11/10/09

Projects Projects Projects!

I am TIRED. Soooo tired of projects - when will they ever be complete????? Unfortunately, that answer is never! ha! At least the big ones will be over and done and checked off the list ;)

I am late getting this up, but Friday and Saturday we started and completed Project Hinge and painting the entire kitchen 2 coats yellow and 2 coats white on the bottom. Trey also stripped the chair rail and baseboards and then painted them twice - whew - he is exhausted. I am exhausted. It is getting to the point where it is not fun anymore, we are just so ready for it to be done and to enjoy the finished product! I think we are at that point!! All we have to do is let it dry and then we can begin moving the table and other items back into our kitchen.

This is what my entire living room/hallway area looked like most of the weekend! Adorned in cabinets...


The old knobs...



Random pic of Soph - she is always right there with us - hoping we will hurry and finish and pick her up!



Old gold hinge...



Spraying the hinges and nails - this was one of the toughest projects I have ever - and will ever - do! I personally used Trey's electric drill and unscrewed each hinge and then once they were dry, I screwed the back onto the cabinets. Oh, and we had to sand EACH and EVERY hinge! UGH! That was torture.........



Trey's project - yellow and white paint, chair rails/base boards...



Letting the stripping do its job...



Ta Da! The finished product! Well, almost, I didn't take a complete finished picture - but you get the drift... silver hinges and matching knobs!!!! YAY!



Once everything is put back into place I will take "After" pics and put them up. We still have to put the Chandelier up along with lights. I have a party the day after Turkey Day so it will definitely be ready by then :)
Other exciting News! This Friday is my birthday - the Big 28! ( I cannot believe I am that close to 30!!!!!! OMG) It falls on Friday the 13th this year which is neat because I was born on Friday the 13th - how cool is that? ;)

11/4/09

I. Am. In. Love.

This is such a glorious day! I came home to two brand new appliances - washer/dryer and they are AMAZING! Okay, so they fill up the ENTIRE laundry room - yeah, we didn't measure - but who cares? They are brilliant, beautiful, fabulous pieces of technology that I am already obsessed with. Hands down, the best money we ever spent - more than our kitchen appliances! I know, I know, it is crazy to say that, but I love to wash clothes so this is very exciting to me.



I loaded the washer and pressed all the buttons and waited. Finally I heard ticking noises as it warmed up and prepared for its job. I could see the water trickle in and suds fill up and then whoosh! The washing went into action - and let me just say, that I head nothing. It is the most quiet thing ever - I had to hold my ear up to the washer to hear the clothes....ohhhh pure bliss!


We wanted to get fun colors - but of course those are hundreds of dollars more, so we were fine with the white, we will definitely be taking these babies with us when we move in the future!



So, funny picture, because they don't really fit well into our laundry room - like I said, we didn't measure. But, at least the cleared the cabinets and we can close the doors! We never use this room anyway, just to enter from the garage and wash clothes, so we can make it work. Plus, with this great washing/drying experience it is totally worth the crowded space. ;)

We got a good deal and the drawers will be great for storage - those were thrown in free!
And here you see the golden yellow color of the walls - Trey has been painting - first coat - and it looks great! It is much brighter in these pics than the actual wall - but you get the idea. We are probably going to pain the white on the bottom half of the chair rail.

We should be done by this weekend - crossing fingers - so I can put everything back together in our kitchen. YAY! :)

11/3/09

Whew!

We have had a super busy weekend - clearly I forgot to blog so it must have been busy - but here is the update. After three long and tedious trips to Home Depot and Lowe's this weekend, we finally have our paint selected, the chandelier for the Kitchen, silver spray paint for the gold hinges, and tons of other necessity items that will help with painting and finishing the baseboards. WHEW! When will this end?????

We are on the last little bit of the kitchen - Trey started painting it today - YAY! And my part will be what I like to call "Project Hinge". I will be removing all hinges and spraying them silver to match all of our other hardware. This is seemingly simple, but I am quite sure it will be a challenge this weekend. This is my first serious project all by myself so I am kinda excited. :)


These hinges will soon be silver! And the knobs will be replaced with silver ones - we purchased them at Home Depot, and I will put them on when the cabinets are off due to the hinges. Also part of Project Hinge.



Here is a picture of a new knob that was our tester - love it!


And here is Miss Soph trying to wait patiently for us to get finished in the kitchen on Sunday. Such a good sit!

The other exciting news is that we just purchased a brand new Washer/Dryer tonight!! This is bittersweet because this was not part of our remodel plan, but it is exciting to pick out brand new items! I will show a picture tomorrow when they arrive - I so desperately need to wash clothes - so I will be using that baby tomorrow night ;)
Hope everyone is doing well - we had a low key Halloween weekend. We saw Amber and Andrew which was nice and just did household projects - YAY FOR NOVEMBER!!!!!


10/29/09

Boo Ya'll

One of my favorite Holidays is on Saturday and I can't wait! I love Halloween and all the decorations, the weather, and the CANDY!! :) This Halloween, sad to say, that Trey and I are not dressing up - no costumes for us - there are no parties to go to this year so we are saving up our ideas for another time and place. BUT - I do dress our little pumpkins (Bella and Sophie) up for Halloween every year and take their picture and send out Halloween photo cards. So, I am posting pics of them and one of Trey and I a few years ago... HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

This was taken a few years ago - this is with my Wonder Place girls Julie and Cathleen - we were the Disney Princesses: I was Cinderella, Cathleen was Belle and Julie was Snow White for the Wonder Place Halloween Bash -too much fun!


Trey was hilarious - he came as my ugly step-sister! He was the Hit of the party! haha


And here are our little furry babies!

Sophie as a Hula Girl last year...




Our little Witch, Bella (sitting so well for Daddy while he ties her cape)



Isn't she too stinkin cute!


A picture of Bella a LONG time ago - she is 8 years old now, but she was about a year at this picture, as a Princess...


Sophie as a little devil this year - for anyone that knows her - this is too true!


She won't pose to save her life :)


Trey was holding her back legs for this pic. Luckily she looked at the camera!


Our little pumpkin!



Bella mastered the concept of "pose in a costume - get a treat"! ;)



Hope everyone has a safe, fun Halloween!! :)

10/26/09

Happy Monday!

YAY! Wallpaper is coming down all over the place! I helped Trey tear down the rest of the wallpaper in the kitchen - it looks soooo good with just the bare white walls! It came down more easily than we anticipated - thank goodness! I was off work today, so I could help around the house. We also painted samples in the kitchen of yellow's that we are thinking about.





The new dishwasher!!!



The yellow samples - some are more goldish, but we think we like those better...



Hard to tell - we are thinking a deeper/richer color for the walls, so the gold is growing on us. We are going to paint a creme below the chair rail in the kitchen for contrast.



Exciting that we are almost finished with the kitchen - it will feel good to get everything back in order and put in place so we can start using it again. :)
We have designated Monday's as our Date Night - so it is a guaranteed night that we always have with each other to either try a new restaurant, see a movie, stay in and order takeout, or do something new and fun! This is the best idea we ever had - not that we don't see each other every night, but this is something special, planned, and we know every Monday we will have our time together. We went to Trios for dinner, one of our old favorites which we have not been to in forever! We had our warm brie appetizer, yummy dinner, and Delicious dessert! What a great wrap up to a busy weekend. ;)

10/24/09

Sad News Saturday...

Well, Bruce and trey drug the washer/dryer inside and hooked everything up today. Bruce also helped with our sink piping/drains (Thanks Bruce!!!)

The bad/sad news is that Trey started a rinse cycle to clean out all the dust from our washer since it has been in our garage for weeks during the remodel, and all of a sudden I hear him screaming from the kitchen - and I run in to find water shooting out all over our BRAND NEW FLOOR! UGH.... it was insane - we were freaking out and throwing towels down all over the floor and trying to prevent water from seeping around the sides of the walls (quarter round has not been put back yet) and Trey was frantically trying to shut off the water - however, the water was coming from the bottom/inside of the washer! It was madness - it came all the way across the kitchen in pools of soapy water.

When my Dad and Trey were moving the washer out to the garage, it accidentally fell from the steps to the ground and went down with a very loud noise. So, I am assuming it is broken, though it could be a hose or something. But Trey spent the last hour or so trying to figure it out...



We did not find a solution and we are very concerned that we might have to purchase a new washer/dryer! :( Isn't that always how it works? You spend tons of money on something, like our remodel and new appliances, and then something huge breaks. Poop.

Some positive news from today is that the sink is coming together - Trey has to seal it one more time and connect water to the faucet, but then we should be good to go!


So, this is a very sad Saturday for us - and to top it all off, we missed our professional pics we were scheduled to take with Meagan Jackson. She has so graciously let us reschedule for tomorrow!! How awesome is she? :)

10/22/09

BUH BYE TACKY WALLPAPER!!!!

I have an announcement to make. Oh yes, that day has come - the day I have been so patiently awaiting for SO long... our hideous kitchen wallpaper is FINALLY COMING DOWN!!!!!!!! WHOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got home from work Tuesday to find my fabulous husband deep in concentration with this wallpaper - he had most of it already ripped down!!!! HALLELUJAH!!!

It already looks beautiful - just bare white walls. Anything is better than wallpaper...

A view from the other side of the kitchen -


Our new granite tile counter tops - soooo pretty!





Oh, glorious day - I am so thankful for Trey - he is truly amazing and he has done so much in such little time. We hope to start painting this weekend - crossing fingers!!

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Kelly's Korner is doing Show Us Your Life Fall Decorations - I heart fall - always have, always will! To celebrate my FAVORITE time of year I am posting pics of my fall decorations and Halloween decor around my house to share with others. I can't wait to see everyone else's fall decorations and I wish everyone a wonderful fall and holiday season! :)


These are my little witchy women that I have on the top of my desk at work. They are too cute!


My Black Halloween tree with green/purple lights and Halloween ornaments - love it!



I collect Department 56 figures for Halloween and Christmas - I am borderline obsessed! This year, I bought a platform/display for them on eBay from a very talented woman that makes them - I am so proud of it!



Just a little pumpkin I bought at War Eagle in Fayetteville one year right after we got married :)



Please excuse the HIDEOUS wallpaper (it is disappearing, with my husband's help, as I type!) But I also collect plates from Firefly Studio for the seasons/holidays. Of course I don't have an artistic bone in my body, so I ask them to paint it for me - it doesn't cost that much extra and then I have an awesome plate to stick in my kitchen for each holiday!



I have a vase of flowers sitting on my coffee table and here are my fall colors - they look great with all of my other fall colors and I the best part is re-using them year after year.



Another thing I like to do is put seasonal items inside these jars - pears in the smaller one and a fall mixture of pine cones, pumpkins, and acorns.



My new addition - the outdoor wreath that goes on my front door - my whimsical little pumpkin head - he matches my Halloween garden flag and pumpkin mat. (need to get pics of those!)



Happy Fall Ya'll!!!!

10/17/09

Yay for Weekends!

This weekend has been great so far! Somerset came in town and we had dinner Friday, then drinks at Canon Grill with Hannah and her friend Mike. Lauren joined us and we definitely had a fun time with a lot of laughter - laughing really does make you feel good - Mike is hilarious so we were entertained the whole night! :)



Somerset and I spent the night with Lauren and had a slumber party - we stayed up until almost 3 am talking and giggling like we were in high school! It was awesome, but we were definitely feeling it this morning when we had to get up at 6:30 to get ready for the Race for the Cure! Whoa - we are OLD - it was tough times getting up with only 3 hours of sleep.

Lauren, Sarah, and I shivering at the race - it was soooo cold, but at least the sun was out - NO RAIN!!! ;)


You see the cutest/funniest outfits at the Race - most of which are PINK which is super awesome. This chick was dressed as a flamingo!


These are Firemen that were fake stripping to music playing - hilarious! Of course the ladies were going wild ;)


Harley Davidson had a funny banner/slogan "Stop the war in my rack" -



We completed the race in roughly an hour and a half - great timing for a huge crowd of women and families that are walking together! It is always an amazing sight - all these thousands of women that get together and walk to support finding a cure for breast cancer. Its a beautiful thing - and I am honored to be a part of it - and it doesn't hurt that Pink is one of the main colors! Supporting a great cause and being surrounded by pink? Can't get any better than that!