Thursday Thirteen - things Robert's done to our house

These are thirteen of my favorite things.

1. When we moved here five years ago, this house was terribly dated, with lots of dark wallpaper with tiny print right out of the '70s. The entry hall, which is narrow already, had dark chair railing topped with dark maroon swiss-dotted wallpaper. To open and lighten it up, Robert replaced it all with a very light patterned paper. He also replaced the dark brown closet doors with mirrored doors.


2. He removed a cabinet above the stove and installed the microwave. He did this in our last house too, and I appreciate the extra counter space.


3. He replaced the banged up kitchen sink with cast iron. (Yes, I have a dishrack, but we've hidden it away until the house sells. The coffeepot gets hidden away for showings too.)


4. And like in the last house, he installed undercabinet lighting for me. The lights run over three sides of the counters, with two different switches.


5. There's another wall on the left side of the fridge here. Proving his point, "This new refrigerator WILL SO fit!," Robert later repaired the wall, and if you didn't know the cutout was there, you'd, well, never know it was there.


6. He replaced all the light switches in the house with either dimmers or rockers.


7. He replaced all of the country blue bathroom counter tops.

This main floor powder room had blue and orange striped wallpaper, identical to the dining room. Eeek!!


The kids' bathroom had one sink but plenty of room for another. When he replaced the counter top, he installed a second sink, and rewired the lights, replacing the fixtures.


8. He installed glass doors above the tubs instead of using shower curtains. (This was also something he did in our old house.) The "rain" pattern on these means you can never see the water stains. You can see the kids' door in the picture above, and ours in the picture below.

9. In a moment of boredom a few years ago, he tore out a row of our bath tile and replaced it with a contrasting color.


10. In another moment of boredom, he decorated our closet. He put up border wallpaper, installed canned lighting with a dimmer switch, and shopped for all the decorations.


11. He planted hundreds of new plants and flowers outside. He poured 1000 lbs. of concrete to make a waterfall. There's also outdoor garden lighting all along the backyard that I didn't get a picture of.

12. He replaced all the uneven wooden vertical retaining walls. The walls in front are now brick; the longer walls in back are horizontal railroad ties.


13. He put up several brackets across our front porch for hanging flower baskets. He even maintains them. :)
I am SO grateful to have a husband who can do this. We never could have afforded the tens of thousands of dollars that we would have to pay someone for all the things that Robert has done. Thank you, honey! You ARE my hero!!!