When we originally bought our house, we had lots of plans for renovations. Well, not really plans, but we had made lots of statements such as 'We could fix up the basement!' and 'We could repaint!' and 'We could redo the kitchen!' all in an effort to increase the value of the house and make some money when we sold the house - which we were going to do in a year or so. And then we did the first room downstairs and I realized just how much work and money went into all those careless statements!!
After the first room (which we still haven't completely finished - another coat of paint over the primer and some mouldings) I decided to take on the second room all by myself - a super smart decision, I know. After examining the walls I noticed that most of the walls were covered with a thick layer of textured paint. Kind of like a cross between the top of a meringue pie and a stucco ceiling. I didn't really want to paint over top of it, so I went down to the Home Depot and rented a sander to sand it all off, COMPLETELY underestimating how much work it would be and how much mess it would make! 
Yes, this is me all geared up for sanding. I couldn't breathe under the dust mask and the elastic popped off, so I came upstairs and rigged up a dish towel. I didn't want to pay for longer than a 24 hour rental but that paint was amazingly difficult to get off! My arms were so sore from holding the heavy sander I finally decided to do a good-enough job instead of a perfect job.
After the sanding and the cleanup - which took almost as long as the sanding! - I decided to wait for my mom to visit so that she could help me paint. I also had a coupon for carpet cleaning which improved the look of the room a lot more than I thought it would. The previous owners left us about 12 cans of paint and I found a nice light green. Unfortunately there was only the one can and we sort of ran out before it was all done. So the good-enough job was again downgraded to It'll-have-to-work.
All in all, though, I think it turned out rather well. I still have to staple up some more ceiling tiles (that should be a blast!), buy some mini-blinds for the window and a few other minor things and then the room will be done! Hopefully that will make it easier to get a renter in there - I know it will make me feel better for charging what we do per month!
Here are some pictures of the final product - well, after painting at least. My brother Darrel's friend's girlfriend needed a place to crash for a bit so she's in there now and once she's gone I'll get to finish it up:
Our old desk that is literally falling apart. We got that thing from the clearance center at Staples before we were married and have moved it from the apartment to the little house to upstairs here and then finally down here.
There's that lovely panelboard again. I hate that stupid stuff so much!!!
The bed and the closet and other alcove - kind of a weird setup. 
Aidan got a new dresser so his went down to this room and I'm still trying to find a room for the one that was down here. Aidan's old dresser looks much better down here!
I think my next project will either be the downstairs bathroom or the kids rooms upstairs....
