Update 1/7/2012: I started this post before Christmas and then family illnesses shot it all to hell and I never finished it. Still, I wanted to share with you the home improvement updates I’ve been doing around the house, and why.
Every year for the last several years my mother has hosted a Christmas Day Open House at her condo. Now that she’s living in an assisted living facility, I agreed to host the open house at my home. This may not sound like much, but for me, it’s a big deal. It’s as scary for me as if I’d been asked to stand in a bikini in front of 100 hot men. Yeah, not a chance in hell.
But here I am, doing it. (No, not the bikini.) I’m opening my home to more than just my family. Maybe no one but family will come. Maybe my home won’t be large enough. Maybe… maybe… maybe.
Feel the fear and do it anyway.
That’s my mantra these days.
So, in preparation for my home’s initiation into what I hope will be many more parties and welcoming of friends into my life, I’ve been fixing up the house.
See, there was this one wall…
…that before the drywall was screwed in was a gaping hole of insulation and wood. And cold air. It had been that way since circa 2007 after I had the half wall removed when I installed my hardwood floors. No joke. I lived with the hole in the wall for, um, nearly five years.
Talk about procrastination.
And there was the matching hole in the ceiling.
And the ceiling itself was half painted for more than five years. My back gave out at the time, and I never finished it. My house for the last 10 years has been a series of unfinished projects.
So, I bit the bullet and hired a contractor. He fixed the drywall. He fixed the wiring where it was unsafely stashed up in the ceiling and wall. We installed a sconce on the wall.
And they painted. Getting rid of the cool, unwelcoming ice blue. Ok, I know I chose that as I did the previous four iterations of the front room color. Whatever.
There was lots of paint sampling.
But this time, I knew what I wanted. I wanted warm. I wanted inviting. I wanted comforting.
Getting there…
I never could get that top corner right. Thank God for hired help.
The wall color looks a lot darker in the pictures than it is in real life, but it’s a warm, yummy caramel-y brown. Kind of like a caramel macchiato. Delish.
Here’s the wall all fixed with the new sconce:
Here’s the main family room before:
The chocolate wall color looked great when the flooring was creamy white carpet. But with the dark floors, it was too much.
Here’s the after:
Here’s the front room before (sorry, blurry cell phone photo):
After:
Looking the other way. I love the contrasting wall.
For more pictures of the house fully decorated for the holidays, you can read here.
There’s more work to be done around the house, but mostly on the second floor. Oh boy. 
At least I have the main floor welcoming, comforting, warm, and cozy. Ready for friends. In fact, that open house I mentioned earlier? It was postponed to New Year’s Day, and it was great. A success. I think I’ll do it again soon, and this time, I’ll try to remember to take some pictures.
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