getting around to it...

We finally installed our new dining room light! wooohooo! 

We've had our eye on this light since we moved it, but never made the purchase.  So my Dad was a little sneaky and found out which light we wanted and gave it to us for Christmas! 

And the box has been sitting on our dining room floor since then.  

{I can't believe how busy we've been over the weekends!}

Sunday- we finally decided to complete some home projects- and this was on the list for sure! {also on the list- finishing the fence!! can we say AMEN!!}

First, we take down this ugliness.  This light was hung so low that we had to pin it up on the ceiling to keep it from hitting everyone in the head! Pretty sure it was original to the house...

 Then, we unwrapped everything, and started putting it together!

Looking better already!   {see my Valentines flowers! so sweet!}

 Let's just say it took us a little while to figure out how it was supposed to go!

{oh hello little snowman... 

 guess I forgot to grab you when we took down Christmas decorations!}

There was a lot of chain bending on this project.  Definitely annoying. 

yay! We got it hung- but wait, what about that huge hole in the ceiling? Yeah, we didn't think this through very well ;) Maybe we should have paid better attention to the directions...

Once we took the thing back apart, then hooked up the wires again and got it rehung- we were SO relieved to find that it WORKED! 

And of course, I didn't get any pictures of the entire light and dining room with my camera, but I did snap some on my phone!

Next up on the list- new dining room tables! Oh I can't wait for yard sale season- these guys are so ugly! 

 

We still have some work to do in here- but it looks a heck of a lot better than it did when we moved in...

 I love when we get these projects done! Everytime I walk into the room I can't help but smile- I mean flowers, and a new light! :D 

5 Lowe's trips later...

Time for another before and after shoot! We have been dreading working on our dining room since we found this...

Yes, a room we thought was just painted pink with a lovely (and by lovely I mean hideous) border.  I started peeling the border off and the pink paint started coming off too.  I kept pulling until I realized the wallpaper was painted pink! It was here that I decided I didn't want to deal with this room for a while.  And the progress stopped right there.  We painted all the other rooms in the house, and got all moved in,and this room remained to be pink with one corner of wallpaper peeling off. 


New Years weekend we had some days off, so we decided to tackle this project.  First we started by peeling all the wall paper off, until the room looked like this:

We then primed the walls, twice to cover the glue.  I know some of you are cringing right now at the fact that we just painted and didn't do any other work.  The texture left on the walls from the glue was so cool, that we decided to see what it would look like if we painted it and skipped all the hard work! Here's a picture of all the walls primed, and the trim painted white.  Looking better already!

I picked out a tan color from Lowes, and got to work painting the corners and edges.  Michael walked through the front door, stopped, had this disguisted look on his face and asked "do you like this color?"  The tan somehow had turned pinkish on the walls. PINK! This poor house has seen enough pink in it's days! So, once again we were off to Lowes.  We found the brown from our living room and decided to paint the walls 2 shades lighter on the top.  We had the brown paint left over from the living room already.  I'm sure you are ready for an after picture, but first, can we see what we started with?

Don't you just love the border, the pink walls, and the rug?! Here's what the room looks like now!

We love it! It really helps complete the house! You walk in the front door and see two rooms that actually look like they belong together! What do you guys think?

Preparation

A lot of the preparation work is now completed- which is great :) I find that stuff so tedious and anxious to get the good painting going. Here are some pictures of our ups and downs of the process...






This is a nightmare! I tried to start peeling off the border for the dining room, and found that it was on wallpaper that has been painted over! This right here is the very reason that I will never ever use wallpaper!! Turns out this wallpaper is realllllllly old, and is made of fabric. It is coming off in sheets, but leaving the walls looking AWFUL! This is going to have to be a project for when the parents come to visit! Oh yeah, they are coming this weekend, perfect timing guys :)

We have the first coat of black on the frames of the cabinets. We took all of the doors off and they are in the basement for the time being. it looks so much better already!

 

We had to put 2 coats of primer on the cabinets to make sure the black paint would stick!

The hallway trim is all painted! Looks so good!

 AND the trim in the living room is all done! yay! Now on to the fun painting.... See the next post for the after pictures!!

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog! We (meaning Ashley), decided that this would be a great way to share with everyone about things going on in our lives! I will try to update this regularly with pictures and details on what is going on withus!


So, enough with the intro, and on with the good stuff!




As many of you already know, Michael and I are in the process of buying our first house! We will officially be closing Thursday, November 19th at 10:00am! We are really excited to get into the house and start making some updates! We will be doing A LOT of painting when we first move in: kitchen cabinets, window panes, trim, walls, you name it! We are also planning on updating the light fixtures, fridge, oven, and the washer and dryer when we first move in.


Here are some pictures of the house when we went in for the inspection:


The front of our house! We are planning on getting new, black shutters, taking down the white overhangs, and painting the front door red! (I just love red front doors!)

The back of our house. So excited to get our table and chairs on the deck!









Bathroom... Taking down the border, and painting the walls white. Planning on keeping this teal tile for a few months. Going to go with the brown, teal, and hints of bright orange in here.









Dinning Room. Again, replacing the light fixture, and painting the trim and the walls. Thinking about painting this room a moss green. Cabinets will most likely be painted black for the time being. And... there's hardwood floors under that ugly rug!







Guest Room! We will put the queen sized bed in here for anyone who wants to come and visit! :)
This room will most likely be painted tan and go with a clean beach look.









Office/Bedroom #3. Thinking this will be a deep gray color. Black furniture, white and yellow accessories?

Kitchen. A remodel will be coming in a few months, but for the time being we will paint the cabinets (thinking black, I can't decide) Switch out the fixtures, and put in a new fridge and oven.

Living Room! I'm loving the pink sponge painted walls here, maybe keeping them. haha NOT! I retired my pink sponge painting in middle school (I know you remember that awful room Mom and Dad!) We have tan furniture and will probably paint these walls a latte color.

And finally, the master bedroom! I have had a difficult time trying to decide what to do in here, but I think I have finally decided! I saw this awesome picture of HGTV that had a deep teal color with a burnt orange- beautiful! So, three walls tan, one wall deep teal, with a burnt orange duvet! This idea really scares Michael, but it's just paint, so why not experiment!

As you can see, we have a lot of work to be done! We are having our final walk through tomorrow before closing! I will make sure to include pictures as we work on everything and ideas that we have! Please feel free to share ideas and opinions with us!