How do they do it?

Bloggers. How do they do it? 

I've realized my life has become more "full" since buying our house. We keep busy with things like cutting tree branches, blowing insulation into the attic, installing kitchen hardware, cleaning wood floors, and cleaning more wood floors. With school starting back up (first quarter in the books!) I've been running around with my head cut off for the last few months. Its been almost 4 months since I last blogged. I miss it BUT priorities got in the way.

It's good to be back, Blogosphere!

Thanks to those of you who have asked or commented about the house. There's not a day that goes by that I don't tell Mark," I love our house!" or "I'm so thankful for this house".

Seriously, it's an earthly reminder of God's love for us.

I'll save the 4 months of reflection and get to what you really want to see...updates!

Stairway, all me baby!

 I filled holes, sanded, primed, and painted these on my own. Curtsy.

Living Room Before Move-in

Living Room During

Living Room As of Date

Living Room Before (looking out the front of the house)

Blankets hung with pant hangers, that's how we rolled for 3 months.

Finally found "The One" curtain. Look for a whole post on that dilemma.

Dining Room Before

 Dining Room During Construction

Current snap of the dining room...

Before: Half Bath On the Main Level

Not much progress, talk about a room full of procrastination...

I'm ready for a dishwasher!

Maybe by the end of this week I'll have something beautiful to show.

Can I get two claps for this?! 

This was the first week I parked in the garage! 

 We're officially settling in!

The Kitchen and Family Room.....

I'm leaving you in suspense until tomorrow. Uploading pictures made my own mouth drop. Check back to see My Pinterest Kitchen created by my dad, my husband, and helpful friends! 

I'm 25 and humbly blessed!

July's Recently Acquired Goodness

Whoops! April and May are out the door. I'm picking back up in the series with June. Oh wait, it's already July. Anyways...here's what I got excited about lately while watching boring television ...


1.Totally worthy of number one, tonicliving.com. They sell AMAZING fabric that I can't seem to choose between.


2. How to Choose the Right Rug. Thank you West Elm, I shall see you soon!

3. One of my favorite businesses to follow on Facebook, Sweet Lulu. This shop is too cute. Party supplies that are beyond fabulous...

4. This picture from Apartment Therapy came in handy when looking for a ceiling fan for our sunroom. Helpful?

5. Looking for a guy's gift? Want something unique? Check out Uncrate, one of Mark's favorite website to browse. Pretty cool guy stuff!

via

6. If you're to buy a home decorating book, this is the book I'd recommend. It's my favorite. So practical! I should probably be giving it at bridal showers!

via

Honestly, this is how I feel...

via


Have you seen the most recent issue of the online magazine, Lonny? Even the ads are good!

A recent parenthood talk with my friend Lindsey made me think about the bigger picture. Her view is quite admirable. (Maybe worth a guest blog post!) Recently, I stumbled upon this post about being intentional while raising a daughter. Must read!


And the print that I come back to time and time again...  

Check the print out here.

Thanks, July!

Thanks, Internet.

Thanks for always adding to my ponderings.

If you've missed out on earlier months Recently Acquired Goodness, you may want to check this post, this post, and this post out. Enjoy!

Eating an Elephant

Sometimes the process of making our home livable is like eating an elephant. One piece at a time.

I'm quite excited to share with you the recent updates. We're moving right along!

Wednesday night our friends, Bri and J.J. came to help tear out tile with us. They are very gracious and because of their past experiences on their house, they were pros.

Willing friends. Check! After a few hours we had about 2/3 of the kitchen floor ripped up. Unfortunately the dumpster was coming the next day so we had no where to go with it. My favorite little man, Barrett came to visit. Quite a pleasant distraction!

and because I can't get enough of this kid...

The next day... Who do you think filled the dumpster? Yup, this girl!

Our plan was to finish up the kitchen floor and remove everything in the kitchen by the end of the weekend. Success! 

I was one happy daughter. My dad texted me these pictures of our kitchen island. Custom designed and built by himself! "Whoa baby!" were my exact words.

Here are our pretty cabinets my dad put together!

He said the drawers and fronts of the kitchen will be in this week and the kitchen will be ready to be installed the week of the 23rd. Yikes, that means we've got some serious work to do. Drywall, electrical, insulation, gas line, AND flooring. All on this week's to-do list. Hair falling out. Check!

Drum roll please....

The upstairs floors have been refinished by FloorCraft. We had four different recommendations for them and were very happy with the outcome. Unfortunately, the floors take one week to cure 70% and two weeks to cure 100%. No dragging, pushing, or pulling. So much for moving some things over this weekend. That puts us at our July 31 deadline. They sure are BEAUTIFUL!

Before...

 Semi-After (without polyurethane)

 I plan on painting the risers of the stairs to match the trim work. Contrast please!

Before...

Semi-After

We've checked off a lot of things in the last three weeks on our to-do list but it isn't over yet.

Moving right along...

-remove living room paneling

-remove built ins/mantel

-remove quarter round upstairs

-refinish upstairs floors

-buy lawn mower

-move HVAC duct work

-strip wallpaper in half bath

-remove wall/add beam

-design kitchen

-buy flooring

-remove kitchen header

-update electrical in family room

-replace family room insulation 

-remove kitchen tile 

-remove appliances/cabinets in kitchen

-sell cabinets/oven

-order appliances from Whirlpool by the end of July

-run a gas line for a gas stove

-paint quarter round trim

-drywall family room and kitchen

-kitchen electrical work

-level floor and install engineered hardwoods

-choose a kitchen sink and lighting

-paint family room and kitchen

-install kitchen cabinets

-paint/stencil half bath

-install mirror and lighting in half bath

-hot tub removal 

It's a long list and will only get longer as we get further down the list. 

Here's to a July 31st deadline and not letting everything be a blur!

Thanks for following along!

House Update

Papers and all, we are homeowners! It was one very happy day!

The first few weeks of home ownership were pretty slow. Mark and I both were calling people for estimates. Nothing was straight forward. I felt young and ignorant. I was told I looked like I was 15 at Home Depot. Thanks for reassuring me to put my makeup on before leaving the house.


Our priorities before move-in (end of July) consisted of refinishing the upstairs floors, moving the hot tub outside, ordering appliances, and executing the kitchen remodel.


Well here's the things that have happened thus far...

 My first doable project was the half bath. The wallpaper was real cute.

 Lions, bears, rabbits and cats. Who would have thought.

I used DIF spray to remove the wallpaper. It was annoying. I learned to dump the DIF gel on my glove and spread it with my hand. It was a lot faster than the spray bottle. This room is still not done. It's my solution to boredom.

 Laundry Room Before

 Laundry Room after the shelving was removed. Things are slow, my friend.

We decided to streamline the flooring in the kitchen and family room for two reasons. We never liked the walnut peg floors and we didn't want three types of wood flooring meeting in this area now that the wall was going to be open. 

We chose the second one from the left. Due to sun exposure/wear/finish, we were advised to not match the previous wood flooring to the new floors. We went dark and I couldn't be more excited! We strongly recommend Lumber Liquidators, we had a great experience with service and hopefully soon the product.

Then some of our best friends came to help. Best friend with benefits. He's a master construction man and boy was he impressive! We couldn't have done it without him!

Luke, the man.

My hunk!

Can you tell I was a little nervous while installing the beam?

And then we made a split second decision to add can lights above the fireplace which I'm thrilled about.

The new beam took the place of the load bearing wall. Quite an accomplishment for a day.

And to see the big picture....

Before (Wall to the left was removed.)

During (paneling down)

After!!!

No pretty pictures around here, I'm realizing it might be awhile until it feels homey. 

Next up...

kitchen demo

order appliances

 refinishing hardwoods (FloorCraft)

hvac stuff

electrical work

drywall

paint

install floors

install the new kitchen and island my dad is working on

money

money

money

We're having fun and really enjoying the results. The sad part... I'm back to school in 3 weeks. NO. WAY!