We're Back

We're Back!

So after a long hiatus I have decided to bring back the blog. While the blog started as a way to share our home renovations with family and friends, I have decided that with all the changes in our lives that the blog should expand to share all aspects of our lives. I will admit that I am not great at updating this thing, but I am going to give it another go. This way I might also be able to keep random ramblings to a minimum on Facebook. That being said, during the blog break we had a lot go on! So here is a quick update on a few things that got missed....

The house had some changes (here are some of our favorites):

• new HVAC unit
• Bran filled in the dam to help the pond slowly get back to a pond
• we bought 2 awesome couches for a great deal AND my dream coffee table
• we got new master and guest bedding
• Bran built a desk
• we tore down the chicken coop
• had a stellar 2 car garage built
• we repainted 2 bedrooms

We had some changes throughout our lives as well (in no particular order):

• We sold my Jeep and got a Subaru Forester (love it)
• My mom and dad came for a visit
• Brandol got and sold a few dirt bikes...he now only has a KTM
• We got another kitty named Lily
• We got a puppy named Bella
• We gained a niece - Carly Faye Bradshaw
• I left my job at Military Newspapers of Virginia as a graphic designer
• But I finished my last semester of school (again) and got my teaching license for K-12 Art
• Oh and we got pregnant with baby boy Bradshaw who is due very soon!

Some house-ly additions

Well now that we live in a fairly large house and not a small apartment we decided we needed a large vacuum. So good bye mini vac (who does well on small jobs) and hello Bissel! Kiss the cat hair good bye!

The next item is our new king size mattress! It isn't a hammock like our old queen mattress we dumped as soon as we could get it out of the apartment and it is much larger and nicer than my old full bed (now in the guest room). We also love our new bed ensemble...Bran actually picked it out! He has nice taste. Very comfy and my new favorite place in the house.

Then there is George. A smaller addition but just as classy. Got him for $2 from a thrift store and spray painted him white (he looked like a clown before). He is quite dashing.


We also finally picked up Great Aunt Mary Jane's dining room table from Aunt Rita and Uncle Dick who were nice enough to store it and some chairs for us. It definitely makes a difference to have furniture in a room. Next we need the china hutch!

Lastly, my pride and joy. This dresser I found and bought from a thrift store. After being talked to by a furniture enthusiast for a good half an hour about what a solid piece this is....I left....and then went back the next morning and bought it. I love it. Solid wood (cherry?), dove tailed or whatever, and pretty large. $75. A pretty good deal I think. So proud of my dresser. I get giddy when I see it. Please ignore the radio and picture on top of it though.

Tile!

So a quick update with pictures!





The bathroom tiling is almost done! Uncle Dick has done a stellar job and all that is left is caulking in some spaces and clean-up.






The living room is still pretty messy, but the fireplace is painted!




And my husband has done a wonderful job tiling the kitchen counters with .40 cent tiles from Lowes. Not bad for his first tiling job. All he has left is to put the wood trim around the back and them stain and poly.


This place might not look so bad someday.

Busy Bees.....

Well we have been busy busy….time to update but no pictures at the moment (will have some on Monday hopefully) means that the real update will have to wait until next week.

The reasons for the lack of updates though is something I can explain…

July 1 – We had just moved out of our apartment the day before and into the house. Boxes are everywhere.
Also, our cat went missing….bring on the hysteria and waterworks

July 2 – Second commute to work from the house….turns out it doesn’t take me any longer than when I lived in the city.

July 3 – I got sent home from work (since my publisher understands cats are like children). I cried and searched all day and got no work done.

July 4 – I am slowly starting to realize we might never see our Frizbie again….which brings more crying. I got a few little things done as poor Brandol listens to me sob. Later than night....we found her... in her new favorite place...under the house. She decided it was time to come up after almost 4 days of no food. Yet, she seems to think that under the house is the best place ever and escaped down the hole (which we never noticed until she escaped again) behind our washer. I went after her the second time under in the crawl space and she really didn't want to leave. Little brat. We are so happy to have her back though.

The rest of July so far has been slowly unpacking and moving things around as we live there. It is a mess, but it is still better than our apartment.

Yesterday, July 15th, was my 23rd birthday. I got some great gifts from my Mom and Dad (including 2 beautiful bowls, dish towels, nifty place mats from Kantigoods.com, and more!) and beautiful flowers and a TJMaxx giftcard (my favorite!) from the husband.

So we have not been updating (the blog) because we have been busy….but I promise to update with pictures next week! Just wait until you see the kitchen and 2nd bathroom!

We hope to pick up a bit this weekend since we have our appraisal on Monday….cross your fingers!

In other news, we have 2 HUGE blueberry bushes in our yard and are enjoying the “fruits of our labor.”

Be jealous.

Moving on up

So we had a busy weekend.
We have to be out of our apartment this Wednesday (has it really been 2 months already?) so we started moving our junk this weekend. Since our floors are still in the works we moved most of it into the 2 bedrooms. So we have a LONG 4th of July weekend ahead of us of unpacking!

Our kitchen is starting to come together! Appliances are in a hooked up…looking lovely and stainless. We choose a neat subway stainless steel stick-on backsplash for over the range. We even got all the cabinet doors and drawers up and in….thought we still need to paint the inside and backs of them. The only things left keeping our kitchen in the ‘50’s is the lights (and the ceiling but that is another time…) and the lime green counter. Since we plan on gutting the kitchen a few years down the road we didn’t want to go overboard and spend a lot on a new counter, but we want it to look nice. We had a stroke of luck and found some great tiles for $.40 a piece at Lowes! A little magic from Uncle Dick and we will have a beautiful tile countertop right on top of our scary green one! Very excited!

Our bathrooms even got some loving this weekend. The guest bath got the vanity put in on top of the beautiful tile floor and the little bathroom got a paint job and just needs a new toilet seat!

Amazing what left over paint will do….

Happy Birthday Husband

So forgot to mention the best part about our weekend!

It was the husband's birthday and here was his gift:

He and his brother put it together and I learned how to cook hot dogs.

Nice.

Moving Along...just not fast enough

Well we got more painting done this weekend.

Living room is done except for the fireplace (that is going to be a tough one…very very rusty and dirty)

We also set up shop in there to prime and paint our cabinet doors and drawers.

Sunroom is about done and is really looking nice with paiand a new ceiling fan.

We plan on getting new flooring at the end of this week. Including, tiling the guest bathroom, done by a very talented uncle.


We plan on getting the kitchen painted and hopefully a few other things done inside this week. It will be a crazy week for us because we also plan on moving a little bit at a time from our apartment, 45 minutes away. We are going to have to stash in the two guest rooms until all the other floors are done. Should be interesting.

The husband worked a little bit outside this weekend too. He trimmed some bushes down and cut the grass. It is looking better already. The brick mason also had built us our steps and they look just like my rendering. Very excited to have steps….Oh the little things…

before

during

done! (though surronded by trash)