home makeover

Despite the blanket of cobwebs, insect-infested shrubs, and colonies of ants and spiders that greeted me and freaked me out when I first moved in, I've calmed down a bit to admit that our little house actually has a lot of potential. As I've already shared in a previous post, I have high aspirations and a lengthy domestic to-do list to boot.

With insect-killer in one hand, and Emily as my brave and trusty sidekick, we are ready to tackle our first project: repainting the trim and door!

Before:

Day 1: Yardwork--getting rid of the GROSSLY infested gardenia bushes in front of the house.

As we cut the branches off, CLOUDS of little white bugs would fly off... not to mention the army of ants and aphids. blech!

Day 2: Removing chipped paint and sanding down all surfaces

Day 3 (today): Cleaning all surfaces with power hose and taping up sides of trim.

First gut-wrenching obstacle of the day--the ants carrying their baby eggs fleeing from their flooded nests. Notice the now-empty bottle of bug spray.

Second gut-wrenching obstacle--taking down the old, dirty, mildewy straw blinds that hung outside our back window... notice the cobwebs underneath. and the clump of cobwebs/mud/wasp nest that looks like a dead bird.

Our day's hard work looks like this:

Tomorrow: Painting!!!