Nola's Room!

We have been working hard over the past month or so to get Nola's room ready for her.

When we bought the house, the previous owners used that room as an office, and it looked like this:

We painted it (with some help from a super-excited Big Brother!)

I made her name out of a chipboard "N" that I Mod Podged scrapbook paper on and cut the other letters out of Cricut vinyl.

 Need to find something for the wall above the dresser.  The dresser will also double as a changing table, so it needs the pad and a basket for diapers, etc.  

All it needs now is a baby girl!!!

While I wait

Waiting for the LOA is hard. 

It's really, really hard.

It is long, unpredictable and torture.

I have days where I am fine, content and rational.

Other days...not so much.

We have been wanting to redo our 1/2 bath ever since we bought our house, but just haven't gotten to it.

It was beyond ugly.  The wallpaper was too busy, not the greatest colors, and outdated.

My grandmother loves it.

So on one of my not-so-good days, I began stripping this wallpaper off.

I must say, I have NEVER had wallpaper come off so easily. 

It was like hot butta, I tell you.

I stripped it all the way down to the drywall

We had paint colors picked out, but when I went to buy the paint, I was in a deep dark funk,

and felt I needed paint to match my mood.

I picked out the darkest red and the darkest brown I could find.

And I went to work.

                                 Yikes!  That is REALLY dark.  I was OK with dark because

1.  I am not afraid of color, and

2.  Nate Berkus says dark colors are great for small spaces because it creates a good dramatic effect.

But that is really really dark, and it wasn't even dry yet. 

I started to panic a bit, and second guess myself.

My dear friend came and hung white chair rail and it really broke up the color and lightened things up.

Then we added a little decor.

Here is what I ended up with....

(drum roll please.....)

It could have been disastrous, but it really worked out well and

I love it!

We are starting on Nola's room and I am under strict orders from Tyson that I am

NOT to go buy the paint today...it's another rough one!



6 Months

This week marks 6 months since we bought our new house.  We have been busy painting and trying to pump some color into this place!  We love our house, but nearly every wall in every room was either a neutral beige (think barely tinted drywall), or some other hideous color. 

So here's a little before & after tour!

Kitchen before

Kitchen after

We still need to have a new backsplash put in

Dining Room before

(the previous owners had the same table set and similar paint color)

Dining Room after--painted, new light fixture & window treatments

Evan's Room before

Evan's Room after

Formal Living Room before

Formal Living Room after

Kids Bathroom before

Rylee's Room before

Rylee's Room after

Rylee's room has a bonus room attached.  The previous owners just used it for storage, but we made it a fun hangout place for Rylee and her friends.

Both sides of the doorway are chalkboard paint

We have also finished the family room, but it's not clean enough for pics today! 

Yesterday I started tearing down wallpaper in the 1/2 bath and will repaint it. 

Next week I plan to start on Nola's room.

At some point before she comes home I want to redo the master bedroom & bathroom,

the basement and the basement bathroom, and the entryway and staircase. 

I know it sounds ambitous, but if we don't get our LOA soon, I may have it all done real soon!

(Trying to keep myself busy and distracted!)

Where Are We?

It's been a while since my last post! 

We have been just a wee bit busy! 

We are almost completely moved into our new house~

(One downfall to not having your house sold before moving is you take your sweet time about it)

But we have been moving and painting and cleaning for weeks now! 

It's all starting to come together, and hopefully I can show pics soon!

We have been decorating for Christmas!

I love this time of year!  It is so much fun!

One of my favorite things is to discover all of the new decorations I bought the previous year on clearance!  It's like Christmas morning to me, just getting it all out!

This year we got the Elf on the Shelf!  I have been wanting to get one for a few years, and finally did this year!

The kids named him Filwood and we are having so much fun with him!

He has been found hanging upside down from the light fixture, riding a glass elephant in the curio cabinet, hanging on a wreath and he even decorated the tree with the kids' underwear! Can't wait to see what other shenanigans he causes before Christmas!

We celebrated Thanksgiving in our new house which was really nice!  It is so great to have enough space for everyone!

Oh, and one other thing.....our homestudy is finished!  YAY!!!  Got an email from our SW today that all of our Illinois clearances are back.  Now we are just waiting on one clearance from Iowa (Tyson lived there for 90 days while he was in Optometry school) and the FBI (which are running VERY slow right now :(      Then it's on to I800a.......

Little House on the Prairie

Can't wait!!!