Making the House into Our Home: Main Room

As you may or may not remember, this past December we bought a house. It's a wonderfully darling, old farmhouse on a beautiful, mature 2 acre lot. It's in our home town and right near both of our families. In short, it's just perfect for our growing little family.

But, as with most older houses, I assume, it needs much updating and personalizing. Actually, I'd like to eventually alter every room in the house, in some way or another. So it's definitely going to be our "Work in Progress" for many years to come. But we're just taking it one room at a time. And for now, we've been focusing on the 2 most important areas: the Main Room (Dining/Living) and Little Brother's Room.

We started (and I use "we" very loosely - Jared did all the hard work) first in the Main Room (Dining/Living). I think it was about a week after Christmas when we started - with the tearing down of the wall paneling! And with the exception of hardwood floors and crown molding - which will both just have to wait for now - last month our Main Room was finally finished!

I've been trying to snap a picture here and there each time we're on a new step. The following is photo documentation of just how far we've come.

I love to look through home magazines and online and such (for ideas/inspiration) and always find myself drawn to the more cottage-y feel. I like open, airy, light rooms. I love white and adore simplicity.

So I transformed much of the furniture we already had with some white paint. And Jared did an amazing job with the lightly textured walls - he pretty much completely rebuilt them with at least 3 layers of mud over all the old plaster.

Overall, I am very, very pleased with the way our room turned out. The whole look and feel of it. It's just like I pictured everything in my head :)

So, after about 5 months, we finally have a cozy dining/living room where we can just eat, relax, and be. ♥

The "Before" - this is how it looked when we moved in

Close up on the wall paneling. Awesome, huh? I'm sure you're wondering why we would have ever wanted to tear all this amazing-ness down.... :)

And there go the panels!

Hooray! They're no more!

Fixing one spot with some drywall where the plaster was just too damaged

Time to Prime!

Proof I helped. In all my pregnant, fresh-faced glory. Yep.

More priming...
(the first coat, before the mud, we had to prime after the mud, too)

Mud!

Working hard to rebuild those walls :)

Sanding....

Another coat of mud.
And Holden hanging out, watching Daddy, with his snacks :)

(Now add a few more rounds of sanding and mudding layers in there and then.....)

Furniture Transformations!





Some of the stuff I painted:

Old Church Pew......

........White and Fresh!

Rocking Chair...........

........... Reborn! :)

And then just some of the other stuff I did: 2 bookshelves,
the entertainment center, and the kitchen table

(And after some more priming and wall painting - which for some reason I didn't take any pictures of.....)

Hanging the new light.

And we have a room!

Dining Area. I love my pew :)

Rocking Chair, Couch, and Old Trunk/End table

Finally feeling like home♥

Eighteen Months!

Today's the day! The Eighteen-Month-Half-Birthday! And it seems crazy to me. Eighteen months seems like such a milestone age. And we're already there! Nuts.

But it's definitely very entertaining being around Holden lately.

Over about the past month or so he has just become a talking/repeating/mimicking machine. And, while much of his words sound very much the same (everything that starts with the "B" sound, for instance, is basically "buh" - Mommy has to be pretty perceptive to figure out which "buh" he means at the time. Haha) it's still much more fun now than when he was just whining/upset all the time because he had no way of letting me know what was on his mind.

And he's always been a sponge, I know, but now it just keeps getting more and more obvious by how much he repeats/mimicks back to us.

For example, Jared has been lifting regularly for, um, ever now. And the other night, he got his glass of water and headed out to the garage to work out, and Holden came running over to me "flexing" his muscles and said "dada." Smart cookie :)

So while it is still a little bittersweet how fast it's really going, once Little Brother comes in a couple months, I think I will definitely be grateful for my "big kid" toddler :)

Now if we could just get better at our listening skills by then....

Showing off his muscles like Daddy :)

Indiana is Holden's friend and favorite toy - all in one.

And Indy just takes the "love" like a champ.

Such an ornery look....

Sometimes I think Indiana looks forward to Nap Time just as much as I do.

rotten♥

turning into a "Big Kid" just like that.

...and the Belly grows.....

I haven't really posted too many of these yet... But I've been taking them about every week and I kind of think they're fun to look at and see how much has changed. So I figured might as well share. It's not like no one's noticing the steady expansion anyways! :)

Happy Mother's Day♥

It's hard to believe this is already my second year celebrating Mother's Day! But this year was just as nice as the last.

Jared gave me flowers and after church, we stopped by his Mom and Dad's to give her her card and little goodies and wish her a happy day. Then we got to have Subway for lunch (a yummy treat, indeed!) before heading over to my Mom's house to spend the rest of the day playing games and eating and just hanging out.

It was a very nice day and, even though it was definitely on the chilly side, the sun was shining and I felt loved. I hope everyone else had a Happy Mother's Day, too!

My real Mother's Day gift♥

The little terrarium I made for my mom

Daddy, Holden, Mommy, and Little Brother Bump

Our family

"No one knows how it is that with one glance a boy can break through
into a girl's heart." - Napoleon Bonaparte
(Especially if that girl is Mommy)

My sweet boy♥

Mother's Day Card

I decided to make Mother's Day cards this year for both of Holden's grandmas. So that meant Holden had to pose for some pictures :)

And although I must have taken at least 40 photos just to get these, we did end up with some pretty cute ones.

And I think both grandmas were happy to have their cheesy, handmade Mother's Day cards (and pictures) from us and Holden :)

The Prom

Nine years ago this spring, Jared tapped me on the shoulder with a baseball glove and asked me to our Junior prom :)

The next year, on the night of our senior prom, he gave me a promise ring for our one-year anniversary.

And I can not even believe how long ago that was now.

We have been through so many ups and downs now together and have both grown so much since then- as adults and parents.

But about a week ago, when my younger brother had his junior prom, it just all came flooding back. How young we were! And how far we've come.

And sometimes when I think about it, it kind of amazes me that we really made it. And that I'm really where I am today - where I always hoped I'd be all those years ago. Waking up every morning beside Jared. A wife and mommy.

I'm a little late with these, but here are a few photos of my brother Tyler - looking so grown up - and his wonderful, beautiful girlfriend Emily on the day of their prom♥

May 1, 2010

cute cute cute ♥

so pretty

i just love this one. ♥

gotta have a shot of the Jeep :)

My "little" brother and I

♥