These updates actually happened a while ago, I have just been too lazy to take any pictures.  I wish I had a before picture of our laundry closet.  It was pretty.  We had white-ish walls, an old board that tried to be a shelf, and a wallpaper border with beautiful butterflies.

Now, we have cabinets (from ReStore), a real shelf, paint to match the stripes in the basement, and super cute bird knobs.

Thank you to Kyle and his parents who did all the work!

Our kitchen renovation is complete!  Here are some pictures:

 

When we first moved into this house the first thing I wanted to do was redo the kitchen.  I think the space is good and the layout is perfect, but I am not a fan of granite counter tops or the odd-colored cabinets.  We were going to have it done before we hosted Thanksgiving that year... except then we didn't.  Other things got in the way, and the kitchen renovation just never got done.  At one point we (Kyle) painted everything white, in hopes that the counter tops and back splash would be replaced to match someday soon, but that never happened either.  Overtime, the white turned yellow (not Kyle's fault) and I knew we had to do something.  Now, it is three years later and we know this will not be our forever home, so we made the fiscally-responsible decision to simply replace the cabinet doors and have everything professionally painted.

I am very happy with the results!  No, it is not a new kitchen, and yes, I am still stuck with granite, but I think it was the best decision for us. 

Note:  I am really bad at taking pictures of the house  Maybe I need to invest in a wide-angle lens?  Also, I cannot figure out the editing software on my new computer, so you are stuck with crappy pictures.  Sorry.

Home Improvements

In Kyle's words:  You don't have to write about how to your tried to do something you saw on Pinterest and failed.

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Last week may have been spent mostly on the couch with a sick Anna, but we did manage to get a couple of projects done around the house.

Project 1:

Batten and Board (sort of) for the dining room, stolen from here.

Kyle used his new saw and nail gun to install boards in between the existing chair rail and baseboards.  I painted it white.

Thoughts- I really like the way it turned out and it was not hard to do, even with a toddler (yikes, can I just say baby still?).  I like it so much, I hope to install boards around the entire room.  My only complaint is that it took three coats a white paint to cover the blue.  I hope whoever decides to buy this house next loves blue.

Project 2:  

Paint the basement and add stripes to one wall.

I painted.  Kyle helped me tape the stripes.  I painted again.

Thoughts- I stole the paint color from Erin and I really like it.  Kyle does not think it looks any different from the existing paint color.  He is wrong.  I know white is boring, but the room is small and I like the fresh, clean feeling it provides.  I also like how it covers all of the marks that are on the wall and in only one coat.  The brown stripe is a bit more bold than I had planned, but I think I will keep it.  I started painting the white on the remaining walls in the basement, but I have many more walls (and ceilings!) to go.  My complaint here is about the tape.  We used the nice blue tape from Home Depot and it SUCKS!  My stripes are not perfect, we had to use a razor blade to get it off, and it tore off other paint.  Boo.

HUGE Home Improvements

I do not know if it is the start of the new year or if that I feel like the house is sad because Christmas is over, but I have the urge to finally get some stuff done.   I would love to gut our bathroom and redo the kitchen, but we do not have the budget for that.  So, we decided to tackle some small projects instead.

Before:

After:

You do not see the difference?

Before:

After:

Still no difference?  But I spent several hours painting (a second coat of white paint...)  I know, super boring, but it really needed to be done.

After:

I hate, hate, hated the lights in our house but I always put off changing them to spend money on something more exciting - paint, bedding, fabric!  Now that we have changed the lights, I am sorry we did not do it earlier.  The new lights (from Home Depot) make a big difference.  Now, what to do with all the old lights... They are in good shape and I am sure someone likes them.  Maybe I can talk Kyle into another Craigslist posting that leads to awkward conversations with strangers visiting our house?  We could use the cash.  Also, we need to paint our ceilings now.

Before:

After:

Kyle had the idea to spray paint all the door knobs to get rid of the brassy, gold hideousness, and I actually agreed.  I do not mind gold knobs, just not in this house.  It makes everything look even more 90s.  The only problem is that I am only about 1/3 done.  Turns out taking off and putting back on knobs is a giant pain.  We need a cordless, electric screwdriver!

We did a few more things, like move curtains from the basement to our bedroom, but I will spare you the exciting details.

Weekend Recap

• Anna decided to sleep through the night and sleep until 6am.  Wahoo!
• Erin and Sean babysat so Kyle and I could have a night out.  We ate dinner at Founding Farmers.  Delicious!
• We also ate at PF Chang's and Seasons 52 this weekend.  We are fancy.
• Anna had another successful swim lesson.  She is pretty much awesome at the frog kick, even if she is supposed to be doing the regular kick.  She may have thrown up a little in the pool.
• I went to Loehmann's twice for one dress.
• We got our new couch delivered.  Finally!
• I caught up on sleep, but did not catch up on anything else.  One of these weekends I will actually get all of my to-do list done.
• Finally, there is this.  I cannot tell you how excited I am - so so so so so so excited!

and now all of our money is gone.

Well, not really, but it sure feels that way.  

Over the past month we have purchased this:

and this:

The car is necessary for when I go back to school this fall and I think it was a good purchase.  After a bunch of drama, we decided to purchase a new car.  I love that is it bigger than our other car.  I can get Anna in and out so much easier and we tested out the extra trunk space this past weekend with a trip to Goodwill.  On the other hand, ever since purchasing the Lexus, I have become a snob and the Hyundai is no Lexus.  


The air conditioner is necessary because ours broke, for the third time since we moved in, right in the middle of the epic/record-breaking/Earth-ending heat wave, while we had company.  (Did I mention all while walking barefoot uphill?)  Plus, I am now a worried (psycho) mom, so it is even more important that it works.

It sucks spending all that money on two pretty boring purchases but I am thankful that we are able to get the things we need.  We will now be watching Netflix and eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the rest of the year.



 

Powder Room Makeover - Step 3

We finally finished the bathroom!  The hold up was really my fault.  I got the wallpaper in the mail weeks ago, I have just been too scared to try to put it up.  It ended up not being as hard as I thought.  I had trouble with corners and working around the lights and light switches, but the rest went pretty smoothly.  I could not be happier with the results - we have the cutest powder room on the block!

(Please excuse the wallpaper that still needs to be trimmed.  Also, please excuse the poor quality pictures.  It is a really small room with no natural light.  I did my best.)

Powder Room Makeover - Step 2

Step 2 added wainscoting to the bathroom walls.  Kyle's Dad helped out with this part of the project and it looks really good. 

Powder Room Makeover - Step 1

Kyle surprised me one day by volunteering to renovate the small, half bathroom on the first floor.  He thought it would be a good idea to try to do the work himself on a smaller project, before tackling our builder-basic, bigger baths upstairs.  Sounds good to me! 

Step 1 was to redo the floors.  The bathroom had boring white tiles and now has a beautiful basket weave pattern made from marble tiles.  Kyle did a great job with the demo and with laying the new tile.

Design Trouble

Good afternoon...this is Kyle again...I don't post often, but I have a problem and I am hopeful that the readers (Erin, mom(s), Sean?....maybe Miranda? Rebecca?) can help. This is not a REAL problem, but a design problem.

Our main floor is huge so we separated our living space into a dining room and living room (or family room...I'm really not sure what the difference is). These spaces are separated by the fireplace which creates a design challenge. Now, if I had the budget to allow two teams of hopeful HGTV hosts to attack this problem, that would be great, but I only have you. What should we do? What should we buy? How should we arrange?


Please excuse the poor quality of the following cell phone pictures.

I am open to buying new furniture, but I am not ok with replacing the entertainment center (I sunk 20 hours of my life into assembling this IKEA masterpiece).

As you can see, the main problem is functional seating that flows.  I hate myself for typing that, but I would hate myself more if I were to continue to live with an angled couch.

Any idea is acceptable, but a complete design with manufacturer part numbers, prices, and URLs (for ease of ordering) is preferred.  Measurements available upon request...measurements of the room that is.  Katy and I do not make a habit of publishing any other measurements.

Thanks!

Surviving the Week by Myself: Day 4

I do not have much to write about today because we did not do much today.  My goal was to get the house clean, but I only was able to finish the top floor.  I did work on getting the nursery finished by organizing things and hanging pictures on the wall.  I still need a better way to display all of Anna's toys and get her closet more organized.  Holy cow she has a lot of clothes.

Mobile that still needs to be hung.

I really need to color code her closet.

Only one more day to survive.

Surviving the Week by Myself: Day 2

Today was a bit rougher than yesterday, but we still survived.  

I had two handy men at the house most of the day installing our new door.  This may not be the most exciting home improvement, but I am really happy with the new door.  It lets in a lot of light, so much light that you can even tell from the main floor.  Also, the glass can be switched out for a screen door, so we will be able to enjoy the breeze this summer.  The two guys also hung our shutter that fell.  It was nice having this work done, but it was tiring trying to keep everyone happy locked up in my bedroom and still check on things with the guys.  There were no naps today.

Then, we took advantage of the 60 degree weather and went on a long walk with the dog.  Anna was in the Baby Bjorn so it was easier to walk Riley.  It was going well until we came across an older couple walking their grandchild.  Riley and I got off the main path to let them pass, just so we were out of the way, but then the couple stopped to tell me that I did not have to get off the path.  I told them that Riley was not always good on her leash and it was just easier this way.  Just then, a small dog jumped out of the basket under the stroller and Riley went crazy!  If only they had not stopped... move it along grandparents!

So it was another successful day and we survived, but we are tired.