A Little Stain Goes A Long Way!

I know it's been too long since my last post. Thank you to everyone who still mentions how much they like my blog. It's so nice to know people enjoy it and it helps me remember to update it! Sorry it took about 6 months… :)

Now, to make things confusing I'm jumping back to October to share some before and afters of our front porch and deck. I figure it's 95 degrees outside and everyone is melting, so why not share some pictures that include Fall decorations to help cool things down??

The front porch and deck were in pretty good shape when we bought the house. We did think the front steps needed to be safer so Colin put new boards there. Here's the handsome guy doing some painting to help them even more!

After we saw the new steps, it was a huge difference with the older wood on the rest of the porch. It was very gray and we think it was never treated or sealed. The deck had the same problem and we decided it would be nice to have everything power washed and stained. 

Just being power washed really made everything look better. You can see the big difference between the only power washed versus the stained sections on the deck. Yes, I did creep on the workers from the upstairs bathroom several times that day.

The front porch swing was on the updates list from the very beginning. That thing was in rough shape. We chose to have it painted black to match the shutters instead of staining it. I'm glad we did because it really stands out now. These shots show how extreme the differences were with the stain too. The after is a huge improvement!

And to finish it all off, we added two black Cracker Barrel rocking chairs. The rocking chairs are the perfect Southern touch that make the front porch adorable. I found the "table" between the chairs at an antique sale right down the road. It's an old apple basket that we thought would look just rustic enough. 

Here's a shot of a cute kitty enjoying his new front porch. Actually, he was most likely begging to come inside. Now I'm wishing it was a cool October night on the front porch instead of a sweaty June afternoon. :)

First Christmas in Our New Home {2013}

I've had a couple of people request a Christmas post showing my decor and am happy to share with y'all. We had a blast decorating and showing off our nest to family. This is our third Christmas being married but our first in this house. Everything wasn't completely decorated since this was our first time having a mantle and fireplace. Hopefully next Christmas it will be more like I want it. 

The first picture is a shot of the living room from our front door. We did some rearranging to accommodate our chubby little Christmas tree but it's not much different from how it normally is set up.   We even got to pick and cut our tree this year up in the mountains with Colin's family. My sister-in-law was sweet (and brave) to invite us all to stay the weekend after Thanksgiving. Thanks again Nicole! :)

One of my favorite decorations is my great grandmother's dough bowl. I'm sure I've mentioned it before and tell all my guests about it. It gets new decor with every season but hasn't been used to make biscuits like she always did. 

Riley was my Christmas present 3 years ago so I call him my Christmas kitty. His favorite thing about Christmas is drinking from the tree. Now that the tree is gone we actually have to remember to fill up his water bowl. :)

Our buffet got a full makeover with Christmas decorations. It made our kitchen very festive! Here are some other shots of Christmas decor around the kitchen:

I try to update my chalkboard every holiday to add some personal "art" to keep things interesting. I added an old bottle and some berries plucked from our yard to my antique scale. My blue mason jar was filled with an assortment of small silver ornaments to add a little cheer.

See that green bread box? It's an antique our neighbors found and gave to me. It's a perfect addition to the kitchen and I love it! My mom cleverly filled a mason jar with candy canes to add some color and holiday spirit. My little reindeer was an after Christmas sale find last year. He holds our Christmas goodies for guests (and us). Again, we stole some berries and leaves from outside and stuck them in an old bottle. That cute bird with a top hat was a welcome winter guest.

Colin was very excited to decorate the outside of the house this year. He's already talking about how we need to get more lights and decorations to keep up with the neighbors. We got these little trees from my grandma for Christmas and I think they are adorable!

See our nice stained front porch? I was slack and didn't share the before and after pictures of that yet. Maybe I'll get that post up soon because it was a huge difference! I love how this picture shows off our rocking chairs. 

And here's a night shot of the whole house. We're missing the candles in the windows and the trees on the front porch. It was so nice to come home when the house was all lit up and pretty!

Lastly, here's a picture of us on Christmas day at my grandparents house. Thank you to all the family that came by to get the tour of our nest. We thoroughly enjoyed getting to show it off. To all those who couldn't make it for the tour, I hope you enjoyed this virtual tour. 

Kitchen Recondition

Finally, a post to show off the kitchen transformation! This kitchen has seen its fair share of updates. Check out the arrows showing everything that's been changed so far. New beadboard, paint, refinished hardwoods, countertops, sink, faucet, backsplash, outlets, knobs, and light. You can see the changes in the second picture.

We still have a few things to finish up. We changed out the brushed nickel knobs with some lovely oil-rubbed bronze ones. We did forget to change one knob, anyone see it? It was hidden and didn't make it in the count so we still need to upgrade that little guy. We also need to change out the brass hinges that are almost tarnished enough to look oil-rubbed bronze. 

Here's a before and after picture of the countertops (plus the photobombing cat). We chose solid surface countertops from Lowes. We went back and forth about getting granite but in the end we went with what seemed best for us. Lots more I could say about the decision making process but I won't bore you with the details.

We have these gorgeous hydrangeas in our backyard and I wanted to show them off with a close up of the countertops. The color is Slate by Allen + Roth and it has a brown base color with some black, white, tan and brown speckles. If you're in the market for new countertops, check out the sale options for great deals. That's what we did and saved quite a bit compared to the full price ones that were similar. Also, we didn't add the 3 inch countertop backsplash and were able to almost completely pay for the new tile backsplash to be installed with the money we saved. Finding a sweet Lowes guy who searches for every way to help you save is a great thing. :)

We decided to keep the original cabinets to save some money and they are still in good shape. One day we may decide to paint them but for now they are fine. My mom and I spent a couple hours cleaning them with Orange Glo and it really brought some life back to them. Oh, and the kitchen smelled great after. Check out that view from the sink. I love it!!

Here is a close up of the backsplash aka the"splashback." We had nice lady come by to give us a welcome packet and she said she loved our splashback. She had a very thick southern accent so imagine that combined with the flip-flopped word. Bless her heart. ;) Anyway, we love our splashback backsplash and are very happy with the choice of travertine tiles and the mosaic tile border. By the way, see that awesome cutting board? My super talented Papa made it. :)

I had to share a close up of this amazing faucet. It's kind of the mom to the little guy in our half bath that I love so much. 

We decided to make a new outdoor kitchen area with the old countertops and sink. Just kidding! We wanted to save some money and get rid of them ourselves. Truth be told, I think Colin just wanted to rip them out. It did prove to be more of a project than we thought. Thanks Uncle Brad for coming over late one night to help carry this monster out. I was happy to be the door holder instead of the assistant in the demolition and removal. :)

So, what do you think? Everything is coming along! I'll add some more pictures of my kitchen decorations when everything is finished. Still have more unpacking to do (it's never ending!) but I will slowly but surely add more pictures of the progress. 

Bye Bye Burgundy...Hello Beautiful Bathroom Countertops!

Another item on our to-do list was replacing the bathroom countertops. The upstairs bathroom had a burgundy color laminate countertop and I knew that would have to be changed. Check out the before shot of the outdated culprit. Phew...that thing was screaming for some help.

We went with cultured marble for our new countertops. This may be the most drastic before and after of the whole renovation process. We still have a few small things left with this bathroom but it's basically done!

Oh, and by the way, this bathroom is also known as Riley's bathroom.We have his litter box hidden in here and his food stays here too. He decided to crash my little photo session and be the model. This is his first appearance on the blog so now you all know that we have an adorable kitty living in our nest. So, guests beware, if you stay with us you will have to share this bathroom (and I may ask you to clean the litter box, hehe).

The master bathroom countertops weren't bad but since we wanted to change one bathroom we decided to change all of the bathrooms. We chose the same color cultured marble as the upstairs (Riley's) bathroom.

This isn't as drastic of a change as the burgundy but it looks much nicer with the recessed sinks and rounded edges. Not to mention, those recessed sinks are sooo much easier to keep clean. 

Here is the before and after shot of the half bathroom. Again, there wasn't anything terrible about these old countertops but we decided to change them out for something nicer. We went with a cultured granite instead of the marble. 

This is my favorite. I love that color granite and the oil rubbed bronze water pump faucet. This picture really doesn't do it justice. I try to find excuses to go in this bathroom just to look at this cute little faucet. Here, let me give you a close up picture so you can see for yourself.

See what I mean? It's adorable and fun to use. I also picked out a cool light fixture to fit in with the farmhouse feel. Once we get a new mirror up and find the right decorations, this little bathroom may be the cutest spot in the house! :)