Kitchen (Mini) Makeover!

Since moving into my house 3 years ago, I have been slowly painting every room.  One painting project that has been on my list since I moved in was my kitchen cabinets.  I had been putting it off because of the size of the project, but it was time to tackle it!

Chloe helped:

And here are the results!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

It's so much brighter and fresher!  I love it!

Home Makeover!

When I bought my house in July, it was in major need of a paint makeover. I have slowly been tackling rooms since I moved in.  I started with my room so, well... so I could sleep.

BEFORE (at move-in):

AFTER:

The biggest painting pet peeve I have is that all the trim and all the doors were painted dark brown (except in Chase's room where it is all gray)... and upstairs some of the browns don't even match.  The whole house just feels dark.  I really wanted white trim to brighten things up, but that is a daunting task!  I started with the kitchen when I moved in (and while I was at it I also painted the walls).

BEFORE (at move-in):

AFTER:

My living/dining rooms had to be transformed, for sure.  Sorry for the blurry "before" picture, but it's all I have from the day I moved in.

BEFORE (at move-in):

I had to get rid of that red wall so I did paint that room when I moved in, but I still had that dark trim and orange dining room, which just had to go.  That's what the past 4 days have been about.  While the kids were at their dad's I:

• Painted all the trim and doors white on the first floor
• Painted my orange dining room
• Painted my stairwell
• Painted the trim up the stairs (ugh)

I'm tired.

At any rate, here are the before/afters!  I am so thrilled with the results!

BEFORE (taken last week):

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

And then of course when I got to the stairs I realized I couldn't leave it like this...

So I had to go up (sigh):

I am so happy to be DONE.  It was a lot of work but it was so worth it.  Everything feels so much fresher, brighter, newer and bigger.  I'm not even going to think about the upstairs right now because there are way too many doors to deal with!  Baby steps.  :)

I love my house!

Landscaping

I do not have a green thumb. I kill plants. I don't like the dirt and the bugs that live in it. I have never planted anything in my life.

Until today.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen.... I did some landscaping in my front yard. ALL BY MYSELF. And right now I couldn't be more proud.

When I moved in last summer, landscaping was the last thing on my mind.  I didn't like what the previous owners did so I didn't bother watering it because frankly I didn't care if it all died.  I had a couple neighbors say something to me about watering my plants and I was like, "eh."  I was more concerned with the inside because let's face it....  That's where I LIVE!  Well the time had finally come to do something about the carnage in my front yard:

(Yes, my kids are giving the yard a "thumbs down!")

I went to a nursery last night and when I walked in I basically said, "I have no idea what I'm doing.  Someone please help me!"  I had taken pictures on my phone and told them I needed low low low (x1000)- maintenance bushes.  The lady there was SO helpful and I just loaded up the car with everything she said I needed:

This morning I stood in my yard staring at it for awhile before I just dug the shovel into the dirt and started tearing the place up.  When I planted my first bush I did a little happy dance:

As I was taking a picture of that accomplishment, the neighbor who mows my lawn walked up and said, "Well look at you!"  And then followed it up with, "You made sure to get plants you don't have to water, right?"  Ha ha!

Four hours later I am amazed at the results.  Ready?  Here we go!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

What a HUGE difference!  I'm totally in love with it and I couldn't be prouder of my accomplishment.  Now I just have to make sure I don't kill them!  (Wish me luck!)

And yes, I know I need grass, too.  Baby steps!

 

Summer Fun

Well the summer is definitely not over, but it seems like we have done so much in the past month or so, and I have been horrible about reporting it!  So here's a little "catch-up" blog post about some of the things we have done to keep busy since the end of the school year.

We kicked off the summer with Chase's Kindergarten graduation (sorry for the horrible photo):

Shortly after that we celebrated my birthday!  Seeing as it's my mom's birthday, too, we did a little birthday party via Skype:

Instead of a big cake on my birthday, I always get cupcakes from my favorite place, Cookie Addiction.  This year I got to enjoy my cupcake and ice cream on the new dishes the kids made me.  Precious!

The first official day of summer break I took the kids to the splash pad:

Some other fun things we did this summer were...

Carpet picnics:

Painting a birdhouse for their dad for Father's Day:

Playing at the park, where the kids loved to play Hide and Seek (can you find Chloe?):

I took some shots of them in the trees and this one is so cute except for one thing:

(I had to teach her how to be a lady!):

We have also been getting ready to move down to the Austin area!  The day they put this sign up in my yard I about threw a party:

We spent a few days exploring our soon-to-be new neighborhood, checking things out and finding fun things to do there.  We found a splash pad nearby, which the kids obviously enjoyed:

The kids also decided they found their new favorite pizza place (we have already eaten there twice):

Conveniently, there's a Baskin Robbins next door (no complaints here!):

We also had to go furniture shopping, which the kids helped me with.  We had different ideas of what would work well in our new house:

They have done quite a bit of shopping with me, actually.  It isn't usually a fun thing for me to do with them, but they have been troopers:

I also got a new iPad for school, which was taken over right away:

(Though we have had fun with other games this summer, too):

The last couple weeks we have had swim lessons.  Both kids loved their lessons this year.  They both did so well.  Chase is finally swimming on his own:

Here's a photo of Chloe floating on her back with her teacher, who she loved:

And here she is again, coming to get a kiss from me:

(How can you resist that face?  I don't even try....)

Well, I think that about covers it!  We are gearing up to move!  Every day while Chloe naps, Chase helps with with house projects and packing.  We are all so excited!  Stay tuned for more updates!