First Things First

We have SO much to do in our new house. :) Overwhelming... but fun!

We seriously have projects lined up that will keep us busy for years. We've been categorizing our to-do list into things-that-we-will-tackle-immediately and long-term-upgrades (more like a 5 or 10 year plan).

So, first thing on the "immediate" list was to get started replacing all the GOLD! Our house is full of gold doorknobs, gold switch plates, gold vent covers, gold faucets, and gold fixtures. Not our style. Upgrading everything all at once really adds up, so we are slowly making the transition. So far, we've replaced all the knobs and handles on the kitchen cabinets, all of the vent covers, and all of the outside doorknobs (the ones that lock). It is already making a huge difference!

Second order of business was to get started painting. I want to paint... ummm... pretty much every room in the house. First up - baby's room!! Out with the desert, southwest orangy color and in with pale blue!

Things are happening and it is so exciting!

New Floors!

Ok, so we aren't COMPLETELY done yet - still have to do a small area in front of our bedroom door, install the thresholds, and attach quarter round to the perimeter. Those things aside, the major installation is complete! We brought all of our furniture back in the house and the new floors look AMAZING!!

Here's a little sneak peak of the living room:





The striped rug in the room is actually the rug that used to be in our dining room. I'm trying to decide if I like it in the living room. We definitely want an area rug in that position and are thinking of using either a dark crimson or a burnt orange as an accent color (which is represented in this rug) but I'm just not sure if those big, bold stripes are a little too much for the room. I'm thinking I'd like it a little more if there was a bit of green in the rug - also, I need to tie in the whole room better with some colorful accent pillows.

The jury is still out on the rug - feel free to weigh in if you have thoughts on this...

For a close up of the floors, check out these two jokers:





I rolled one of Luke's trucks under the armoire, so Andie and Luke proceeded to rescue it. It was pretty cute - as soon as Andie got on the floor to fish it out, Luke jumped right down next to him to "help". Love it!

Renovations Have Begun

We finally decided that it was time for a few upgrades to the ol' house. We found a good deal on some hardwood floors at Home Depot and decided to go for it! The flooring is really cool - it is super dark (almost black) and the slats are really wide. We love it!

We are laying the floor in the living room and the dining room/entryway. The one thing that kinda sucks is that we already had hardwood in the dining room - but we have to rip it up and replace it with the new flooring since those two rooms flow together. It would just look too weird to have the two different woods together.

Since we are clearing out those rooms, we also decided that it would be a good time to paint the living room!! I've been wanting to paint the living room ever since we got our sectional. Our old couch (and big armchair) were green - so they looked great against our neutral/beige-ish wall color. However, when we purchased the sectional, we decided to go with a neutral/beige-ish color. So, the couch, the walls, and the carpets were all neutral color. It really bugged me!!!

Here's a "before" photo of the living room:



Oh, I should also mention that painting the living room also means painting the kitchen because those rooms share walls. Our kitchen did have two walls that were beige/neutral (shared with the living room) and two walls that were orange! I loved having an orange kitchen, but now we are going GREEN with the whole thing!

And did I mention that all of these renovations are happening with a one and a half year old running around? He has been blocked off from the dining room (with a baby gate) and from the living room (with two tall, heavy stacks of flooring) and has actually been doing pretty well being confined to only half of the house. Just a few minor meltdowns :)

Here are some photos of the progress so far. Our goal is to be finished by the Super Bowl (we are having a friend in town from Dallas and also having a Super Bowl party at our place). And just to reiterate, the Super Bowl is THIS WEEKEND! Lots of work still to do.

The beginning of the destruction of the old hardwood floors in the dining room:

Carpet ripped up and floors being prepped in the living room:

See ya later old floors (back in the dining room):

Bring on the green:

Living room painted (two coats), time to start laying down those floors:

That's where we are so far. More updates to come...