Memory Lane

Making over a website takes a lot of time and work. In my case, I’ve been trying to fit in the updates whenever I can spare an hour here and there. And that’s why we set out to build the new merrypad.com last September and today, on the brink of April, I’m still weaseling my way through behind the scenes adjustments almost daily. I’m not one of those let’s-just-pull-three-consecutive-all-nighters-and-finish-it kind of people, I love my regularly scheduled sleep, so hopefully you haven’t much been hindered by my slow pace.

One of the most tedious tasks totally could have been avoided if I had selected a different WordPress theme: I’ve been required to go back into each of the 640+ posts and make coding and photo adjustments. For a long while I was convinced that this would take the rest of my life, but I’m starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Along the way, I’ve been able to relive these hundreds of activities projects that I’ve done, and been able to compare how things looked years ago with how they look today. I thought it might be fun to show you some of these posts and projects:

1. Unless you followed me way early on, you probably have no idea that the flooring in the entryway was a stubborn vinyl tile, laid viciously over stamped concrete. This was a photo I snapped on the day before I moved into the house. The entryway was not a selling point.

I’ve done a lot since that day; after living with the tiles for over 18-months, I tore them up and painted the concrete a neutral gray. Add another 15-months to that, and I found myself tiling the floor with mortar and pebbles by hand.

2. It’s only been a year and a half since I beat 150 sq. ft. of asphalt driveway to it’s demise with a small sledgehammer while wearing wellies. We don’t miss that extra 8′ of width at all. I do miss the arms I had that fall, though, can you see those muscles?

3. The glass paned door that separates our sunroom and living room cost me $2. It was broken, both fractured at the top of the frame and without several panes, but it didn’t stop me from lugging it back to the apartment I lived at a few months before I closed on my house. I chiseled away at the loose paint slowly with razor blades to pass time. It was also probably my first unsafe encounter with lead paint, I never tested, I’ll never know.

Best $2 ever spent.

4. Remember when my stairs were white? Because I had forgotten how different it looked.

And then remember when I tried painting them the first time, and they ended up looking like a choppy gradient? Ombre is hard.

They’ve retained their current stripes for the last 21 months. I love them.

5. I have no recollection of how long I had these IKEA pendant lights installed in the living room. It was a little too much for the small space, that I can tell by the photo. Those lights were moved into the dining room when I came upon the Crate & Barrel chandelier that now hangs (much higher) above the coffee table. In a related note, remember when all of my photos were terrible?

Reliving your home renovation photos can be just as fun as looking back through family photos, right? Do it, if you haven’t taken a trip back through time recently.