Bye Bye Ivy.....

See this lovely stencil?! Yeah, it's screaming "decoration of the mid-90's" isn't it?! Anyway, I put this stencil on those walls in 1996!!!! John "graciously" never painted over it all those years of updating the house when it was a rental.   You could see where he would edge right up to it but always left the ivy.  Well, I knew it had to go.  I mean seriously, the ivy vine has wilted in my decorating handbook.  So, slowly but surely, I have been tackling away at this lovely vine. Like the barista chick yells at Starbucks, my walls are screaming MOCHA!!!! Yah, so the shade is a little darker than I had anticipated but I wasn't about to start over.  I'm actually almost finished.  Just a hallway, a little area over the entertaiment center, and the kitchen and I will have a freshley painted home.  I actually put our first picture on the wall yesterday:)  It seemed fitting as it was a family heirloom that we received when we were newly married and it had already hung on these very walls before:)  I also have two "wall clings" already up and some hardware on the entertainment center changed out.  Amazing what I can do when I have all this time on my hands!!! I won't be able to do any of my BIG makeovers on my list anytime soon (appliances, light fixtures, window treatments, furniture) but I am enjoying making these little touches to spruce up the place.  Out of all our homes we've lived in, this one has always felt the most like home. Don't know if it's because it's tiny or because it was our first home but it's just cozy!!!  I'm looking forward to moving on to the bathrooms next:)  Bedrooms maybe next Spring?!  Then once the inside is sufficient, I will hit the outside.  If John continues to be gone ALL the time, who knows what I will do:)  I will post pix of the finished project once I take them....Here are a few of the before.....

See that god-awful ivy?!

Eggshell is so yesterday, right?! These walls are bathing in chocolate now:)

"Here's the wall I've been dying to hang my big "white flower" picture on from my old dining room but I cna't find it.:(  How could I lose such a thing?!  The back wall by the patio door now holds a wall cling that sits above the kitchen table.

Baby Steps are a good thing?!  This place is coming together:)