Before

I’ve been saving and saving and saving and finally, this week, had the awful carpet and vinyl in my house replaced with tile! I love our little 50s ranch so much and I’m slowly (very slowly) restoring her to mid-century-meets-boho-artist glory.

The light beige carpet was brand-spankin-new when we moved in almost 10 years ago, but it had seen better days.

Here’s Ron Weasley enjoying one last meal on that ugly kitchen floor.

Then the crew came in and started the demolition while I was at work one day. It’s difficult being at work when you know something like this is happening back at the ranch.

Did I mention that I had to move all of my furniture into two rooms? Here’s my living room.

And my studio.

I have not painted anything in over a week. I’m starting to get antsy.

Then the crew put down the hardiboard and it took them a couple of days to level everything out because my house was built in 1956 and it’s not exactly plumb.

They also disconnected my washer and dryer and laundry started to pile up. So my daughter and I left for Arizona and Disneyland. Ha!

Really, we did.

And when I came back six days later, the tile was finished – yay! But there was a mountain of laundry and a disturbingly thick layer of construction dust – boo.

I am going to paint everything a newer shade of eggshell, but want to kick up my 50s kitchen a notch with a bluish-green accent wall. You’d think someone who works with color for a living would have an easier time making this decision.

NOT SO.