Now that I own my house (along with my stupid mortgage company, that is) and my roommate has moved out, I have started the process(es) that need to happen before Mom moves in. Definitely the carpet in the living room needs to be replaced. Not only is it likely the original carpet in the house (built in the 70s) but former roommate's dog not so completely house trained. Originally I was thinking we'd just do that and new floor in the kitchen/dining room (original vinyl, avocado green and fake wood grain) but it occurred to me that it won't cost so much more to do the rest of the house at the same time. That thought meant I packed up everything I own in the other three rooms of the house (roommate had all the living room furniture) and stuck it in the garage. (I'm using the bedroom that will be Mom's, it's not getting new carpet as she doesn't want carpet. It has a concrete floor that will be getting refurbished and painted. Yes, I think it's going to be really cold in the winter. She says that's what throw rugs are for.)
The next thing that thought meant was considering scraping the popcorn ceilings while there is no furniture in the rooms, and flooring that is going away. THAT lasted as long as it took for me to try a spot, discover that the ceilings must have been painted at some point, so the whole getting them damp to scrape thing wasn't working. Which lead to Plan B, repainting the ceilings.
Which lasted long enough to paint the living room ceiling. After two passes and 1.5 gallons of paint, I looked at the ceilings in the other rooms and decided they weren't so bad as all that.
What happened next? I bought a new coffee maker and toaster. They're stainless steel and lime green. What could THAT possibly lead to, you might ask? Well, the lime green just doesn't go so well with the vintage mint green currently on the walls. And since I decided that means I need to paint and also change the back splash ... then I might as well finally do something about the cabinets. Which aren't totally hideous but the wood is kind of dry and also very grubby from former roommate whose personal hygiene was about on par with dog's house training. BTW, every woman I've told this story to nods immediately and understands why I have to paint. Every man but one has looked at me like I'm crazy.
I Googled for some vintage color inspiration and came up with this.
While I wish I could get me some lime/apple green counters, that won't be happening anytime soon. Also I think this is too much white, so I am going to go with white for the main part of the cupboards, turquoise for the doors. Lime green for the top part of the wall along two edges of the room, turquoise on the rest. I know Mom thinks this is too much color, but I LIKE color.
Now you would think this is enough for anyone, right? Of course not! The next thing is the bathroom that will be Mom's bathroom. We had planned to paint (it's yellow, she wants light green). I wanted to change the fixtures (light switch, etc.) and had decide on white porcelain. Simple but pretty. While shopping on eBay, I came across towel bars that are brushed nickel with white porcelain accents.
Which led me to look at the current light fixture and decide it's hideous. Which led me to buy a brushed nickel light fixture at Home Depot because my guy says he can easily install it.