New Floors

And for the big reveal.....

We have finally completed one of our BIGGEST home projects yet! Well, we didn't exactly complete it ourselves, but it's still been an exhausting project. We have been wanting new floors for a while now, and we finally took the plunge. Before, our floors were ugly tan linoleum and ugly tan carpet. We have slowly tried to get the tan colors out and put more modern gray and white in our home. We found the perfect wood looking tile and gray carpet and hired someone to do the dirty work for us. We had a lot of square feet to cover with tile, and it took 2 full weeks to get it done. It's been crazy living in a construction zone. We also decided to rip out all of our old floor boards and replace them with new ones, so once the floors were done, we had a lot of finish work to do. In fact, we still have Ryan's den and a few rooms to finish up. We had tons of help from our awesome family--moving furniture, painting, caulking, ripping up carpet, I don't know what we would have done without them. At the same time that all of our floors were being re-done, our master bathroom renovation was also underway. We've still got some finish work to do in there and then I'll post some pics of the bathroom! 

Here are the photos of before, during, and after the new floors!

Before 

Kitchen/ Entry Hallway

Hall to the Master Bedroom

Kitchen

Another view of the kitchen

During

The cementing stage

After

Kitchen

Kitchen/Hallway to entry

Hall to Master Bedroom

Front Hallway to Entry

Kitchen

Family Room with new carpet/molding

Our Kitchen Update

Our kitchen update is finally complete! We had our kitchen cabinets painted white a few months ago, but to finish the look, we really wanted new counter tops. We found a good deal on quartz counters and ordered them in. You know you're old when you feel like a kid on Christmas Eve the night before you get your counter tops installed! That was me!

Then of course, once we got our counter tops, we had to put in a back splash too. One thing always leads to another when doing home projects. It never ends! We also framed all of the windows in the living areas. My awesome Mom helped me install the mosaic glass backsplash, and I love how it turned out. Between the fireplace and the counter tops, the whole room looks so different. I am so thankful to have an amazing husband that goes along with my crazy ideas and has been by my side learning how to do it all. My parents have also taught us so much and are always helping. I'm very blessed.

Our New Fireplace

I saw a really cool fireplace when I went to the Parade of Homes with my mom-in-law and sis-in-law, so of course I took pictures and was so excited to show Ryan the idea. He liked it too, so we decided to take off the tile around our fireplace and put up wood paneling. Sounds pretty simple, right?! WRONG! We thought it would just take us a couple hours. WRONG AGAIN! Our few hour project turned into ripping out drywall, re-wiring, putting up new drywall, tiling, putting up paneling, building a mantle, etc. It took us over a week, and a lot lot lot of patience. My awesome parents were there to help us every step of the way since Ryan and I are still newbies at this whole handy business. It was a lot bigger project than anticipated, but I am so happy with the way it turned out. The fireplace is now the focal point of the room, and of course I am excited to have a mantle to decorate for the holidays.

Here are some pictures of the renovation process...

Board & Batten Baby

I really really love the board and batten craze, and have been wanting to do it to a wall in my house. I think it just brightens up a room and gives it a little personality, and I love it. So while Ryan was out of town last weekend, I recruited my Dad to help me start on my board and batten wall project in my bedroom. We got the measurements made, the windows framed and the first boards nailed up. I am so thankful to have a Dad that is so willing to help and has so much knowledge. I love learning from him. Throughout the week, Ryan and I finished the wall up. We finally finished it last night, and I really love how it turned out. It really transformed our dark wall to a bright one. Now onto the next project...

Dad closes his eyes a lot in pictures

Beginning Stages

Half way there

All Done! I just love it.

Hammer Time

I am starting to run out of catchy post titles for my building projects since there have been so many lately. I know looking at pics of projects around the house may be boring to everyone else, but I like documenting my progress, and what better place to do it than on my blog? 

I have completed a few more house projects lately, and of course I still have a huge list of projects waiting to be completed. Thanks, HGTV and Pinterest.

My favorite project to date is the bench in our front entryway. It turned out to be a much bigger project than we anticipated, but I love how it turned out. My Dad and Ryan spent almost an entire Saturday measuring and re-measuring and cutting to make it all fit. Poor guys, I am lucky to have them! Then once they finally got the bench figured out, they hung the shelf I had already made and then I got to work on the board and batten and painting. It turned out so cute and feels like it was meant to be in that little corner. I am going to make a cute seat cushion for it eventually, with the help of my Grams. 

Ta-Da! All done

Painting..notice my awesome painting clothes

Almost done

The last project I completed was the spice rack on the back of my pantry door. I have had plans to make this since I built the foil holder, but just got around to making it. It was a quick and easy build, and I love that it freed up a drawer in my kitchen. And I am proud to say that I made this one entirely by myself.

My new spice rack

Power Tools & Projects

So excited for my new power tools

 I don't think anyone ever would have thought I'd be a girl that owned power tools, myself included. I like the color pink, high heels and I don't play sports. But I found myself a tough girl hobby that I love! Since Ryan and I got married, we have had some fun decorating and updating our house. I get lots of fun ideas from my favorite blogs, and Ryan is great about letting me make little changes here and there. We have had a lot of fun building together. We built our work bench in the basement, a blanket ladder, a hose holder, a foil box holder for the back of my pantry door, 2 mantle shelves and have a few other projects in the works. After completing a few projects and pretty much burning out our power drill, we decided we needed some new tools. As nerdy as it sounds, I felt like it was Christmas morning when we brought my new tools home. They will make my projects so much easier! My favorite is my new nail gun...it's pretty much awesome! 

Our new favorite store

Doing a little painting in the hallway

The mantle shelf I built

The foil holder on the back of my pantry door

Our cute hose holder

We also have been wanting to re-finish our kitchen cabinets. Ryan stained them dark when he moved in to the house, but they have since started chipping and don't look so good anymore. We could have painted them ourselves, but weren't quite up for that much work, so we hired someone to paint them white. After a week, they finally finished, and wow what a difference it makes! The white really brightens up the room! I also got a little creative and painted the pantry door blue. It adds a little spice to the kitchen. We also added a little wainscoting to the back of the island.

I think I've found a new hobby that I love. We'll see what projects we complete next! XO, Amanda