DIY

Hoping to tackle many DIY projects around the house this year. First up – linen closet. We have one linen closet and no coat closet. I purged the linen closet so we could bust out the bottom half of the shelves and install a clothes rod. Now we have a linen/coat closet. Not glamorous, but yay for better storage.

All the shelves
All the shelves
Goodbye lower shelves
Goodbye lower shelves
Hello coats
Hello coats

Transforming the Yard

Try to contain your jealousy, but this was the state of our backyard when we bought our house a year ago.

This is the view of the yard when looking out from our screened in porch – just bushes and expanses of red brick.
And this is the view from the back of our yard. You couldn’t even see the sidewalk because the boxwoods were so big.

Then in the summer of 2013 we laid a patio of concrete pavers and did major bush removal and transplant with the help of my mom and dad.

Here we are again looking out from the screened in porch and now there is a flower bed in front of the shed. And the rest of the boxwoods will get moved.
And now looking from the back gate, the new patio is laid in front of the screened in porch and all the boxwoods are pulled out and relocated. And this is how it’s been for a good 10 months.

Now spring has sprung and I have a new vision for the yard. So Saturday, we made the patio we laid smaller (yes in less than a year my husband agreed to help me pull up what we worked so hard to put down). We made the small skinny flower bed a hardscape bed that I am going to put potted plants on and we pulled up all that brick and laid sod. We also laid sod where we pulled up some of the concrete pavers. Up next, taking out the flower bed in front of the shed and making another concrete paver patio, purchasing pots for an herb garden, and garden decor for the long wall of the garage. And Scott wants to string lights up. I hope we get it all done this summer and that I don’t have a new idea next summer! 🙂

Now looking from the patio, you see the sod we laid in front of the concrete pavers and the sod we put down when we pulled up the bricks. And you see my almost straight concrete pavers ready for my potted herb garden. It just feels nice to see more green.
Here’s how it looks from the back gate. My plants under the diamond window have not quite come back yet, but I’m sure the autumn sage, mexican yucca, and lantana bloom soon.

Making Our House Our Home

And we have painted the girls bedroom and the third bedroom and removed the carpet. But the master bedroom and bathroom still needs everything done – carpet taken out of the bedroom, walls painted in the bathroom and bedroom, an updated ceiling fan, and the bathroom needs some wall paper removal – plenty of time for that later.

The girls bedroom before
And the girls bedroom after – took out carpet and added a lot of color and a new fan
This is the third bedroom – took up carpet, painted, changed blinds to white and put up a new fan. This also doubles as an “office” or at least we put our desk in it. In the before picture it was just an office with super old carpet.

And here is what our bathroom currently looks like. Any volunteers to help remove the wall paper? Just getting a solid color in there will make a dramatic difference.

Vanity – the plan is to get the wall paper off, paint the walls, and stain the cabinets darker, but when???
Wall paper everywhere 🙂

Making Our House Our Home

Here are some before pictures of the living room, dining room, and breakfast room; this is how the house was staged when it was put on the market:

Dining Room
Living Room
Breakfast Room

And since we have been in the home, we have changed paint on the walls, taken up carpet, and added clutter – but it’s cleaner than it normally is. Still on our to do list are painting the paneling and laying dark wood floors.

Dining room in process – we changed the light fixture
Living room in process – we also white washed the fireplace
Breakfast room in process – now a playroom/craft room

Making Our House Our Home

In April, we will have lived here a year. We have ripped out carpet (not replaced it yet), covered the concrete with many rugs, changed out oak blinds for white blinds, and painted. I love how much paint can change a room.

Here is our hall bathroom before:

Before it had wall paper and white fixtures
There was also bead board on one wall that the girls colored on so we took it down. Between the wall paper, bead board, and floor color there was just too much going on for me.

So, we took down wall paper, bead board, and the white towel bars and toilet paper holder. We had already broken one white towel bar because it was glass, got knocked of the wall, and shattered. Definitely don’t want something that will shatter with little kids.

The girls drawings on the bead board.
Elise helping take down the wall paper.
We chose a grayish brown because it worked with the colors in the laminate floor that I think is supposed to look like slate. And of course, I have pink accessories. 🙂
Ahh, one color and new towel hooks

Spring Break and Spring Cleaning

In April, we will have been in our home a year, so it was time to tackle the garage. We had stuff in boxes that we just moved from one house to another. So we pulled everything out on Sunday, and Scott assembled the shelves. And today, I sorted trash and donations from the stuff we are actually using. Scott hauled away the trash and we have two donation piles to haul away, but the garage is organized and we can park a car in it, hooray!

Sunday, everything all over the driveway and the garage – overwhelming.
Monday, everything organized – trash thrown away, christmas stored in attic, two donation piles ready to go, and the car parked in the garage.