3:40 Look Who I Found Under the Sink

Super Sunday!

Sundays are always interesting work days. We have a small amount of time to work between morning and evening church but we always seem to get a lot done! Today was no exception! Our church just moved to having two services and since J works in the media ministry he had to be there for both of them. He was up and out the door by 7:00! Then after church and a quick lunch we worked all afternoon long. Thanks to Uncle Allen and J, the floors are done in the living room and kitchen!

Dad evened out the subfloors in the bathroom so we could get moving on the bathroom floors.  J layed out the tile in the bathroom and prepped it to be grouted. (I wish I would have taken a picture!!) J also finished up painting the refrigerator. It looks so great! Ruth and I tackled the sunny yellow dining room! Needless to say today was not much of a restful day but rather a very productive one!

A Big Fun Weekend!

This weekend was fantastic for a number of reasons!  First and foremost, my dear friend Ruth Ann came to visit! She lives in Cary and when she comes to visit we pick up just like we've never been apart. She arrived on Friday afternoon and first thing we headed off to Lowes. I gave her quick tutorial on paint and we had a few gallons mixed for the den, dining room, and bedroom. That evening J and I went to a fun concert while Ruthie got to visit with Grammy and Aunt Deb. We have to have fun every now and then. We can't be all work, work, work. :)

Then on Saturday morning we hurried out to Lowes for a BIG shopping trip. By BIG shopping trip I mean three of the large, heavy-duty carts full! However, I think that was the last BIG trip for a while! We were able to get everything we need to finish the bathroom as well as garden supplies! 

When we got back to the house Ruth and I got right to work on painting the back bedrooms. Dad and J began to tackle the floors.

 We could hear the thunderstorms rolling in so we quickly got our plants and seedlings to plant in the garden. We wanted to get them in with enough time to soak up the rain. Its just a start but it looks good. I hope no animals get to it. I get nervous with a garden in the middle of the woods. We'll have to wait and see....and pray! :)

We finished up painting the two back bedrooms and the flooring really started to come along. We even got the back part of the tub surround up! It's looking good!!

 above: our bedroom

above: the guest bedroom (my North Carolina room)

hooray for the tub surround!

7:42 Hello Green

9:02 Primer Done (again!)

Rethinking Red

As much as we l-o-v-e the red we began to consider the red in the flooring and the cabinetry as well. It became very clear that we may have gone a little overboard on the red. Fortunately, my beloved friend Beverly was here for the day and gave some great advice. She's fearless with paint and has excellent taste in home decor. We came up with a solution that I am thrilled about and my sweet man is coming around about. I love it! Think lemons and limes!

Painting Party!

We had a painting party today and invited just the right people! :) :) :)

After church, a trip to Lowe's, and lunch, we got to work again on the little house. We weren't there long before Dad came up, followed by Aunt Deb, and then Bradley and Courtney. Shortly after them, Uncle Allen came up as well! It was quite the party!

Bradley led the painting brigade while J and Uncle Allen put up trim in the kitchen. Soon Grammy came up to see the progress and I filled her in on all the exciting details. Shortly after the painting trim was done Kat came up to offer help too! Needless to say, painting the den and bathroom was done very quickly! It looks great!

One last visitor came up to cheer us on and as you can see this is how you normally find us girls...talking and giggling. :)

A Very Busy Month-iversary

Exhausted! Today was a long day but the little house is finally taking shape! J and Dad got out early and ran to Lowe's to get the cabinets. Joshua found an 'eye spy' with the large pantry cabinet! He saw one with very minimal damage and the store associate offered it to him for half off! It was going to be our largest purchase of the cabinets and ended up being one of the most inexpensive! The best part is that the 'damage' is on a bottom corner that no one will ever see because it's going flush against the refrigerator!

Later, I caught up with J and we zoomed off to a different Lowe's to get a few more cabinets. On our way home we stopped at Tractor Supply, another new favorite store, to get fencing supplies. Before we knew it the morning was gone! We took a quick lunch break and hit the ground running!

The first thing we had to do was remove our first house guest. :) Some how a bird got in and almost flew into Dad while he was painting. I decided to channel Beverly and find our scared, feathered friend. I found the poor finch in a back bedroom just sitting on the floor. After he frantically flew around the room J got the idea to open the windows and just let him leave on his own. It took a few minutes but he eventually flew away. Not an ideal house guest but definitely an interesting one.

While the guys painted the kitchen, Aunt Deb started painting the front door, and I started putting down the underlayment.  Once the red paint was all up, Joshua took the refrigerator out to deck and started giving it a mini makeover. He got black appliance epoxy spray paint and turned our little white fridge to a little black fridge. :) Then, after a good amount of underlayment was laid down and the front door was at a good stopping point we went to help J with the cabinets. We had a few bumps putting them up but all in all they went up fairly easily. It's amazing how different it looks! The kitchen is really taking shape!

Before:

Next, J installed the new kitchen lighting and us girls finished up the underlayment in the living room. I think it makes the room look like a big pool. If we added a little water we'd have a slip n' slide! :)

Can you see the 'new' black refridgerator?

Towards the end of the afternoon my sweet mama in love came up to help and we put down underlayment in the dining room in no time. She's a great worker bee! It's just natural from all the mission trips and service projects she does!

Finally, we stopped for a few minutes to admire all the great work done and called it a day. We plan to get back at it after church tomorrow!

P.S. Today Joshua and I have been blissfully married for 9 amazing months!! :) I love you, my sweet man! Thank you for all you do for us everyday! xo

Red

Someone once said, 'every room needs a touch of red.' Our kitchen has a little more than a touch of red, but we are loving it! We decided it definitely looks like a Starbucks red! When you see it you'll understand. It looks exactly like the red in Starbucks' which is perfect considering how much J and I love the coffee shop! (We even had some of our engagement pictures in a Starbucks!)

8:51 Primer Finished

5:30 Soaking Up the Sunshine

Daylight Savings Sunday

Today started off with a trip to Tractor Supply where we picked up a few essentials- bird seed, a feeder, and a suet. We did look at fencing options as well since we demolished the existing one yesterday. J came up with a great plan. It's going to look wonderful!

Then, we were off to Lowe's to pick out paint samples...again. I struck out with 2 of my 3 last time. Joshua had the idea of a burnt red. I was not so sure about it. I was thinking more along the lines of a lovely buff. We got samples of both and kept open minds.

When we got to the little house we cleared out the den area for carpet removal later and began sanding away again. Thank you, Daniel for all your help! :) After practically sanding our arms off it was time to rip up carpet. It came up very quickly as did the tack strips. We've demo-ed almost every inch of this little house and so far I haven't gotten hurt at all...that ended today. While pulling up a tack strip I blammed my hand with the crow bar! ouuuuuch! After bandaging my mortal wound, I cautiously helped clean up the  ripped up underlayment. Thankfully, Kat came up and she pretty much took over my role. Thank you, Kat Kat!

To end the day Joshua, put up the paint samples to see what we thought. We decided to take a vote. What do you think? Keep in mind that pictures don't exactly do the colors justice. Feel free to comment! :) :) :)

These are the choices for the kitchen area...personally, I'm loving what J picked out.

 These are the choices for the den area, hall, and bathroom.

Bye-Bye Vines & Fence

Too Beautiful Outside...

Saturday morning Joshua declared that it was far too beautiful outside to be stuck inside. So, we started our weekend warrioring with a little outside work. The backyard got a transformation to match the transformations going on inside the little house. Joshua rode up on the tractor, Dad brought his clippers, and I....well, I pretty much filled in by dragging away debris when necessary. Before we knew it the yard was wide open. Originally, the yard was lined by a wire fence. However, the vines of a plant ensnared the it so fiercely that the only way to remove them was to remove the entire fence. This was no small task. No amount of clipping or man power could match this beast. Ultimately, it took the brute force of the tractor. Be sure to check out the video of that action.

In addition, we also got to uncover a lovely garden area. It was covered by a fallen cedar tree, leaves, rocks and other such yard materials. Once all the outside work was finished for the day I went in to sand (the bane of my current existance.) I wasn't sanding long when Chad and Bradley came up to help. It was so much fun to have Chad on the land for the weekend. :) (come back soon!!)





We were sanding, and sanding, and sanding away. I stopped for a minute to let my poor arm rest and I heard J calling me from the back yard. I walked out to the garden area where I found J standing with what he explained was a tiller. He sweetly taught me how to use it and set me to work. You wouldn't believe it! This former city mouse is practically a farmer! I tilled the whole thing and raked it even. Let me assure you farming is not for the faint of heart! Oh my aching back! (I sound like a farmer too, don't I?) I'm so glad I did it though. It was fun and just like Joshua told me, I'll be all the more appreicative of my harvest.

before (covered in leaves, weeds, and bricks?)

Not exactly flattering but it's hard to be glamorous when farming

 for a beginning gardener this is a BIG garden...I've decided instead I will call it my farm :) 

tilled and almost ready

After Dad mowed the yard and used the blower to tidy up I couldn't believe the transformation! The yard is really coming along!

Inside a lot happened today, too! The remaining 3 windows went in with the help of everyone (Joseph, Rachel, Bradley, Uncle Allen, Dad, Joshua.)  It takes a village, right? :) We also continued to mud and sand, sand and sand. Can we be done sanding yet? After a long day of hard work we cleaned up and headed home. We'll be back tomorrow for more adventure!

The Garden is Growing!

Monday, Monday

Look! I'm like J :) :) :) 

According to my sweet man we're in 'full force mode' with the little house. Everything has to be completed and we will be moved in by the middle/end of April. We still have a lot to do so he decided we should head over there tonight to sand and put up the second round of mud. I definitely didn't have a problem with that. :) While were there Dad came over and single-handedly removed the old parquet flooring in the dining room. Things are moving right along! 

Before: 

 During: