Category: home improvement
When we first moved in a year ago, there was so much work needing to be done on our house, but no time. We only had one day after the renters left to get things ready for us to move in, so carpet was laid in the hallway and back bedrooms and that was it. This summer we got our back yard in order and I went to work on the kitchen. We really need to just tear out this kitchen and put in a whole new one, but that will have to wait. This project was called operation “Kitchen Band-aid.” It really is amazing what you can do with a little paint and some hard work. The new lighting fixtures were installed this summer complements of my dad. I went for many months with a very dark kitchen, so it was a treat for me to have him light up my life a bit. I went with a very bright color because after staring at dark paneling for months and months, it was time for some color! This band-aid should get me by for quite some time.
Lovely paneling! I let the kids do a paint job on it...nice!
When we first moved in, all I had time to do is paint the inside of the cabinets and put contact paper down.
Nice dark paneling...don't you just love it!
This is the finished product of operation “Kitchen Band-aid.” Not the new kitchen most women dream to cook in, but much improved I must say.
No more yucky brown panneling!
Cabinet doors are now back on...and notice my Advent steamer on the fridge...a must have for you CF parents.
A cheerful splash of yellow...
Tadaa! Operation kitchen band-aid is now complete!
Now that winter is almost here, I just may have some more inside fixing up to do. We’ll just have to wait and see.
This is a picture of our house when we first moved in.
Another before picture...can you say jungle?
This is what the front of our house looks like today!
You can see the big spot where the stumps were.
Aww, look at the cute little tree and pretty little flowers!
Before grass...
This is what our back yard looks like today!
Yard work...pays off.
Yard work=hard work!
OK, so this is the big reveal. Joey and I have been working for months, trying to get our yard looking a little bit better. Both our back and front yards resembled rain forest like jungles when we moved in. We have rented several machines which have included a backhoe digger, an industrial sized tiler, and a stump grinder, just to get it ready for grass. We finally feel like we actually have a yard for our kids to enjoy! We have been given mixed reactions from the public…mostly positive feedback, and one negative complaint from a neighbor who had a problem with us cutting down dead stuff in our back yard…what?! It doesn’t matter, because we love it!
The city finished work out on our street yesterday, replacing the gutter and making it so the water runs down the street instead of creating a large pond in front of our house all winter long. We feel at ease, getting rid of standing water and any bacteria that it might be growing, lying in wait to infest Julia’s lungs.
As Olivia’s preschool teachers teach the kids…hard work, or in our case yard work, pays off!