one year later

It's been one year since we moved into this house... and so much has happened!

We tore into it with a guest bath remodel:

We took a trip to Hawaii:

We announced our pregnancy to the world:

We (I) painted the door:

We (I) painted MANY walls:

We (I) decorated a nursery:

We (someone else) replaced the tile:

We welcomed our baby boy:

And because I need a legitimate list to make myself feel better about all of our hard work, here it is:

-removed wallpaper in two rooms

-remodeled the entire guest bath, including new sheetrock, vanity, raising the light fixture, removing the furdown, and replacing the tile (ourselves)

-painted wallpaper in one room

-changed 5 entry locks (that was not fun!)

-painted the front door

-replaced the door to the back yard in the bedroom

-re-stained the grout in the master bath

-painted the shower enclosure (metal part) bronze in master bath

-replaced light in master bath

-removed all kitchen cabinet hardware, re-hung and re-painted kitchen cabinet doors

-re-tiled kitchen and entryway

-painted dining room

-painted entryway

-gave Ethan an awesome nursery, complete with wallpaper and chair rail

-created a play room

-redecorated the guest bedroom

-replaced the trash compactor with the wine fridge

I feel like they could do that in a day on HGTV, but for an expecting couple (who now has a baby!) I think that is really darn good! There were a lot of moments when I cried and wondered what we'd gotten ourselves into, but we both agree that we are starting to love this house... home is what you make it, and we are literally making it our own!

Happy one-year anniversary, house!

{for more updates & photos, click here and here!}

xo,

the (mostly) finished entryway

This is what our living room looked like before our party:

Filing taxes after buying a house and having a baby = a huge mess! We managed to get that all cleaned up, just as we wrapped up the entryway. We do still need to paint the hall doors (one is on the right of this picture - still beige!) but I am waiting to borrow my dad's paint sprayer so it goes faster...

Without further ado, here is the finished product!

The shelf is Threshold by Target. The quality is terrible
(even for Target!) so it may be returned soon...

A shot of the door with the new taupe paint

The paint in the entryway looks more brown than in the office space, but it is exactly the same. I love it - I told Austin the other day that the entryway makes me feel like we have a model home - not something from the 1970's that we're struggling to bring into the 21st century! If you're wondering, two coats of Benjamin Moore paint in two rooms (just the lower half) went further than two coats of Valspar just in the entryway. We did not use primer on the lower half of the entryway, and the Benjamin Moore covered it well (it was beige). We then used primer + two coats of Valspar's Winter Dawn on the top (that's the same shade the trim is but in a different finish). We have more Benjamin Moore paint left over than Valspar, so though it was twice as expensive, it covers twice as well. We hope to use the remaining paint in the master bathroom remodel, and we also hope to buy more of that tile for the eventual master bathroom remodel, so the house feels cohesive (and because we love the tile & paint together!)

We could not be happier with the results. Our next big projects are:
-painting all of the trim in the entire house
-painting all of the doors in the entire house
-making a decomposed granite patio in the back yard
-remodeling the master bath
-installing engineered hardwood in the office and living areas (potentially the hallway as well)

Recap of the before & after:

For now, the painting will continue on. We're waiting a little while to start on the rest. It's still too chilly - even in Texas - to work in the back yard!

xo,

new office!

My dining room has been serving as my office for the past 4 months. I like that I can see the living room, so when Ethan is older and playing in there, he has lots of space and I can work while we play. It's also the only room I have for it. We converted what was the office in the back into what we hope will be a playroom, for two reasons: 1) the room previously only acted as storage, and 2) we plan to have any kids from the community group we host hang out back there, since it's the farthest room from where we will be for community group.

I LOVE the color we used. It's Hawthorne Gray from Benjamin Moore, and though the paint itself is much more expensive than what you'd pay at Home Depot or Lowe's, we love the color and that it took and easy two coats to cover the red that was there before (with the help of Kilz latex primer). We know that Lowe's says they will match the color, but we were too skeptical after getting a bad paint color at Home Depot (which we hate, and is sitting in our garage).

Here are some before/during pictures:

I taped off the carpet with clear scotch packaging tape to keep it away from
the baseboards and paint-free (works like a charm, if you tape carefully!)
Also note - the trim is beige, not white.

This was after I had primed the trim (would eventually go back for the red, too)

There's my little desk!

After!

I love this color! See how it looks brown in some pictures and gray in others?
It's perfect.

Blinds up so it could dry! I mark imperfections with tiny pieces of painters
tape so I know where I need to go back to before I can say I am finished.

So far, that's the only art I have for this room.. but ta-da! I am in love!

The room now feels bright, fresh, and modern (golden carpet aside). We had a couple of paint mishaps on the carpet, so we may be checking out wood floors sooner than we think (but not before I finish the trim in the living room!).

I'm now prepping the entryway and hoping to prime the blue and the trim today so I can get started on the gray tomorrow, followed by painting the top part white as well as the trim this weekend! We previously painted it that blue color just to cover up some old, nasty, blue wallpaper (it was about the same color, which is why we chose that blue/dark teal). I'm priming the trim at the moment and will prime the blue areas tonight as well. Tomorrow is when the real fun begins! (Pardon our dust, this place is a mess!)

xo,

PS - I finally switched to the green painters tape per my friend Sarah's recommendation -  they are worth EVERY penny - you get clean, gorgeous lines around your trim & cielings. You may know her as the paper flower queen.

Progress: Front Porch & Entryway

Tonight, we're going to League City to visit Matt (and Tyson), and then to Galveston tomorrow, to see some waves, introduce Bear to the ocean, and see my cousin, Sarah. We haven't seen that island since we went in October 2010 for Austin's 24th birthday. It's been a while - we were dating, and the island was still recovering form Ike (the Pleasure Pier didn't exist!). We're looking forward to spending one of our last free weekends with some people (and dogs) that we love!

A late-night beach walk.

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As I've said before, We're really bad about the "before" pictures. I've gotten better as time goes on, but I totally forgot to take a "before" shot of our entryway. it had a reddish-stained door that hadn't been updated in... forever. The front of our house is brick with taupe trim, so I wanted to add some pizzaz to the front door, which actually faces our neighbor's house. You're supposed to get approval from the HOA first, but we were safe since our door is not highly visible.

At first, I was a little unsure of my color choice (yellow) and Austin was very unsure of having a yellow door, so I took a Facebook poll... and all the men tried to veto my yellow door! I spent an entire Sunday painting our door yellow, and I love it. I'm pretty sure it was the best door color choice ever.

Note the tools leading outside, and the old Terrazzo tile.

I think it's a little more complete with the pretty wreath I made (couldn't have cost more than $15 with coupons to Hobby Lobby and Michael's). All those white flowers are from Michael's and they clip onto the wreath. The burlap was wrapped onto it with wire, and the blue flower stems are woven in. It's been several months, and nothing has moved or fallen!

A few of my favorite things.

Don't forget about the railing project... that took 4 months, broke two (three?) hammer drills.. and looks awesome!

He started this project in long sleeves, and ended it in shorts and a T shirt.
Look at that hodge-podge of plants!

And finally, we removed paid someone to remove the mosquito-breeding habitat that consisted of some ill-planted shrubbery:

Who knew a barren flower bed could bring such joy?

The next phase involves planting some anti-mosquito plants, making that flowerbed MUCH more narrow, and possibly putting in more grass (though that area doesn't grow well since it is so shaded.. but that makes it the perfect place for our cafe set!). If not grass, then some rocks that were leftover from the other side of the house, where we also removed plants.

The rubble of rocks that remain.Why they left the one potted plant, we will never know.

Now our entryway looks like this (actually, the grout has been stained, but you get the idea!):

I love the brick pattern, and the new shelf I found at Marshall's!

Look for an updated post on the garden(s) - hopefully sometime before Ethan arrives. We're too busy going to the beach to work on a garden in 100-degree heat!

love,