The State Of Our Home

Well....our house is slowly coming along. The renovations have turned into quiet a nightmare. We've been living with my inlaws since sometime at the end of September or beginning of October. And we'll probably be her for quiet a bit longer. Turns out there was so much more hidden damage than ever anticipated. In fact, my mother-in-law came home one evening and told me the kitchen had been gutted. Yes, gutted. Apparently, as they were taking down the outside stucco, they realized the floor joists were rotten and needed replaced. They were going to try and remove the cabinetry, repair the damage, and then put the cabinets back. But when they attempted to remove the cabinets, they all splintered beyond repair. So....we're getting a new kitchen too!

I'm incredibly excited about that and some of the other plans that are going on but at the same time, I desperatly miss home. Since Aubrey is due in just ten days and there is no way the house will be ready in time, we have resigned to the fact that we will be bringing Aubrey home to my inlaws. I know that we will receive a lot of help but I can't help but wish we were taking her to our own home. It's been quiet an upheaval at my inlaws house. There are seven of us living under one roof, plus our three dogs. One who is coming into heat soon. And soon there will be a newborn here! To say it's crazy at times is an understatement. Please keep us all in your prayers!

Here are a few photos of our house: (Some of these are a bit out of order but you get the general idea.)

The backside of our house.

The backside of the garage.

The side of the garage.

The laundry room sheeted in. Once all of the outside sheeting is done,

we can add Typar and the move inside to do the insulation and drywall.

The backside of my house at night.

Before - all the stucco is being removed to eventually put up siding.

And after. This is looking into the Roger Raglin room from the outside. See our new windows?

Kitchen - Before.

Kitchen - During.

Kitchen - almost After.

Kitchen - Officially After.

Standing in the entranceway looking into the kitchen...err...backyard.

Looking from outside into the kitchen. Shane is celebrating Mo-vember here.

Looking into my home from the outside. God Bless This Home. PLEASE!!

If you'd like to hear how my pregnancy is going and to see some crafts I made for Aubrey, please scroll down!

Quick Changes

Hello pretty women! How is your weekend going? Slowly but surely I am recovering from this past week. I apologize for the lack of posting. I've been Spring cleaning my casa from top to bottom - and my poor aching body is really suffering as a result. My knees are even a little black and blue from being on them scrubbing, mopping and painting. But my house is feeling so good - there is much more to do. The garage needs to be gone through and we have one room that is just a nightmare. I'm still working on my "project" that I mentioned in my last post. I'll give you a sneak peek though just to let you know what we've been up to. Hopefully it will all be done in the next couple of days.

In the meantime, I'd like to show you a quick change I made to some candlesticks. I may have to go see if I can find a before picture because silly me didn't take one before I painted. Ok, found one.

Our living room prior to selling the fireplace and repainting the repainting.

Both candlesticks were this dark wood color.

And now they are blue! I used a color from Ceramacoat called "Whispering Woods". Slapped it on with a foam brush, and there you go. All my candleholders were garage sale finds - always on the hunt for those! The small white candleholder on the left was purchased for 25 cents. He got sprayed with Heirloom White spray paint.

I love the new look!

This little rocker is holding my half done crepe paper flower ball. I've grabbed the idea from Shelley at House of Smiths. I'm not such a fan of my crepe paper flowers - I redid a bunch but have yet to do anything with them. Remember I've been cleaning all week?


And in case you are wondering why I've been cleaning so much........

These guys. It's Spring. And muddy. And this is pretty much a daily thing. And well, you get the picture.

Hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend!

I'm working on these....

and then resting here.

Oh yeah! The sneak peek.......here you go!

My Fall Decorations

I've spent the past couple of nights decorating my home for my most favorite season, Fall. We've been experiencing some sweater weather here - in fact, they were calling for sleet on Tuesday. As if! I'm not ready for the white stuff but certainly bring on the red and orange leaves!

Here are some photos of my decor. I really apologize for the color quality of the photos. My house was unusually dark today and my camera left a number of the photos fuzzy. Again, totally apologize!


The front entrance way. I removed the boots and added a giant crock. It holds loose shoes that haven't yet made it back to the closet. The dogs kept knocking down the pretty barn boots.

My dad made me this bench two Christmases ago. He had painted it a lovely shade of red but in transit, the paint had faded so I opted to paint it a lovely shade of black this week.

This little corner in my dining room is something new I decorated this week. I resurfaced this chalkboard from my childhood. Need to get some chalk to write some inspirational messages. I'm maybe thinking of hanging a wreathe over it too. We'll see!

These little pumpkins came from Amanda at Imperfectly Beautiful. I won them for a giveaway she was doing. I was soooo excited! I love white pumpkins. They work perfectly on my $3 plate rack.

Some fall stuff in my Ikea enamal pitcher.



I collect fruit jars. Here are a few of my Ball jars and Crown jars. Thinking that they are a bit too "light" for the season, but I love to look at them.

My favorite corner in my living room.

More living room.

I snagged all of these white faux pumpkins at Michael's last year for 90% off!! 90%!! They were originally $16.99. I bought six or so. You do the math. :) Cheap! I love them because I don't have to worry with my wild dogs around them.

My shelves. I love to display my goodies on these babies.

The white thing is a door from Ikea. It was in their "damaged" section for $5. I plan on hanging it on the wall later. I'm not sure what I will put on it but for now I have a little crow plate taped to it with some green painters tape. I purchased the lamp at a yardsale for $2. It was brass but I painted it with my trusty black spray paint. I recovered the shade as well. I didn't do too great of a job but at least it's done. :)

I didn't so much care for the leaves in all of my vases but love them in the photos. They really seem to pop to me!

There are some more little decorations around my house. I will take some photos as things start to take shape with them. Have you started your decorating yet?

I Lack Curb Appeal

Our home is a fixer-uper. Besides a boatload of painting that needs to be done there are some major home improvement projects that need taken care of as well. When I think about every window that needs replaced, the doors that need to go, the garage door that is from 1950 that I cannot open, the ugly outdated bathroom...oh my head starts to swim! But, I refuse to let it get me down. Okay, somedays I allow it too...but for the most part, I'm trying to change things, one at a time. The small things anyways.

To say that the outside of our house is ugly is an understatement. Our house is peach. Ugly '80's peach. My father-n-law calls it "flesh". Gross. Imagine someone calling your home sweet home, flesh. Ugh. It's awful! On my priority list of to-do's is paint the outside of our home. The problem though, is that our home is made of three different materials. We have faux brick, wood and off white stoney stucco. It's a NIGHTMARE I'll tell ya. And though I had every intention of wanting to paint this mess this summer, Shane is hoping that we will be able to side the sucker next year. So....I've stepped aside and accepted the peach for one more year. It's slightly unbearable, but I hope to survive. Check with me in August though.


Which leaves me to this post.

When we moved in, our house numbers were hideous. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Here is what the house looks like with the missing number plate. Incidently, it was originally placed ABOVE the big white rectangle. That is where a mailbox probably should be but our neighborhood collects their mail at a community mailbox a couple of blocks away.

I unscrewed the house numbers from the wooden plaque thing.

Spray painted them white.

Grabbed my trusty upholstery tacks.

And nailed them into the stairs.

(Don't look to closely as the hammer wore away most the paint on the tacks. I need some white liquid paint to touch them up.)

I chalkboard spray painted the wooden board. You can see that that too needs some touching up. But hey, it's just a little character, right? I also hung this pineapple welcome sign that I scooped up at Walmart a few years ago.

And wall-ah! I like it muuuuuuch better now.

(And please ignore the ugly, too big light fixture, the worn out deck paint and the missing trim around my door. I told you that it lacked curb appeal.)