My friend Les and a few others asked for me to post some pictures of Luka's room and few other things we have done to the house so I figured it is worth a post since I do want to remember our very first home. I have actually taken pictures of our entire house every few years just so I could remember everything. Nerdy but I love being able to look at how much things have changed as well as say "What was I thinking?". Needless to say these are the biggest changes so far and I guess it is worth a post!
We have had painters out for the past few weeks and hopefully this weekend they will be able to complete their job with the final two rooms - playroom and study. I am so excited to get everything back to its place, get rid of a bunch of stuff and finally clean out our garage so we can start parking in it again. Oh so much exciting stuff going on!!! I also have to brag about my husband because he has been getting things done around the house and has taken all my nagging very well. The outside of our house has been painted as well and we love it! So thankful that our front door is not nice looking- it was needing to be stained like 6 years ago when we moved in. If you need someone to paint, stain or do whetever let me know, we would recommed these guys in a hearbeat!
The jail striped wallpaper is FINALLY gone!Excuse the dishes- I was just D.O.N.E cleaning the week before the painters finally came....Totally gave up!
The red kitchen I have always wanted turned out exactly how I pictured it would. I was really nervous a few weeks leading up this week...Actually even the night before I was questioning the whole idea. I am still looking for a memo board for the fridge to display kids stuff in a cute way...and also a chalk board with a white frame to display my menu for the week and some weekly Bible verses...I stole both ideas from some other blogs...We will also be replacing the fridge next week!
Our breakfast area and table/chairs also got a nice little update. Did I mention I hated that wallpaper? Notice how light the furniture is...
These are the exact same table and chairs (chairs are waiting for the cushions my mom is still working on ) that I sanded, stained 7 times and added 3 coats of sealer. I loved the way they turned out but would never attempt to be crafty again. I will leave the home improvments to my talented mother-in-law from now on. :) I found the fabric I loved and my Mom made the table runner and the valance along with some decorative dish towels. I will eventually change the flowers/vase but not in the budget now....
Before looking in from the living room... notice the colors of the wall in the LR- kind of off white...I think it was called antique white or something...I would say light beige up close?
After- love, love, love it! The red made our kitchen cabinets stand out.... the new color in the living room which is hard to see in this picture is looking much better with out floors and furniture.
Before - my Mom is trying to figure out how to cover the bar chairs...
After- as you know I am a picture NUT...I rearranged some pictures/frames. Would love a huge mirror at some point over the mantle but that word BUDGET is kicking me in the tush as I type. All the decor in the living room is what we had before ...
Not a huge fan of valances in the living room area but since those treatments were in the kitchen before and I kind of liked the amount of light they let in the living room, they are staying for now...being on a budget is not fun when you want to redecorate! I will be on the search for the perfect fabric so that my Mom can make me some curtains LAAAATER!
We painted the living room, entry way and the hallway the same color....
Les- here they are! Leslie is my best friend from AZ...we met while finishing college and even though we live a thousand miles away we have remained very close! We went through a fast track program for teaching and probably spent more time together that year than we did with our spouses. It was a CRAZY year but I couldn't be more thankful for the friendship we have because of it! She came to visit us when Mia was about 8 months old so she never got to see Luka's big boy room...Here are a few before pics I found...
And after....
The walls in Luka's room matched his baby bedding which was chocolate brown, blue and white with some stripes....We found the bedding/valances that I loved at NursseryDepot.com and it tied in perfectly with the red for the Rangers.
THE Rangers WALL!!! Luka loves baseball if you have not figured that out yet...Miss Mia loves her some Josh and Ian too! You already know Daddy is beside himself that his little man has such a cute boy room and I would just be lying if I said that I did not like having Josh and Ian around...Target had Nolan Ryan and Micheal Young as well but since we were only budgeting for 2 Mia and I went with the young cute ones ;)
I was going to move Luka's letter to a different wall so that the Ranger stuff would be on the main wall...well, being the typical emotinal Mom I got teary eyed thinking about moving the letter that are pretty much the only constant thing in his room decor. We put those up before he was born and I still remember the sense of pride when we named our little man after finding out we were having a boy.
Last- I am posting some up close pictures of the table ( per some friends' request) since in the other pictures you cannot really tell what it looks like up close....I wanted to go all black at first but once I started working I decided against it...I am glad I did!
Well, there ya have it! Making progress at the Bates house!!!
