We're back!

Boy has it been since May?! Wow! Time flies when the weather is nice huh? Our summer was filled with trips, trips and more trips. We completed the painting of the kitchen (fabulous shade of blue), put up some wainscoting (still not completed), backsplash in the kitchen, attempted a half-bath redo which stopped as soon as I tore off some drywall (oops!) and new carpet for the upstairs.

There has been much more and I will update later when I have more time.

It is the month of giving thanks and I am thankful for family and friends who are in our lives. 2013 is just around the corner and we can’t wait! 2012 was a busy year and we are looking forward to 2013 being a bit more relaxing (we hope). 


Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

So the kitchen begins

We have finally taken some steps to freshen up the kitchen. First up, the cabinets. See, I LOVE wood, really do, though oak is a tough wood to have in a kitchen. On top of that, a kitchen that is narrow, as seen below.

And without going and replacing all of the cabinets, I figured a fresh look would do our kitchen wonders. We have stainless steel appliances so white has been my new favorite kitchen scheme. I hired a carpenter friend of mine to do the work, as simple painting does not work when doing cabinets. I wanted to make sure they would last the wear and tear. He was able to use epoxy to refinish them, making them feel brand spanking new.

So what do you think?

Pretty nice huh? Well, that is just first step. Next was to remove the wall paper border.

Anyone interested in heading to Italy? Wallpaper, I hate. I hate the look, and I hate the long, drawn out process of removing it. Now that the said above wall paper is removed, it is time to paint. I am feeling blue may be a nice fresh color.

This week will be filled with projects, including the never ending living room molding. Have a great week!

Here come's the weekend

Yes, it has been a while. What can I say, a life of a newlywed is busy. As of 4 days ago, we are no longer "newlyweds"! Sad as that sounds, I think it is great! We celebrated our first anniversary and now we can look forward to many, many more.

Last I wrote I committed to a picture a day for March. Well, I took pictures, figured I would post them at the end of the month but boom, what happens, I had to turn in my iPhone last night because it was getting so hot it could melt something and off goes my pictures. Not all, but most. I will need to look back and see what I can retrieve.

As for the home renovations. Our molding is up (pics to come soon). All we need to do is mud and paint, fix the ceiling and put some quarter round down and the room will be done for now. I say for now because in the coming year I hope is to replace the floors with hardwood. Our next big project will be the kitchen and for that, we are bringing in some hired help. Just look how long it took us to do our LR and to write our last blog. We are not good at these things yet!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend, enjoy the warmth as spring has arrived!

And then came the weekend

That is right, it's Friday! Every week we start off looking forward to this day, no matter what the weekend has in store for us. I wonder why is that? Is working that tough that the two days off from it really makes the other 5 worth it? YES! Now, work is not tough, life for us is not tough. We may worry about deadlines, having too much to do at work and politics, oh the politics, yet, we really have it good. We have our health, close to family and friends, fabulous pets and more than enough food on our table. This week in the news showed us that life is full of tragedy (school shooting and terrible storms) but it depends on how you deal with it when you are faced with such tragedy.

So, may be a little late, but our new year's resolution is to enjoy the little things like having the windows open in February, and avoid finding something negative to say each day. I am sure it will be hard at times but totally worth the outcome. Sooo, it leads me to this....

#marchphotoaday! I have seen this play out on Facebook and now a few of the blogs I am following are joining in. And it is so much easier to do it with a guide list right? I found this list and plan to start right away. Finding joy in the little things will now be documented! Happy Friday to everyone!

PS - Monday is Patrick's bday, woo hoo!

What a great week

We have been MIA this week from blogging, but for good reason. Logan was up for her Feb. break and we had a blast! Sure we worked all week, but teenagers sleep all morning anyways! We had so much fun cooking together, Annie had a constant play pal and to top things off, we went prom dress shopping. YES, she is growing up. What is great about being a stepmom, I skipped diapers, terrible twos, awkward middle school, and jumped right into HS years. I have such fond memories of HS that to me, this is fun! Of course, there is always worry surrounding school work, is she having a great time in HS like I did, what kind of college will she go to, and of course the boys. That brings me back to prom.

Here it is, THE prom dress. And she looks gorgeous in it (pics of her will come in April after the prom). the colors are purple, not blue, like my "hi-tech" iPhone camera makes it out to be. =)

Her dad on the other hand, boy has the worries set in. Prom, boys, school, and being so far away, it is even worse. If he could, he would implant a GPS tracker in her! Just wait until she starts to drive on her own this summer, OY!

As for home improvements, they are slowing down a bit. We still need the trim up in the LR, we have replaced 2 doors so far, more to come as we buy them. This week's goal, make a bday gift for my 93 yr old grandmother. I will take some pictures as we create it and share.

Have a great week everyone!

We have a couch!

That is right everyone, slowly but surely, we are moving furniture back in and our living room and kitchen for that matter, is becoming livable again! As you can see, our kitchen before was a nice holding area for our couches. Just imagine a love seat on top of that couch, I took this after I had moved it back in.

And of course, as a great help, Annie wanted to make sure I was doing it right. Just look at that face

 

And this is start of something beautiful.

 

As of today, there is a tv and tv stand along that back wall. Last step is the molding, unless the gaps are something more of a trend these days. I vote no. If you remember, I had said we were about 1/2 day behind, well, that 1/2 day has become over 2 weeks. Oy! If only we didn't have jobs and of course, were actually trained in drywall and not marketing and computers. All in all, not to shabby for our first time. 

We are excited to see what ReStore has in store for us this weekend. Fingers crossed for matching doors and possibly a "new to us" vanity.

We can see the light!

That is right, we are so close we can feel the comfort of our couch, the glow of our TV, the feeling of opening up the fridge when we want to. After 2 weeks of working on our living room after hours, we finally have paint up! Patrick worked constantly last week sanding and re-mudding areas of the drywall. 

 

 Trust me, it was quite a messy job, even our poor Annie was looking a little "lighter" after being covered in dust that found its way throughout out house. But, I came home, this part was done, so all that was left was to prime all walls and ceiling and paint. And at 11:59 pm last night, we finished, sort of.

 Here is where some speakers will be placed.

And here are some more speakers. Not sure how loud the living room will now be but Patrick says to trust him and I will do that since I am too exhausted to question the amount of speakers being placed in our small living room.

 

As for almost being finished. The walls will need a light second coat later today, then we can finally bring our furniture back in. Last step to bring this room back to looking like a room, the molding and baseboards. We have picked them out already and I can't wait for that last step. 

In the coming weeks we will be doing some smaller home improvements, nothing as major as this living room. If you know about ReStore, then you know how many awesome deals you can find and of course, going to a great cause. We are heading up there this weekend for a 50% off deal on doors. This house is old and the doors show it. Time to upgrade to fancier, panel doors! Yes ladies, married life is craaaazzzzy!!!!