Making Progress...

I have to say that things have been feeling a little hectic lately on Hazard Ave. Between putting the finishing touches on the family room and getting the butler's pantry painted, my weekends have been busy, busy, busy! Not to mention getting the house ready for the holidays, getting Christmas shopping done, and taking some very important time out to spend with friends and family to celebrate the season. Phew! 

So while it isn't finished, I have made some progress in our butler's pantry. Like I mentioned previously, this is just a "mini" makeover. I'm just painting and adding a couple of little touches to make the room livable until we can afford to do it up right.

Check out this old, non-functioning doorbell. It will look much better once a coat of paint erases decades old dirt and grime. 

 I had to spend a lot of time removing very old and very brittle contact paper from the shelves. It finally came off in very small flakes using a wallpaper scraper.

It also took me a lot longer to fill all the holes and cracks in the walls with joint compound than I had originally anticipated. Just look at this damage!

Spending the time to repair the walls was well worth it, however, because as soon as the first coat of paint went up, I could see the improvement.
That's the new wall color on the left, old wall color to the right.

 Someone visiting my house once told me that the light fixture was probably an oil burning light fixture original to the house. She said that in the old days when electricity came on the scene, people kept their original fixtures and had them converted to electric. Interesting! I think we'll also keep it and give it a good polishing.

 Here's the other side of the room. Only the top portion of the wall above chair rail has been painted, but already the room is looking so much better. The paint color is Reserved White by Sherwin Williams. It is the same paint color we used on the adjacent family room ceiling. We had over a gallon left over from the family room project, so I figured this would be as a good a place as any to use it. Using the same paint color nicely ties the two rooms together. A happy accident :)

 I was able to finish all the prep work and paint the walls. Now all I need to do is paint the cabinetry. Almost done!