renovating

Chicky and I are moving back into the condo. We got possession of it on the weekend and began thinking about what kind of renos to do. The weekend was busy with work and materials shopping. I worked on Saturday so it didn't leave much time to go out and buy paint, etc after work. Luckily we've had the help of Chicky's dad and my dad. In the past 3 days we've moved furniture around, dismantled, spackled, primed and painted a couple of rooms. Tonight we cut out some of the carpet and removed the baseboards. So for the next 2 weeks or so we'll be spending all our free time over there painting or fixing something. To spare myself some complaints - I wrote some of the neighbors a card thanking them for their patience and understanding while we bang our way to harmony. During this DIY project we've learned that picking out a color scheme before seeing your place is a bad idea. Yup - grey looks cool in books but just didn't go with the condo. So midnight on Saturday we had to go through our paint samples and figure out a new color scheme. I ended up choosing more "earthy" tones to go with the hunk of wood that we call the mantle. So the condo will have 3 primary colors and 2 types of flooring. There are so many things we want to upgrade but due to a lack of funds - we can't do it all. Plus we don't know how long we'll live in the condo so there's no point in upgrading the kitchen cabinets/counters or tiling the bathroom floors. We'll just stick to the basics of painting, new carpets and hardwood floors. The lights in the kitchen are way too hot so I'm going to change out the light fixtures in whole place as well. I enjoy looking at the home renovation books as there are so many nice fixtures to splurge on. :-) I want Santa to bring me a restaurant grade sink faucet! I like the look of the "industrial" kitchen. Larger sinks, counters, etc. Oh well - maybe some day when we get a house....