Big Changes are Coming

It has been awhile since I have blogged about any house projects. We did complete our master bathroom this past fall, but other then that not much else. This January we got some exciting news.. we are pregnant!!! Then the first week of March we got even bigger news...

TWINS!!! To say Clay and I were shocked is kind of an understatement. Now that the shock factor has died down a little bit, we are so over joyed and excited to have twins! The night we found out we were having twins I came home and sat on the couch and called my closest friends. The one thing that each friend told me was, "if anyone can handle twins you can.." I think this was God's way of telling me it would all be ok. Another friend reminded me that God has known I would have twins and has been preparing me for this journey. When I was in high school I started babysitting for a family that has twins. The twins were barely one at the time and now they are turning 11 this summer. They have been a big part of my life and I know that if I could babysit them every week and over summer vacation then I can handle twins of my own now.

My pregnancy has overall been great! I did feel sick the first trimester and I feel constantly tired. My mom mentioned the other day that I have really been blessed so far. My prayer is that I will continue to stay healthy throughout the remainder of the pregnancy. I am hoping to carry the twins to at least 37-38 weeks.

Here is a picture of me at 12 weeks:

 

And here is last week at 21 weeks:

 

This weekend we are starting to work on the nursery. Clay is going today to buy the paint and my mom is going to come over and help him paint the room. My mom has also offered to make the bedding for the twin's beds! We are going this weekend to buy all the fabric we picked out.

We are looking forward to this adventure that lays ahead!

A New Look For Where I Cook

Three weeks ago we decided it was time for another project. I love my "new" kitchen.

Here is a picture from when Clay moved in: 

 After we painted and Clay put up the back-splash the kitchen looked like this: 

On Friday afternoons I get off work early so I came home and decided to get the project started. Taking everything out of the cabinets took longer than I thought.

 This was the most annoying part of the whole project- having my kitchen spread out in my dining room:

 We started by wiping everything down with liquid sander:

Then when Clay got home he started on his jobs- he added trim to the top of the cabinets and put up wainscoting:

On Saturday we started to paint: 

 I painted the cabinets with two coats of cream paint:

Then on Sunday I painted two coats of cream paint on the base cabinets:

 Did I mention it was annoying having the kitchen in pieces?

After the cream paint was dry, Clay then began painting the glaze:

After painting the brown glaze we painted two coats of a protecting glaze.

Clay found drawer pulls on clearance and we bought door pulls to match. We tried to buy new hinges but Home Depot did not carry the ones we needed. We ended up painting the old hinges with black spray paint. Clay also bought soft close dampers for the doors. It's a nice added touch, it keeps the doors from slamming shut. It took a few days to let the paint dry and complete some touch ups. We finally got the kitchen back to normal.

Here is the finish product:

The total cost for this project:

-Opps Cream Paint = $8.00
-Brown glaze (had from previous projects)= $0.00
-Clearance drawer pulls= $ 6.00
-New door pulls= $46.00
-Soft close damper for the doors= $30.00
-Protecting glaze= $20.00
-Misc. painting supples= $15.00
-Wainscoting = $36.00
-Trim = $34.00

Total Cost:  $195.00

I don't know a lot about buying new cabinets but I think we got a deal. We only have a few more projects to complete before we have done every room in the house. It's exciting to see how far our home has come in just over 2 years. I am thankful to have a husband who can make my ideas a reality while staying on a budget. Looking forward to more projects this spring!

It's Christmas Time..

Christmas is the greatest time of the year! I truly love spending time with family and friends. I love the Christmas music, the baking, the decorating, the devotions, and the lights. This past year seemed to fly by faster then others. The year was filled with travels, a new job, and great times with our family and friends. I am truly thankful for everything God blessed us with this year and I am looking forward to next year! 

When I started decorating for Christmas I pulled up the pictures I took last year. It's amazing how much our home has changed in one year. 

Here is the dining room last year: 

Here is the picture from this year:

 

Here is the living room last year: 

Here is this year- not too different:

Here is by the front door: 

Here is the living room last year and then this year:

Here is the kitchen this year- I didn't take any pictures last year: 

We started redoing the guest bathroom upstairs. I will post pictures when we finish. 

I hope everyone has a Blessed and Merry Christmas! Here's to another great year!

Productive Day

Last Sunday Clay told me to have a productive day while he was working around the house fixing various projects. I decided I would just paint the trim in the downstairs bathroom. We decided that the wallpaper wasn't that bad and we could wait to re-do the whole bathroom. Here are the before pictures:

Here is the picture starting to paint the trim:

After I started I told Clay "Umm we are re-doing the whole bathroom!" 

I really wanted to paint the room a grey color. There are so many greys, I didn't want it to be too dark or too light. Clay went to Home Depot on his way home and picked up some samples. We decided on garnet grey. I had this feeling he should go check the Home Depot by our house. When he returned he had this can of paint: 

 

I don't know if you can tell but the color is almost exact! And the price... $7.00 for Behr paint and primer!! 

Here are some more pictures: 

To save money we painted the mirror and the light fixtures. We also decided to paint the bottom of the cabinet white. 

Once we painted the cabinet white we decided we didn't like it as much because of the color of the counter top. Clay decided to use the glaze again. 

Here are some of the final pictures: 

Total cost of the project: 

Behr Grey paint: $7.00

White trim paint and glaze: already had left over from other projects $0.00

Flat Black spray paint: $1.12

New hardware for cabinet: $10.00

New towel hanger: $5.00

New toilet paper hanger $3.00 (brand new from goodwill)

Total: $26.12

I would say it was a productive few days and we were able to complete the bathroom cost effectively. I am so blessed to have Clay as my husband- he can fix almost anything around here and he motivates me to help too. We are going to take a break from working on the house for the next few weeks. We are going to help Clay's mom paint a room in her house and then we leave for Europe at the end of the month. I can't wait to see this kid! I miss my buddy so much!! 

Everyone have a blessed and productive day! :)