the bar area: before and after!

As I mentioned, I got the idea recently to do video 'before and afters' rather than photos; I don't know if it's the small size of our rooms or my lack of photography skills (or both), but I just don't feel like the pictures are really doing it all justice. Besides, one of my favorite shows is Clean House, and if Clean House was just in PICTURE form it wouldn't be as interesting, right? (Sorry, I don't have an entertaining team helping me out, and I can't honestly say I'm all that entertaining, but I give it my best shot!)

I don't have 'before' videos of the bar area because I had the idea after I'd started down here, of course, so here are the 'before' pictures:

This is the corner near the closet; the first thing people see when they come down the stairs.


From the bottom of the stairs; the view across the room towards OJ's desk.


My corner of the bar; that's my workstation. That's where the magic happens, folks.


The other side of the bar. As you can see, it's LOADED with stuff. That's fairly typical; it's a giant hot spot for us. It's going to be a real challenge keeping that surface clean. Also, all that stuff on the floor? That's the path we need to take to attempt to get behind the bar. Not that we could if we TRIED, because...


...this is what it looked like behind the bar! Stuff, stuff and more stuff.


And here is the payoff! The 'after' video! This was a monumental amount of work; there was SO MUCH to sort through. Also, it was terrifying because it had been so long ...
I'm watching my dog try to eat a June bug on the window screen (outside, thankfully, I hate those things) and it's like a car crash; it's totally grossing me out but I can't look away.
Anyway, it had been so long since we'd managed to get behind the bar that there were a LOT of cobwebs, spiderwebs, tiny bug carcasses, you name it. I have two huge phobias: spiders, and corpses. (Yes, even teeny tiny bug corpses.) Serious phobias too, not like girly issues. Working back there was horrible for me. With my husband's help handling the really hard / gross parts, it all got done. I'm ridiculously pleased.



So; feedback! Do you prefer the video before-and-afters, or did you like the photos better?

Also, are there any areas of my house that you want to see? I don't recall what I've posted so far. The rooms that are DONE are the two bedrooms, the upstairs bath and the hallway, the dining room and the kitchen (and now the bar area!) Still in progress are the downstairs closet, the family room, the downstairs bathroom, the laundry room and the garage (the dreaded garage). Those that are still in progress will get their own 'before and after' videos in time. (I will actually be posting the 'before' video for the downstairs closet next!) If you've missed anything on the finished list that you'd like to see, let me know! I'll do a video update.