Our Home...A Work in Progress!

We bought our first home in November of 2011.  It was such a great time to buy, and we figured we would put our money towards something that could eventually be ours instead of paying someone else's mortgage!  We got an AMAZING deal!  It's a home that we can grow into...like, really grow!  It's big!  It has 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a large kitchen, etc.  We love it, and have really enjoyed making it ours.  

When we moved in, everything was the same color...throughout the entire house!  There were holes and dings galore.  There was also some stank carpet upstairs.  (They kept the cat's litter box in the little boys' room!  How disgusting is that?!?!)  Needless to say, it needed a little TLC.  We painted everything, and I mean everything!  We painted the walls, ceilings, baseboards, doors, and then some!  It looked like a whole new house when we were done!  Unfortunately, I didn't take any before pictures!  :(  Oh well.  

Oh, and by the way, painting the entire house was probably the worst project I've ever taken on.  It sucked.  Who hates taping with a passion?  I DO!  And - this is totally crazy - but I really want to redo the colors.  Crazy...I KNOW!  I like the colors I chose, but I'm really loving the color grey as of late.  But it'll be awhile till I take on that beast of a project again.  Give me at least another 6 months... ;)

We still have a ton of work to do (what homeowner doesn't!?)!  There will be bare walls and empty bedrooms for quite some time. Just give us some time.  :)

I like to call this the turtle room :)

 1 of 3 upstairs bedrooms

The blue room

2 of 3 bedrooms upstairs

Front entrance

 Fun/different vaulted ceiling
(This is where the tall Christmas tree will go!)

Front entrance living room

The furnished turtle room

 Furnished blue room

 Both of these queen size beds were given to us, as well as the lamps and night stands!

Guest bathroom

Our bedroom!
(Grey and blue)

 Walk-in closet!

Family room

(I'm hopefully getting my curtains this weekend, finally!)

Built-in bookshelves and storage

(This was a huge selling point for us!)

Down to the basement

(2 more bedrooms, storage, unfinished bathroom, and unfinished great room)

Laundry room

(Has yet to be painted, and the pedestals have yet to be made)

Dining room
(We are excited to get bar stools for the kitchen bar, and the bar facing the family room!)

My plant station :)

Behold, the kitchen!

(Another huge project will be painting the cupboards white)

There have been a few additions since these pictures were taken, which I will add later.  While posting this pictures I kept thinking, "Man, it was clean back then!"  Maybe cleaning it will be my next project... ;)

Poop Signs!!!

While surfing Pinterest one evening, Kyle came across some eye catching signs.  He told me, "You HAVE to make these!"  :)  I love that he is such a goof.  

I got the wood plaques from a place in West Jordan called The Wood Connection.  They will custom make any size for you, and they have good prices.  I had some extra paint from previous projects- it wasn't any special kind of paint.  My sister-in-law's best friend's husband (mouthful!) made the vinyl signs for me!  It's a hobby of his, and I'm totally jealous.  A HUGE thanx to him for making these vinyl signs!  :)

The first sign says, "If you are going to act like a turd go lay in the yard."  It currently hangs on the wall by the front door for all to read upon walking into our lovely home.  

The second sign says, "Home is where I can poop for however long I desire."  This one hangs in the half bathroom by the family room.  

We enjoy them, and so far, everyone who visits gets a kick out of them, too!  

Ta da!  :)  Haha, oh I love these signs!  

I have to give credit to the people who I nabbed the turd sign from.  I found it on Pinterest, and followed the links to this site:

http://www.sawdustcityllc.com/if-you-are-going-to-act-like-a-turd-go-lay-in-the-yard/

As for the poop sign, I followed the links on Pinterest to this site:

http://imgfave.com/view/485887

And there ya have it!  Enjoy!  :)

My first refurnishing/antiquing project

My mother-in-law was giving this jewelry armoire away, and so I took it thinking that I could use it for a sweet crafty project.  On Pinterest I kept seeing posts about refurnishing and antiquing furniture, so I decided to give it a try.  There were so many different ways to go about it, but I decided to sand mine down first and then paint it.  The hardest part was deciding on a color!  I chose to first paint it black and then red, so that when I sanded it down you would be able to see the black underneath.

I am so pleased with how it turned out!  It is such a fun piece of furniture, and goes well in our front living room (mostly because it desperately needs furniture)!

I took pictures as I went along...hopefully this helps someone out!  :)

BEFORE

AFTER

It's so cool to see the before and after pictures!  I'm sorry, but I'm just so impressed with myself!  I've never done anything like this before, so this was quite the project for me.  If I can do something like this, anyone can!!!  

Took the shelves out and sanded away!

I took the top shelves out to make an open space

Painted it black

Then painted it red (I kept the legs black)

And then the sanding began!

Finally, I put a polyurethane coat on

And, VIOLA!

I LOVE IT!  It was a fun project for me, and I would definitely do something like this again!  

I have ideas...

Eventually, I will be posting my creative (mostly stolen and or borrowed) ideas and creations.  Who knows how many posts that'll be, so don't get too excited.  You have my permission to browse, gaze, stare, and even save to a file you've labeled "to someday make."  (Totally speaking from experience.)  Let's hope the juices continue to flow once I get started...that way this blog can live on for more than a week.