How to Arrange a Living Room in 30 (not so easy) Steps!

Do you remember those little plastic tile games you used to get as a kid? Maybe you won them at a carnival in grade school or perhaps they were in the basket of toys at grandma and grandpas house. They were a few inches square with room for twenty five numbered tiles, but there were only twenty four tiles. You moved them around to try to put them in order, but ultimately just took it apart and put it back together. Well, that's what it's been like around here the last couple of weeks.

In my wisdom, I decided we should host a birthday party for my Dad's eightieth birthday. Only six weeks from when we moved in this was likely not the brightest idea, but I wanted to do it and so Scott committed to it as well. (By the way, if I haven't said it yet he's a really great husband!) There were multiple things I wanted to have finished before the party, not the least of which was getting the boxes of media (nine cd/DVD boxes and four boxes of record albums) out of the living room and setting up the guest room so my brother would have a place to stay. So our party puzzle went something like this: 

1. Order new blinds for the garage window
2. Install new blinds in the garage (they arrived in four days...from China)
3. Clear the garage floor including recycling runs and consolidating items on storage pallets
4. Hang bikes on garage walls and set up shelving for bike gear
5. Move love seat from Scott's office in the front bedroom (the love seat was much too large) to the garage. You see where this is going, right?
6. Move the file cabinets out of the office closet and install secretary on the desk
7. Hang pictures in the office (of course)
8. Move cd/DVD boxes from living room into the office closet
9. Put albums from living room on the shelves in the office closet
10. Move small ottoman from living room into office. You'd think at this point we were done...but wait, there's more!
11. Install new bulbs in the living room cornice fixtures
12. Paint the master bedroom ceiling and closet
13. Paint the master bedroom (including patching a large hole from an old alarm system, ask Scott about DAP Presto Patch - brilliant!)
14. Rip out the master bedroom carpet revealing more glorious hardwood floors (thank you, again, son Scott!)
15. Set up the master bedroom (can I just say, it's so nice to sleep in our own bed again)
16. Hang pictures in the master bedroom (yes, it's a separate item)
17. Completely rearrange and put down Flor carpet tiles in the guest bedroom
18. Hang pictures in the guest room (again, really)
19. Again with the DAP Presto Patch, this time in the entryway coat closet
20. Paint the entryway coat closet
21. Clean the paneling in the living room next to the fireplace (Murphy's Oil Soap and water, and a generous wipe down with Liquid Gold does wonders)
22. Install Halsey hanging system in the ceiling above the paneling (someone told me never put holes in paneling)
23. Hang the large framed painting by Farooq Hassan in the living room on the paneled wall
24. Rip out the carpet in the hallway and on the living room stairs, again with the glorious hardwoods
25. Remove about a kagillion staples from the floors and living room stairs

All this followed by a recycling run to Far West Fibers with the Mini full - bonnet to boot. And another run, this one in son Scott's pickup, with the old range, carpet and pad and various and sundry wood scraps and attic "found items", to the ECR (Environmentally Conscious Recycling center in NE Portland). Maybe it was only twenty five steps, but I didn't include standard clean up.

Dad's birthday party was this past Sunday (it was also daughter Jeanette's birthday - number 31) and it was really great to host the family.  I cooked in my new circa 1983 range, we entertained in the living room and everyone oohed and ahhed over the floors. We had dinner in the dining room and too much cake from Baker and Spice in Hillsdale!