Kitchen Plans

   Hope you all are doing good! Im in the middle of tearing apart my kitchen, but before I get to the good stuff I want to show what I have planned for this kitchen. 

  First off... The Island! 

I know, I know... "What's wrong with it?!?" 

Nothing is "wrong" with it... Its me- I'm crazy! (I know that's really what people think when I say I want to get rid of it.) I would just rather have something with drawers & cabinets for more storage is all.

So the plan... Hopefully move it out in one piece & design a new one :)

(Oh & to do this without spending any or much money because I dont have a job remember- haha!) 

Next off... Paint the cabinets! 

Like I had mentioned in my previous post- too much oak. I just LOVE white cabinets. I know some people cringe at the thought of painting beautiful wood, but this just isnt me. 

The hardware! 

I know I mentioned this in my previous post as well... But these had to go! 

 

And actually I was talking to my mother & father in law the other day about our kitchen & they had their old cabinet hardware that they gave to me... Cant beat FREE!! By the way, have you priced hardware lately?!? Good grief, I was trying to go cheap & they were still $3 & something for one! The ones I really liked were $5 or $7 or something like that, but there is no way! I needed 37 of them! Luckily my inlaws had 38 & they just happened to be the same size I needed.... Its my lucky day :) 

And lastly... The pantry! 

Im excited about this part! Well Im excited about it all, but I know how the other part will turn out- its a "been there, done that" kinda project since I've painted my kitchen cabinets before. 

Anyway! Ive got a visual in my mind how I want this to turn out, so hopefully it works! 

The pantry is the recessed area of cabinets. Unfortunately the first door is just a furnace closet.

I've decided I want that to look like a built in piece of furniture, like a hutch. So my plan is to either... 

A) take off the upper cabinet doors & leave an open space up there for glass, pretty dishes to display, etc. That will be the cheapest way... 

                        OR

B) is to take out the top panel of the big doors & add glass. If I can do it myself or find someone that will for a reasonable cost I will do that, we shall see. 

Either way this whole set of cabinets will be stained dark... Not painted white like my cabinets. My goal is to make it look like an antique hutch. 

I'll keep ya posted!! 

Kelly :) 

New house- phase 1... Kitchen

            Hey all! 

   We got moved in our new house last Friday & I've been busy getting everything unpacked, which has gone surprisingly well with the two little ones. 

   My mom came down for a visit this weekend & I wasn't planning on tackling any projects just yet (I was wanting to get everything organized before I made more messes) because chaos makes me crazy! BUT... She was willing to watch the little ones day & night while I worked away trying to get the majority of it done while she was here. So I decided lets do this & tore right into it! 

   Our new house doesn't need alot... Mostly just paint & I want to update a few odds & end things (well let me rephrase that... Does anything I ever do a NEED!?!)  Im just not happy unless I can redo something ;) 

   Anyway... So the first thing... Kitchen! The cabinet color just wasnt appealing to me & I knew I wanted to change it first. 

The quality of these pictures are not so great... 

The countertops look a little green in the pictures, but they are actually more of a creme & brown. 

Thats better! 

There is alot of oak going on in here... 

Some of the oaks dont match either :( 

Oh & the hardware!! 😁 No offense if anyone has this, its just not my style... At all... Lets get a close up of these babies!! 

However, one mans junk is another mans treasure... I sold these the next day on craigslist to a nice lady that may have big plans to make them pretty :) Who woulda thought!?! 

Anyway... 

Figuring out my paint samples :)          Whatever you do always pick your color at home! And DO NOT I repeat DO NOT even attempt to look at paint samples at the store after you have chose your color at home!! TRUST ME! You'll go crazy, you will second guess your color choice & you will want to change your mind again & again. I have FINALLY learned after several hundred paint cans (probably more than that actually, I have painted ALOT in my lifetime) take the time to do this step! 

I am THRILLED with my paint color I chose for the cabinets. Im so thrilled with it I walked off & left my paint sample at the paint counter... But you'll see it soon enough :) 

Cant wait for that!! 

Kelly :) 

Knock On Wood!

   Well... I should have just knocked on wood... My last post... (which was forever ago now-trust me I know my blog has been abandoned!) My last post was about Texas, how we loved it here, etc.etc. Well a few weeks back my husband was offered a job in Illinois around the Springfield area (actually it was July 15th- 2 days after we had got back from vacation up there visiting family & friends) It would have been just a bit more convienient if we had known about the move when we were up there visiting but ya know... Whats another 14 hours one-way in the car with a 2 year old & a newborn- ha! Actually they are really good travelers, but its no fun for anyone being in a car that long. 

So we turned around about a week later & headed back up to Illinois to house hunt. 

We looked at 21 houses in a day & a half.

It didnt quite work out as well as when we moved to Texas. When we were house hunting here we were both pretty sure from the pictures on the internet which house we wanted & when we came to look sure enough it was the one! Well... This time around we thought we had the one, well when we looked at "the one" it just wasnt the one. So back to the drawing board.... 

We weren't expecting to look at so many houses, but we just weren't having any luck. Finally we found one we liked... Well my husband liked. I liked it, but I wasn't in love... Ya know the feeling of "ya know when you know" I didnt have that excited, oh my gosh this is it! You get the idea....

We left the house he liked & still had one more to look at. My stomach was in knots... He was like "no this house is perfect, lets just make an offer, we've looked at tons of houses lets just buy this one," etc... 

Until we got to "our" house... The LAST & final of 21 houses. I LOVE the cape cod style of houses, but the pictures on the listing did not do it any justice at all! I never would have guessed it was as nice on the inside as it is. There are a few things Im going to do to it (of course, right?!?)  So here's a sneak peek... 

Its just the perfect house for us! All of the houses we looked at were either WAY too big or "if this one just had a toyroom or a den..." It was one extreme or the other. 

We are going to miss Texas dearly. We have been so blessed here & have met so many amazing people, but we do also know the importance of being close to family, so it is bittersweet. But just as when we moved here it seems like this is the path that God has chosen for us, it has all fallen into place. 

So... Stay tuned for the good stuff! 

Kelly :)

One year already!!

Wow! Has it really been a year already!?! 

Today marks my (I say my because Will was here a couple weeks before me) one year anniversary of moving to Texas. We have been so blessed to meet so many wonderful, caring people- total strangers who have gone out of their way & now have become forever friends. We have a wonderful church that we absolutely LOVE... Great neighbors that we've become close to that treat our children like their own grandchildren & we have been blessed with another beautiful baby girl. Sure its hard being away from family, & we left alot of great friends as well... we moved here without knowing a single person or really anything about the town. Our marriage has grown stronger, my faith has grown stronger, I feel like Im a better wife & mom, I feel like Ive stepped away from the negativity in my life & focused more on the positive. Thank you God for bringing us here... And thank you Texas for being so good to us! 

Everly's Nursery

Well my baby is now 3 weeks old & I realized... I never shared the final nursery! 

So... Here it is! 

I didnt really have a "theme." I guess you could say its just girly... Maybe a little vintage :) 

The bedding is the same I had for Reese when she was a baby. 

And yes all of this will be removed when she acually starts sleeping in her crib, right now she sleeps in our room... 

My ladder shelf for storage... 

And a headband holder I made out if an oatmeal can (I needed to make about 6 of these with having 2 girls!) Gotta have our accessories :) 

The rocking chair was a gift from my family & the quilt was also a gift my sister in law gave me, both when I had Reese, so I passed it along to use for Everly. 

I wasnt sad when I found out we were having another girl because I had so much cute stuff, this way I get to use it all again! 

Trunks for storage... I had to spruce them up a bit to go with the nursery. Someday I'll get around to that post! 

Her little ultrasound picture :) Look at those cheeks! 

Lampshade I painted... 

Storage baskets to hang on the wall above the dresser/changing table. These came from World Market, as well as the little chalkboards. I just painted those as well to match the lampshade :) 

Remember this dresser from forever ago!?! Well about 3 days before I had Everly I decided to take it out of the dining room & repaint it... Talk about nesting! 

One of our maternity pictures I hung in her room... 

Sorry this ones blurry :( 

An old laundry basket I found at an antique mall to store stuffed animals in. 

And a bow holder I also made (Im still working on that post!) 

I love her little nursery & am satisfied with the way it turned out. Its just a pretty little room :) 

Thanks as always for looking! 

Kelly :) 

She's Here!

 Im about 10 days late posting this, but life is a little different now! Meet Everly Claire...

She was born May 9th at 2:17pm. She weighed 8lbs 12ozs & was 20 &1/2". And looks almost identical to her sister (who absolutely loves her!)  

My labor was a breeze! Three pushes & she was out! I was to be induced at 7am, but I went in around 1:30am because my contractions were about 8 min apart. I was already dilated to 4cm, & my contractions were never very strong. At 7cm I still was in no pain, but went ahead & got an epidural. The nurse said if I waited too much longer she'd be afraid it would be too late to get one. Had I known it would've only taken 3 pushes, I may have skipped the epidural! They broke my water around 8am & she was born at 2:17pm. 

We got to bring her home on Mothers Day :) 

Its been an adjustment with 2 now... Luckily my mom is here, she has been a huge help! Now that Everly's about 10 days old I'm getting my energy back & she slept from around 10:30pm last night until about 2:30am. I dont feel like such a zombie with a schedule like that! Im sure it'll get easier as time goes on :) And Ill try to be better about posting pics :) 

And one last one...

Reese is on the left & Everly on the right

Thanks as always for looking! 

Kelly :) 

Almost time!

  I had my 39 week dr appt today. They did an ultrasound to estimate how big our baby girl is getting. She is approx 8lbs 13ozs, above 90th percentile so they will go ahead & induce on Friday (they would've done it tomorrow but they were already full for inductions.) But she really doesnt think I'll make it until Friday! She also checked me today & I am dilated between a 3 & 4 & alot lower than last week. 

  Poor baby is so squished in there, she is running out of room. We didnt get very good pictures today because she's so squished. 

 

  You can kind of make out a little face on there. 

And one of my last belly pictures... 

I'm at a grand total of 21lbs, even though I feel a heck of a lot bigger than that! 

I cant believe little Everly will be here soon! Cant wait to hold her :)