What Goes There?

Most of you know I have totally re-done my kitchen and I love it. We put new flooring on top of our old one, took done the wallpaper border and painted it a sage green (which doesn't show up on the pictures) and then switched everything to black, including my new table. We also just finished another change (see second picture). Remember that old ugly phone hanging by the light switch.....well, Jack was able to take everything done and re patch the wall, so that UGLY phone on my wall is gone. If you will notice on the other picture, I still have a very blank wall (the top picture). It is SO naked!! It really needs some work up there. I thought about maybe one of those large clocks.....but I wanted my readers to give some more suggestions.....be careful if you suggest it, you might have to help me :).....if you find something at a thrift store, just let me know!

Early Christmas

I got my Christmas a little early this year.....my counter height BLACK kitchen table with 6 chairs!! I was so excited to finally find one on Craigs List and Jack just happened to have the day off. It has a leaf underneath that I can pull out to have a bigger table. I love it, but I am still trying to get used to the different shape (perfectly square). Thanks, honey!! I love you!! Now I just need to find someone to buy our old table and chairs!!

work in progress

my kitchen is slowly coming together. I spent most of Monday night tearing down the border. That was a job, but I got it done. I swear I don't think I will ever put up wall paper or border ever again!! Tuesday I went and bought paint and have spent the past two days painting. I'm about 80% done. I have to move the fridge and get behind there and do some touch ups as well. I'm in love with the sage green color. I can't wait until everything is done, and then of course to get my new black or brown table:)! (it was hard to capture the color with the camera....it kept making it looked washed out)

Kitchen Floor

I was able to start the kitchen floor. This was a much bigger job, and we are about 95% done. We have some tricky corners yet to cut and under the oven. Thanks to my sweet husband who has done some of the tricky cutting for me:). Now, I am wondering what to make as the official wall color of my kitchen now that I got rid of the blue specs in the floor. Oh, the possibilites....I'm not even sure which color to choose. This will also look so cool once I get my black table!!

New Floor

before

after

after

I'm so excited!! I got a new bathroom floor. The great part is that it cost less than $20 to install it. I was able to do part of it myself, and then Jack helped cut the corners for me. It was less than a half day project too. I can't wait to do my kitchen and the kids bathroom!! I'm sure the kitchen will cost more like $100, but I still can't wait to do it. I just hope Southside has me subbing a lot so that we can do these extra household projects.

first spray painting project

I was trying to get a desk to fit in the boy's room, but it was just too big. I had big plans on having a place where they could work and also have a lap top in there (closely monitored of course). I did re-arrange a few pieces of things and then I got the notion to change the shelves in their room, so I spray painted! I like the black a lot more than the lighter version. I've now painted both, but haven't got the top black shelf up yet. (still drying). Next, I want to attempt to get Lydia over here to show me how to best paint my table and chair set.

kitchen update

I replaced the small plaque I had in the kitchen with the picture I got at the ladies retreat. I thought it tied in nicely to my "black" theme. Now if I can only get brave enough to paint my table and chairs!! Sorry, still can't get my pictures to save to the normal viewing, but you can turn your head and get the idea!

More Updates

The painting in my room is finally done. I do have a few holes that I need Jack to putty and then paint over them and them I am officially done. I don't know why I think these projects are going to get done so quickly! Painting my room or the living room is so different than the bathroom. Anyway with my new improved room comes more changes. One is that I always hated this "medicine cabinet" by my sink. I thought it was an eye sore, so when it was time to paint that area, the cabinet came down once and for all. It's now in a new "yard sale" pile. I'm still thinking something needs to go up there, but not sure yet what it is. I also took down a plate that needs something to replace, and of course the big mirror that I want. Now that I am in Dave Ramsey class, none of these things are in my budget, so I'm not sure if I'll ever get them.....especially a mirror which is about $45. I guess I can wait until Christmas, and hopefully we will have a "Christmas budget" by then!!

work in progress

The top picture shows my new comforter with the blue walls. I made enough money at the yard sale to buy paint (yeah!) and I started painting on Tuesday afternoon. I had to work half day yesterday and a full day today, but hopefully tomorrow I can get the rest painted!! I love this brown color! I feel like I'm in a new room. Thanks Lydia, Jack and Jenna for helping me pick out the color. I love the color so much, I'd love it in my living room, but I don't want the same color in both rooms!! You can see that I need to still do the sink area and there are a couple of more walls, but hopefully it will get done!

Storage Shed

One of the good things about Jack being home is that Jack was able to get the storage shed up! Yeah!! It's up!! The refridgerator is now out of Jenna's room and into the shed. He did this all by himself and I'm so proud of him. Good work honey.....let's see how fast we can fill it up!

more updates

The dresser is now out of my kitchen!! The top two pictures show my "new" dresser. The last one show the old one. It was so big and took up so much space and it was also beat up (we got it from a neighbor). It was hard to get everything into a smaller dresser, but oh, the possibilities I may have once we get money!! I can think of getting a nice mirror for the wall and maybe some other wall art to put up there. Hopefully this weekend I'll make enough at the sale to buy some paint and get started on that. I also dream about putting candles or a lamp or both on the dresser if I can find things. I also need to find something to hang on the back of my door for my jewlery so that the box and stand doesn't have to go on my dresser (I just want it to look nice and not cluttered) The storage shed is getting done too!! whoo hoo!! only a few more days of work left on that, and we should be done!! The kids can store their bikes in there, we can get that refrigerator out of Jenna's room and free up some more space in the house. I'll show pictures once that gets done.

progress

Believe it or not, we are making progress. Since Saturday was raining, we spent the day cleaning. Jack cleaned out my closet and reorganized it so now I can walk in it. There is still a lot of stuff, but it is better. I have a small dresser in my kitchen (but hopefully that will be in my room by Wednesday) and a refrigerator in Jenna's room. Jenna's room is also a mess full of yard sale things, but hopefully having the yard sale Saturday will make it better. I'm hoping to make a little cash to buy some paint (and a mirror) and enough for Jack and I have a night out Monday night (since the sitter is actually free for once). Jack also made progress on the storage shed. Part of the walls are up, so it looks like a shed now. Hopefully in a few weeks my house will be back to normal and my walls will be painted!!

The Newest TV Star????

We may be the newest TV star. Have you ever seen the show hoarders? Well, we might be on the next episode.....seriously!! All of us have a hard time turning down anything that is free. Jack has been blessed tremendously at work since he was the last two go. We're having a surprise party this weekend and I had to get the house cleaned!! We did buy a small storage shed, but the problem is it will probably take weeks to get that up.....so I did the next best thing....hide everything!! With the exception of the refrigerator in Jenna's room, I succeeded but I found out tonight Jack has more things. I'm not exactly sure where I could hide anything else. In fact, my closet is SO FULL, that I went into the bathroom Saturday and cried!! I'm not sure how I'll even get the clothes I need. Jenna's closet is also floor to ceiling full. I'm so embarrassed I can't even take a picture. I was gone last night, but Jack told me our small group might have a yard sale to help get the 1K for the emergency fund, and I'll be excited to sell some of this stuff and make some money. (although some of this stuff is more valuable and will have to go on CL). In the meantime, if you see me on the show, you can pretend you don't know me!!

New Colors

I am one that after 4-5 years gets really tired of my comforter. That is the case again this year. So for a late Christmas present I went from the blue/yellow to red. I just wanted something different. I found some valances to match the comforter off Ebay, but now I am wanting to paint the room. Should I go with some red walls (same shade as the comforter) or should I pick up the tan color that is in the pillows, comforter and bed skirt?

It feels like Christmas

It feels like Christmas all over again. Every day, Jack comes home with something new. The bad part is that I can't keep up with everything he is bringing home. PLEASE don't come over to my house right now. Look at my kitchen table.....its full of paper plates, napkins, hot chocolate, coffee (to be given away) popcorn, crystal light, misc things. In my room is 4 laptops and a printer which are ready to be donated to the school. I just get things put away and then new treasures come home. The kids wake up every morning and say "I wonder what daddy will bring home tonight". Thank you God once again for the added blessings even when things don't look so good right now.

New Kitchen

Our refrigerator was quickly dying. Actually it was working, but water kept leaking everywhere, even after numerous repairs. Last weekend we went shopping and they had 10% off, plus it was tax free weekend. They took our old fridge and put this one in yesterday. I love the extra room in the fridge side. It looks like we have nothing in there because there is so much room. I could still use more freezer room, but I like it. We switched and went with black. We switched the dishwasher plate to black so that it would match. I'm thinking about painting the microwave cart black and someday I want a new kitchen table in......black. I already have it picked out. Its a counter height table. Unfortunately with having to buy this (and I would have rather had many other things than a new fridge) and Christmas and not knowing what will happen to our job, that may be a couple of years down the road. Maybe I should just try to paint the table black.......wanna help Lydia!!! (lol) just kidding!!

Bathroom Makeover (and enjoying the patio)

I'm still working on my bathroom. It was finally in our budget to get some paint so I spent part of Saturday and Sunday painting. The pictures do not show the color really good. I think it will look good next to our chocolate colored towels. I still need to get a couple more things in next months budget and it will be done. I have enough paint left over to paint the kids bathroom. The colors are very similar, but they need a new painting in theirs, so hopefully it will make theirs look better too.

We also got to enjoy our patio set this weekend. Jack cooked some yummy steaks on the grill and the weather was perfect!!

New "Patio"

Jack finally completed our patio set, and I know he will never do another one in his life time. Trying to get that level was a chore and I appreciate all his hard work. About two years ago for our anniversary we found a patio set on clearance at Home Depot. We bought it because I had always wanted one. We set a few bricks out by the set of the deck. Needless to say it wasn't quite big enough and our budget ran out at that point!! Two years later the bricks had weeds growing and it looked horrible. Jack moved it up the hill, bought more bricks, dug a hole and started leveling each and every one. The tree gives the table a lot of shade from about 1-2 pm on. I wanted to get Jack something "special" and unique for his b-day so I started searching for patio umbrellas. Needless to say I was shocked by the price and they were consistent wherever I went....Lowes, Target, Walmart etc. I was hoping they would start to go on clearance, but no such luck (and they are still not on clearance). I checked Ebay and got one brand new. The cost INCLUDING shipping was less than half of what most stores were asking. I think it adds a nice touch. I hope to get some planters or one of those fireplace things to add a final touch.