Updating Kitchen!

I never would have thought we would be able to update our kitchen just three years after we moved in. After unexpectedly having to get a loan to replace our roof, tax returns and postponing our anniversary trip we were able to do the update.   We are so happy that we were able to update our kitchen and that we will be able to enjoy it with the boys for years to come.  

Here is a picture of the kitchen before.

Here is a slideshow of the before and after pictures.

We hired the same contractor who installed the skylights in Reece's room, First & Select Designs.  We updated the light fixtures, painted cabinets, new countertops, new backsplash, and installed window trim. 

 We used Sherwin Williams Alabaster SW 7008 paint in with Satin finish for the cabinets. 

Weathered Bronze Pendant Light above the sink.

We picked Stonemark Granite 3 in. Bianco Romano for the countertops.  

We picked darker pulls for cabinets to tie in our stain and black dining room table.  I love Amerock Highland Ridge Dark Oiled Bronze Finish Pull because the give the room a little rustic feel.  We used 3in on drawers (because they had 3in pulls before), 96mm on doors, and 160mm on pantry doors.

We got a Delta Cassidy Kitchen Faucet in Venetian Bronze with an Undermount Single Bowl Sink. 

We used White Subway Tile with white grout for our backsplash.   

The contractor was able to complete the whole kitchen update in two weeks and did an awesome job.   We are so happy with the way it came out and already hosted a Mother's Day Brunch in our new kitchen.  

Here is link to all the all the photos Kitchen Photos.  

Kitchen Update Week 1

We are so excited that our kitchen update has started.  Week 1 of the Kitchen update went great. 

The contractor got here early Monday morning with the electrician and has been here everyday since then.

Before                                                                       Day 1 

Day 2                                                         Day3

Day 4                                                           Day 5

Next week they are are going to continue painting, add molding around window, granite countertops will be installed and tile backsplash.  

Everything should be finished Friday of next week.  What an awesome Mother's Day Gift :) 

 Before                                                                 Day 3

We are also painting the cabinets in Laundry room white.

Boys Bathroom Remodel

Since we moved in last March we knew we had to redo the boys bathroom.   The vanities were not screwed to the wall and oddly placed in the room, then each had frame less mirrors just sitting on top of the vanities (which we moved to the attic the day we moved in).   

This April my parents were remodeling the whole upstairs at their house and were getting rid the bathroom vanities.  We measured the room and picked the vanities that we wanted.  We are so grateful for them giving us the old vanities that really saved us a lot of money.

Next we hired a handy man to close up the plumbing on one wall and patch up the wall.  To add plumbing to the other wall.  Also to put in two electrical boxes above the vanities and to move the plug on that wall to the center on the vanity.

We started out by painting the whole room white.   Then painted a green stripe.   Two tips: 1- you can put a plastic bag over painting tray for easy clean up, but you HAVE to tape the back or it does not work.  2- when painting stripes  after you taped out the stripe, paint over the inside edge of the tape with the original paint color and let dry before painting stripe color to get a nice straight edge with no bleeding.

We filled in the vanity knob holes and started to paint them white, with a little help from the boys.  Painted our final stripe and put up the new light fixtures.

The new vanity top got installed and then Grady and Keith installed the new faucets.  We decided to get towel hooks instead of towel bars in hopes that the towels will get hung up instead of dropped on the floor.  

In June we finally hung the mirrors in boys bathroom.  Keith also put in base moulding.

Then Keith made the frames with moulding before the we glued then to the wall.  We used legos as spacers while the glue was drying.  

One of the final touches was using valve handles as the hand towel holder (found this on pinterest).

We are very happy with the way the boys bathroom turned out.  It is more functional now with a lot more storage.  The boys have also being taking more showers.

From Gold to Bronze!

I found this on pinterest.... and knew I had to try it since every door knob in our house is gold.

Changing our GOLD door knobs to Bronze

One can of  Rust-Oleum Universal Metallic Spray Paint, Oil-Rubbed Bronze cost $8 from Home Depot painted door knobs, hinges and strike plate for 5 doors.

Grady & Reece helped use the drill to remove screws from the hinges.  Grady prepped the screws for painting.

We are loving the results and you can not beat the price.  You have to do the same amount of work if you were replacing the knobs but this way you have a little waiting/drying time.  The can of paint says it is fully dry in 24 hours and can handle in 1 hour.  We rehung the doors after 5 hours but did not shut them till 24 hours, but I did wait 24 hours to reinstall the door knobs.

We painted 5 doors this weekend.  We have 9 more doors to paint downstairs and trying to decided what to do upstairs since 3 of the 7 door knobs are silver.  I am off to Home Depot to buy more spray paint :) 

Handy Dad... Rope swing

My parents got Keith a Handy Dad book so as soon as we got home from Mandeville Keith was ready to build something. The rope swing did not look that hard and they only thing we needed to buy was the nylon rope since we had the hose and board. 

The scary part for me was how the book told him to hang the rope.... which is to climb the tree. I was getting really nervous about now and had a talk with Grady about going to get the phone inside if I told him to. Can you find Keith in the tree?

going higher...

tying the knot

then he had to go to lower branch to saw off a branch. This part took the longest.

We all had to try it out.

It is a lot of fun.

Reece did a really good job holding on.

Grady LOVES it. He woke up the next morning ready to go outside and swing.

Stairway Photo Gallery

As soon as we bought this house I know I want to a create Stairway Photo Gallery.  It took me a long time to get all the frames because I was be thrifty/cheap and did not want to buy a lot of new frames.  I collected old frames around the house, bought a couple from goodwill and got 5-10 frames from my Grandmothers house after she passed away.  I got all different color frames, then just spray painted them all black.

We still have a ton of space to add more fames.  I can not wait to see the Photo Gallery grow though the years.

 I just printed our new family picture from this year.

I also just got our family picture from last year printed.