A Fresh Coat of Paint

Along with probably two thirds of America, I am constantly feeling like my kitchen doesn't have enough storage. A couple of months ago, I started seriously looking for a sideboard buffet for our kitchen to help with our little storage situation. We had a completely empty wall, just waiting to be occupied. The only thing was...I knew what I wanted. And when you know what you want, sometimes it's hard to find exactly what you have pictured in your head.

We looked online, we looked in stores, we looked everywhere. Finally, I was bored one day and decided to check out Craigslist. Well, low and behold, I found the perfect piece of furniture! It wasn't exactly what I had pictured in my head, but I knew Jonathan and I could make a few changes and it would be absolutely perfect.

So off we went to a stranger's house to check out this sideboard. At first glance, I was in love :) Jonathan made the deal and shook on it (that never happens anymore), and we were back in the car trying to figure out how in the world we were going to get this thing home! It was a pretty hefty piece of furniture. After a couple weeks of deliberating, planning, and working some magic (well Uhaul actually came to the rescue), we had this gorgeous hunk of wood in our garage:



She's a beauty, huh? Okay, so she was definitely going to need some work. First of all, nothing in our kitchen is natural wood color except our kitchen table, which is a very light maple. So we new the color would have to change. We thought about staining it to match the table, or staining just the top and painting the rest white, or painting it entirely white. In the end we decided to paint it all white. That option just seemed to go best with our kitchen.

Not only would we need to put a coat of primer, 2 coats of white paint, and 2 coats of poly on the entire thing, but the drawers were also looking a little shabby. There are drawers at the top for silverware that looked like this inside:



And the insides of the other drawers definitely needed to be lined so I wouldn't have to worry about scratching up the wood with whatever I decided to put in it.

We also had to replace those awful cabinet pulls...seriously, they were awful. That was a job in itself! We wanted to find pulls we liked that matched with the holes already in the drawers so we wouldn't have to fill those and redrill new ones. After many trips to Home Depot, Lowe's, Wal Mart, and every store in between, a few purchases and a couple returns, we ended up with the perfect cabinet pulls too. In my head I had pictured brushed nickel pulls, but I actually love the black.

In the end, it was alot...I mean ALOT of work, but the result was better than I ever could have pictured:










Those pictures were taken the first night we moved the sideboard into the house from the garage. Since then I've accessorized the top a little, and currently it looks like this:



I still want to add a floating shelf above it to display a few more things, but all in all I'm happy with the outcome. I don't think we're planning to redo anymore furniture in the near future (it's really more work than it looks), but I do have a couple more posts planned, so stay tuned!

Sweatin' to the Oldies

This past week, Jonathan and I decided it was high time we joined the local gym. Personally, I have put on a few pounds since getting married last year, and it's about time I work on getting those few pounds back off. Jonathan, on the other hand, hardly ever gains weight. He could eat junk food for days and not gain a pound. But he is being a nice, devoted husband and is going to the gym with me, because let's be honest, it won't last long if I have to go alone. We signed up on Wednesday, and have worked out for 2 days now. Now, I can't tell much difference or weight loss in two days (if only that were possible) but I'd say if we keep it up, then we'll see some results. In college, Haley and I got on a pretty good routine of waking up at about 7:00am and heading to the gym on campus. It was great to have a routine and know when we were going to work out, so Jonathan and I are trying to do the same thing now. The only different thing is, now that we're out of college, it seems alot harder to fit in things like working out. There are so many things I'd love to do more, like scrapbooking, baking, organizing things in the house, but it seems like there just aren't enough hours in the day. I guess we'll have to work on prioritizing, and make working out somewhere near the top of the list. For now we're doing good (I mean we're only on day 3 haha), but in a month or so, we might start coming up with excuses to not go if we don't get a schedule in place. Any suggestions on balancing normal everyday things you HAVE to do (like eating, sleeping, working) with things you'd like to do? We'll take all the advice we can get!

Landscaping the Front Yard

Last Fall Jonathan and I took a stab at some landscaping on the front lawn. Needless to say, our front "bank" as we like to call it was in need of some desperate attention. It started out with a little bit of mulch and a lot of weeds.





It was obviously lacking in many areas, so we made a game plan and attacked one Friday. We drew out exactly what we wanted it to look like when we were finished, then we went out to Lowe's and bought all sorts of flowers and plants.



To start with, we pulled up all the weeds that were there and made a clean slate.



Then we had a truck load of mulch delivered to help cover up the now bare bank.



And we built a couple of planters out of stone we bought from Lowe's, so we could bring some color into the space with annual flowers.



After we finished that day, we were well on our way to a 100% change in the bank. We were sore for about a week afterwards, but I think the end result was totally worth it.



Still not perfect, but muuuuuch better than our starting point! We decided that it was a little too late in the year to plant annuals in our planters, so we waited until this Spring to do that. Now all the flowers are in full bloom, and I must say, I love looking out the window to this every morning!





It was our first shot at landscaping such a unique spot, but I think it turned out pretty good for two novices. Of course there are still I few things we'd like to change and add...like blooms on our azaleas!!! But God is in control of that one, so we'll wait and see if they start to bloom here in a couple more weeks.

What's Your Decorating Personality

I saw this little quiz and just had to share. It was right on with me - turns out I'm a cozy casual decorator. Feel free to click the link and take the quiz yourself!

http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/decorating/decorating-style-quiz-00000000030420/

A new set of eyes

Yesterday I made a little date with the eye doctor. I have been having difficulty driving at night for the past couple of months, so I figured it was time to have an eye exam. Well, as it turns out, I needed to order glasses! No wonder I've been having problems, right? I only have to wear them when I work at the computer (only about 9 hours a day haha) and when I drive at night. I haven't worn glasses since I was about six years old - and they were pink and majorly, majorly dorky :) If I had a picture, I would post it, but lucky for me, I don't. The glasses I ordered last night are super cute - at least I think so. I'm actually a tiny bit excited to get them and try them out! Here's a picture of them I found online:

Happy Birthday, Amber!

Tomorrow is my sister's birthday!!! Not only is she the best sister in the world, but she's pretty awesome too. I remember the day she was born...I was 5 years old, and I got to hold a baby for the very first time! A cute, fat, bald baby! I was so proud to be a "Big Sister". Of course as time went on we fought like only sisters can...seriously, there are still some scars. But, now that we've matured (somewhat haha) I can honestly say she is the best sister I could have ever asked for. Here are a few pics from the past couple of years to celebrate my wonderful baby sis!

Showing Off

Here's a little video I shot of Mac showing off his tricks. Enjoy!