coat rack

one problem with having an old house is lack of storage. we don't have an entry way closet and although we don't need one year round we decided to take one section of our entryway bookcases and make it a place to hang our coats. 

i think it turned our pretty good! 

update long coming

back a couple years ago Grandma and Grandpa helped me sand down my Great Grandma's table and chairs. it stayed sanded down until a couple weeks ago when I had someone at work stain it. 

We are very excited about the outcome!

in the shuffle

still in the shuffle of figuring out where everything is going to go but we got the dining room furniture down from dallas today!!!!! YAY!!!! It fits perfect! Will post better pics once we get it all settled in. 

get your HORNS up!!!

Hook 'em Horns!!! Ready for some football!!! 

not shag but kinda has a 70's vibe to it

our new rug for the dining room resembles something I think would have been found in the 70's. but I love it. it adds so much color! The lighting makes it a lot more yellow then it is. 

this is more like the actual color of the rug - blue loves it when we get new rugs. he rolls around them so that it smells like him and not like a new rug. 

next on our list for this room is new curtains - we are thinking something with orange and teal. I am hoping mom and I can go shopping next week for some fabric. and then of course we are just waiting for our furniture to come from mom and dad's. we will have it in 2 weeks!!!!! 

yard work again

while mark and matt worked on trimming the trees betty and I (mainly betty) decided to get the bamboo cut down - this is what we ended with. Its amazing how much space it took up and how much more open the back yard feels. 

betty also decided to conquer some of the banana trees we had and we found a cut little aloe vera plant growing in the middle of them. 

weekend update

most of our weekend was spent hanging out in Austin - but we were able to get the rest of our room painted when we got home last night!!  now all we need to do is hang stuff on the walls and we are golden. 

we also rearranged the guest room - but the wall paper is still in there so its not ready for photos. 

a little status on the upstairs bathroom - here is our new shower curtain. maybe one day I will start painting the wainscoting and trim... but till then we are trying to get all of our little projects complete. 

blue spent the first part on the ride home in my lap - then most of the rest with his head on my shoulder.  poor thing - he really HATES car rides. he looks so sad/ annoyed in this photo! 

one project down a million to go

this is a horrible picture but for some reason its the best I could get because of the hall light. both matt and I think the frames need to be painted just not sure what color yet. 

we decided to hang them on the wall above the stairs. we could only hang two of the three cause of the lack of space. 

the on going yard saga

matt and I have become a little more ambitious in our yard work lately. we took on this task on sunday when we went to a nursery and decided we wanted to plant in our corner yard..... it took us way more time then we thought to dig this up and it is still not complete... we still have to dig the sides and front up. AHHHHH - but we had to plant the plants cause they were about to die. 

One day I will learn to take before pictures as well as after. 

these plants were also supposed to go in the front corner lawn - but we didn't have room so they are in pots in the back now. not sure if they will stay here.. only time will tell. 

and the last project from the weened replanting the front stoop plants in bigger pots. the one on the left is more visable then the one on the right. going to have to figure out what to do about that. 

we have someone coming tomorrow to give us a quote on trimming our trees - cause they are clearly taking away from the house not adding to it. 

kitchen island update

here is the update on the island - it really makes the room a ton more functional! now all we need are some barstools! 

and a photo of blue looking at me like I am crazy for taking pictures of the house. ha! 

gardening

we did some gardening this weekend at the house. mark and betty came over and we took out so much stuff to try and make the house more viewable from the street. I regret that I did not take any before photos and it is still a big work in progress - but here is the status. it is not complete due to the EXTREME heat! but this took us about 8 hours 

the front of the house where all that really changed is addition of the two pots - which matt bought new ones so once I replant in them I will post an updated photo. we also need to get someone out to trim this tree!!! 

we took out the side flower bed (need to add new grass now) 

here again you can see where we used to have a flower bed and you can also see that we took out the majority of the plants on the side 

without a before picture this picture really doesn't show anything but Betty trimmed this tree up for us - some of the branches were touching the ground!!! in my opinion this was one of the biggest parts of the transformation. 

matt also added this to the pecan tree in the back - I am pretty sure we are one of the only people who want squirrels in our yard... oh blue - he's so spoiled!! 

following directions

I went on a minor shopping spree yesterday at bed bath and beyond and came out with this kitchen island. 

we have both been wanting one and we have been trying to figure out which one... so 20% later this is the one I decided on - mainly cause it was in the store and I had a 20% off the entire purchase coupon... otherwise we would still be trying to decide. 

matt had to run some errands for the condo last night - which meant I decided to try and put it together on my own.... here are some pics of it un assembled and all over our kitchen. 

2 hours and 45 min later this is where I got. Not too bad!!! It has so far not been too difficult to put together - just time consuming. 

hopefully this will get finished this weekend - along with the condo, painting the last wall in our master and some gardening.... we are going to have a busy weekend. 

a little more put together

updated photos of the living room!!! 

curtains

I decided to make some curtains for the dining room. could not decide on a fabric so I bought two different ones. 

I have one curtain down....

blue prints

the old owners left us their blue prints of the house when they were redoing it..  here is a photo of them framed 

sorry not the best picture - its upside down 

and this is where I think we (aka. matt) are going to hang them

plus a bonus pic of Blue!! 

painting in progress

we are painting the living room tonight trying to get ready for some dinner parties and weekend guest!! 

here are a few photos in progress

Matt hard at work as I take photos and... knit a towel...

color sherwin williams gray screen 

built in and a bar

a little sneak peak into the dining room and..... white trim - YAY!! 

built in shelves 

my father in law was sweet enough to paint the switch plates and ac vent white to match the trim

our bar (a birthday present from my parents a couple years ago) from west elm 

the dining room walls are sherwin williams interesting aqua 

kitchen updates

I decided last minute to have someone come and paint the baseboards downstairs. he was nice enough to paint the kitchen cabinets for us also. 

we decided on man cave from Lowe's 

before the move

Here are some photos of the house with out anything in it and before we did any work. 

front of the house 

entryway  

entryway ceiling 

living room 

dining room 

dining room 

dining room 

kitchen

kitchen 

kitchen 

downstairs full bathroom 

downstairs full bathroom 

downstairs full bathroom 

screen porch

stairs 

master bedroom 

upstairs bathroom 

upstairs bathroom 

the "closet" room

guest room

our families have been so amazing at helping out with cleaning, moving and painting as well as doing little odds and ends around the house. we are so grateful for them!

I will post updated photos of the house soon. :)