September 26

Broken shower moved the installation of new tub hardware to the top of the list.  Loving the new look!

September 24

Levi's room is probably my favorite room in the house right now.  Definitely coming together as a cute big boy room!

July 21

New coat of paint on the front door makes it feel so fresh!

March 11

Took a trip to Lowe's to get a few things for the bathrooms.....

March 7

Hubby finished with sink install!

Tackling the never ending "to-do" list

If you were to come to our house you would quickly see all the projects that we have going on - at once.  Our usual MO is start on a project, get it about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way done, and then stall out.  For instance, the stairs are installed and look great.  But we still have yet to caulk and touch-up paint.  Even the hardwood floors that we installed almost 2 years ago still need trim around the fireplace and the closet trim needs to be done.  We simply do not stay on task and our mind wanders to the next item on the "to-do" list.  :)

So today, we were "shopping" on Craigslist and thought it would be fun to check out the building materials section.  Never know when you will find something good -  and today we did!  An entry door (exactly like what we have been looking for) was listed for a very reasonable price.  Once we were sure that it could potential work in our opening we called the guy up and asked if it was still available.  Next step, go see it.  We stopped by after church (lived just down the road from us in downtown Apex - so convenient!).  The door was perfect - exactly what we were looking for but we had a few reservations.  It set to swing the opposite way, there wasn't a frame, and it needed a bit of TLC.  After collecting information on new frames, we decided that we could totally make it work and it would save us a ton of money (the man had even knocked $50 off the original price!).  And off we went to get our new door!

So, we at least have the door now.  Who knows when we will get it installed.  :)

And the project is finished.....

Well, sort of.  Good news is that the stairs are now back in commission.  Old carpet is all off, new risers put on, and new treads stained and installed.  And it looks fabulous!!!!!!!!  Mike really has outdone himself on this project.  :)  However, we still need to go back and touch up all the white paint and cover up stain spots.  Not to mention we now have a lovely unfinished gap between the top step and the old carpet in the hallway - yuck!  Hallway is next!  BUT, we are in the home stretch of the ginormeous floor project throughout our house.  So here is the finished stairway (except for details - so don't look too hard!). 

Let's remember where we came from......BEFORE:

 

AFTER:

Some more angles....

Stairway Project

So we finally are getting somewhere on our loooonngg awaited stairway project.  Remember WAY back when I posted that we wanted out stairs to look like this {I really like the numbers - haven't convinced Mike yet}:

Mike did most of the work so he gets a lot of the credit.  All I did was a bit of sanding and taping - and of course, supervising.  :)  Mike got the banister stained {after a good bit of prep work} on Sunday afternoon during Levi's nap and it looks great!  He/we still needs to poly it, take the tape down, and touch up paint but the banister is looking pretty good!  Yay for progress!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 Close up shot:

*Sorry about picture quality!  Definitely will take better pictures when we get the WHOLE thing done!  :)

Naptime

This is what Mommy has been doing during naptime {she probably should be sleeping too but oh well!}......

I hate our carpeted stairs but putting in hardwoods on a staircase is way to expensive.  I may have found an alternative!  Stained treads with white risers - beautiful!  The banister needs to be stained darker anyways....  :)

We got the idea to stain our banister from this blog - Centsational Girl.  She recently redid her laundry room too and I love it!  Since our laundry room shares a home with the downstairs bathroom ours won't look exactly like this but I love the concept and the colors.

I posted this picture awhile ago.  I still am in need of a new front door {not to mention new windows and a new roof....}.  I want to install a new front door and figure out how to add dimension to the front of our very boring house.  {Any suggestions are welcome!}

One of the bigger projects I want to tackle is the kitchen.  Our cabinets need a facelift and the cheap laminate countertop needs to go!  I really would like a softer and brighter look in the kitchen.

And then there is the master bath.  Where do I even start?  This project won't probably happen for awhile - mostly because we have no idea where to start.  But we want to open it up, get rid of the ugly builder grade sink {replace with something similar to the above picture}, and update the shower somehow. 

Obviously we have been a bit preoccupied but I really want to get going on some projects soon!  I'm thinking the stairs might be a good place to start.....
Naptime is over!  Back to reality.  :)

Chair Obsession

I am slowly getting used to the new routine with a newborn but it is definitely different being on Levi's schedule and not my own!  Even checking email and Facebook has become much harder to do!  I'm sure that we will get into a groove over the next few weeks.  This afternoon we actually had a little bit of downtime while Levi napped (he hasn't been doing this all the much - surprising for a 1 week old) so I quickly used the opportunity to catch up on some things.  Of course, I decided a little bit of online shopping was in order!  :)  While online at Target I stumbled across these adorable chairs.  Only problem, I have nowhere to put them!  Maybe a redesign of the living room is in order.....

I don't know why but I LOVE this chair in yellow.  So bright and happy!

The aqua is so pretty too!  

 

This green chair would look fantastic in our office - I think it might be a little short for the desk though. 

 And, of course, I love the baby blue - would look great in our bedroom.  

 I love the brown - nice and neutral. 

Way to go Target - great colors and great patterns.  Guess I should start saving my pennies now....

Levi's Dresser

So we are slowely but surely working on Levi's room.  It is finally starting to come together!  But it isn't done yet so you'll have to wait on pictures of the whole room for right now.  We did get the Craigslist dresser repainted and put up in his room (finally!).  So here is the before and after reveal.

 Before

After

Sorry about all the stuff in front of it!  The room is not completely organized yet.  :)  We are pretty pleased with how it turned out.  It is amazing what a little bit of white paint and spray paint will do to a piece of furniture!  For those that are interested in re-doing their own piece of furniture, we followed instructions that you can find over at Young House Love.  We love that blog!

Craigslist Find!

I just bought a Stanley dresser off Craigslist for $100!  I love good finds.  :)  It is perfect except for the color so we are going to refinish it.  Stay tuned for pictures!

Floors Done! {Almost}

The new hardwoods are down in both rooms! We are slowly moving everything back into the rooms but we are loving the new look downstairs. We only have some trim {baseboards/quarter round} left to install. It was a long couple of weeks to have your house ripped up but it was totally worth it. Here are a few pictures of the finished product.

Fun Website!

I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Young House Love, this afternoon {check out their awesome bathroom redo!} and they had an awesome website featured. Knock Off Wood is a website that shows you how to recreate furniture from some of your favorite stores - Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, etc. I love it! Mike might not though. :)

Slow Going...

So, the floors are coming along - slow but sure. We have about 1/3 of the living room done and hopefully a lot of the hard spots done. Here are some update pictures {I apologize for the quality - I was just taking quick pictures with our little point-n-shoot.}.

The laying begins...

The progress we had made as of 9 PM Sunday night.

Hardwood Floors - Begin!

The long awaited project of hardwood floors has begun! As you might remember, we found our floor back in September at Lumber Liquidators and they have been sitting in our garage since then. We were in the midst of our wainscoting project when we bought them so we waited to do one project at a time. Then Christmas time happened - so that is why we are to January and just beginning. We are starting in the living room and then once we are are finished there we will move on to the office. So this is what our living room looked like before (you can catch glimpses of Mike's wainscoting work):



First things first, carpet needs to come up.

Then the particle board subfloor needs to come up so that all the floor will be even.

New Floors

Mike and I have been mulling over new hardwoods for the downstairs basically since we moved in. Nothing ever made us jump out of our seat and called to us "Buy me!". But the other day this flooring, I'm pretty sure, called out to me through my computer screen. So I proposed it to my husband and he said we should go look at it. On down to Lumber Liquidators we went this evening. Found out that it is on clearance (hence the cheap price) and they didn't have much left! There weren't any ifs ands or buts - we were buying it. All this is to say, we bought new hardwood floors for our downstairs today! Now we just need to install them.....that will be quite the process I'm sure.

Front Door

I found the PERFECT front door online today. I sooo want it (exactly as pictured - if it comes with the little portico that would be great too!). Too bad it costs an arm and a leg - $2000 to be exact. That just seems ridiculous for a front door. Am I the only one that thinks that too? Apparently that is about how much you have to shell out for a nice front door. Mike says I can have it for the next house. :(

Labor Day Weekend

We have spent much of this weekend just hanging out and relaxing. Mike's original plan for this weekend was to get many projects done around the house. That didn't happen but we did get the dry wall fixed in the rooms that we ripped off the chair rail. We realized that we are not good at patching dry wall so in came the experts. For a little bit of money they mudded our dry wall and it looks as good as new again!

So no exciting news from the Camp front. But here is a picture of the regal and ever entertaining dog, Yankee. (Did you know he brought us a dead squirrel this morning - EWWW!!!)

Office Update

Our house is just one big project that is never finished! Recently, we have gotten a few things up and done in the office. This room has come a long way from when we moved in 2 1/2 years ago! There are still a few things missing - curtains, a rug, the wainscoting and new floors (wish!). But we've gotten some things up so I thought it was time for a picture update!

Shelves!

Both diplomas finally displayed!