since I've spent so much of the last few days deep cleaning the dining room and mudroom, my kitchen has gotten a little more neglected. I'll get pictures of it after I get it cleaned up. I also need to show you pictures of the upstairs. There are a couple of... um... interesting features on the house that can be best seen from up there. But right now, everyone else is sleeping. I don't think they'd appreciate it if I woke them up to turn on lights and take pictures.

One of these days, I'll get caught up on all my projects so they quit taking up little corners of my house. But for now, this is basically the standard of what my house looks like from day to day now that I'm back in my regular cleaning system.