Good morning! Yesterday we shared the progress we've made in most of the front of house. Today's the rest of the tour, starting with the dining room, which I somehow forgot yesterday.

So we are in a much better place than we have been - obviously. Just being able to walk around and sit down and eat are huge improvements. You may recognize our rehabbed thrifted dining chairs, which I still haven't recovered, and we Craigslisted that West Elm table (I'll do a full breakdown of sources and costs when we are all wrapped up. As I've mentioned, these "progress" shots are also blank slate shots. Once we have them, I figure the fun can begin to really finalize things. We've still got a fair amount to do in here, including:

1. Customize those bookshelves. We picked them up from Ikea and had originally planned for them to be in the guest room/office, but they were gigantic and hulking and dark in that small room, and we needed more storage out here, so here they are. I know that putting things on the shelves will help distract from the very obvious bend in the cardboard backing, but I've recently decided to do some projecting on them. I'm always on the lookout for ways to complicate things! Stay tuned!

2. Get rid of the bar cart. I love that little cart (scored new from Goodwill's Target section for $25) but it's dwarfed in here. I'm moving it to the office and plan to use it as a sewing cart.

3. Art and stuff. Those walls are looking bare!

4. Organize the white built-ins in the wall. We're considering taking the doors off for now; all our pretty dishware and such is in there and it seems like a waste to have that stuff if we are just hiding it away.

5. Center the table. The table isn't centered under the chandelier. There's already a hook in place to reposition it (the last homeowners must have had their table in the same place as ours) so I'm thinking eventually I'll get ambitious enough to move it. Eventually.

From the dining room, we can head to the back of the house, starting with our bedroom.

I gave an update 10 days in, and we haven't made that much progress since then. But I am experimenting with color to liven up the gray, and I'm happy with the yellow for now. The to do list in here is pretty predictable.

1. Hang sheers behind the gray curtains. Privacy + light = winning.

2. Settle on some bedding. Nothing wrong with ours, but it's a tiny bit unfinished feeling, and though I like the yellow throw, it's small for how I'm using it.

3. Hang art. I have some stuff picked out; it's just a  matter of hanging it.

4. Find replacement shades for the lamps. I love those curvy brass lamps on our dressers, but both the glass white shades broke in the move. I think it'll take some effort, but I'll find something to replace them, or maybe just find some larger bulbs to balance out the look? They're candelabra base, so I'll have to hunt for the right bulbs.

5. Put up the headboard. See the ladder leaning behind the rocking chair? That's what I'm going to use as a headboard. It's just a matter of putting it together, which I know is easy because I've done it before. I'll share soon.

From there, there's Lou's room, where we haven't changed anything since I posted on our initial workup. 

Though it's been a relief to have things marginally functional in here, I've been thinking a lot about how to make it better, and I have some ideas. Mostly, they involve using the available space - that's the walls - and rethinking some of the placement we've got here. So:

1. Bring in more vertical toy storage. I've decided that I want Lou to have a bit more floor space, and the best way to do that is to clear out the existing storage bench (actually the foot portion of Lou's bed) and bring in a small shelving unit instead. I also plan to paint the toy storage we have (a set of lockers you can see here) black or white or something.

2. Set up an art wall for Lou. I'm still thinking of painting the lower half of the walls with chalkboard paint. I"m definitely going to put her coloring books and art materials on the wall above her small table.

3. Hang Lou's dress up clothes on the wall. Our old system, of having Lou's dress up clothes at her height on the wall, is better than what I attempted here, which is using a coat tree that's too tall and too crowded. (I thought she could access it easily from her bed, but it's been less than ideal). Once I move out the storage bench, we'll have a good place for that stuff.

4. Art. Yet again, we're missing art, and Bret and I have collected things just for Lou from our travels over the past couple years. We're excited to hang it. We've also been thinking about getting Lou some stars - either a star lamp, or those glow-in-the-dark ones. If anyone has good suggestions on something their kids have loved, let me know!

After Lou's room is the hallway/row of closets, which we have made a bit of progress on since our last check-in.

You can see that we've both added storage and mirrors here. Mirrors are important because there's no natural light back here, and by leaving Lou's door open we can get some light from her window reflected around. Plus, we get ready here, so having a mirror is helpful. Still, there are a few remaining to dos.

1. Add electricity. There are no outlets back here. In fact, the whole house is pretty poorly wired. But we need some electricity back here, to add more light and a place to dry my hair. It's just a matter of running an extension cord as unobtrusively as possible from the nearest source, so I'll get on that.

2. Lighten up. I'd like to add a little decor back here. I'll definitely repaint that dresser, which I painted that taupe a while ago. I'm thinking a fun kelly green, because I'm currently obsessed with kelly green. Or maybe navy? We'll see. Then I'll need a new lamp shade, maybe some art? Maybe something to spruce up all those doors? This stuff is all way less urgent than anything else, so it'll be a matter of fun projects rather than necessity. Perhaps a good place to experiment with renter-friendly fix ups.

4. Rug. The floors are a bit old and a bit rough in some places. Like, literally, rough on the feet. I'm always okay with an excuse to buy a cute runner, so we'll do that soon.

This hallway leads to the pre-bathroom nook, which I'm sorry but I don't have photos of, but which I'll share soon, and then the bathroom itself. The bathroom hasn't changed at all since I posted our much needed small bath storage solutions.

So, we've made some progress. But there's been an MVP in all of that. And it's not me, nor Bret, nor Lou. Shall we check in on the office/guest room?

Sigh. That is still happening. In one way, having a dumping ground has made it possible to clear space and make progress throughout the rest of the apartment. On the other hand, it's really hard to do lots of day-to-day tasks when this room looks like this. We haven't set up our printer or spare hard drive, and trying to track down the cordless drill/day planner/curtain hardware/a pen in this mess is no fun at all. I've had enough, and it's impeding me from doing things I really need and want to do, like make an advent calendar for Lou and print out forms. So this is my project for today. Sorry yet another Tuesday has come with no dinner ideas, but we beg your flexibility for a final (fingers crossed) week. Once I have this mess under some semblance of control, I think things will all start to feel more managed.

So that's the 28-day check-in. Since we were out of town for eight of those 28 days, I'll go ahead and express some pride that we've gotten as far as we have. If not for the office, I think we'd officially feel "moved in." So, dude, I'll get on that. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you tomorrow!