2012 Projects!

Say the word Pinterest and Joey puts his head down and gets ready cause that means momma has a new project in mind! 

I love changing things up and moving stuff around to create a new environment and with the invention of Pinterest it has made it soooo much easier and affordable to do just that! This year we had a lot of projects! The first was updating our kitchen. We added laminate flooring, white paneling 

to the bottom half of the walls  and put glass in a couple of the cabinets for some pop. 

The glass was only $10

We also added a ton of little touches to give the kitchen a country feel. '

 a ranch sign my dad gave me from his barn, a picture of my favorite meal from Carrabbas blown up and put in an old window frame I got for $1, the horse shoe came from the farm Ayden goes to during the summer, the chandelier was salvaged from Joey's parents remodel of their dining room (It was gold and we spray painted it white) 

 an old watering dish my grandmother gave me, a electric heater my dad gave us when our heat went out a couple years ago spray painted white, and our wedding portrait with some cotton from the field my dad was tending.

Nothing say "country" like a iron paper towel holder and reptiles (turtles) in the kitchen :)

 

The frame is just a 5x7 frame painted black with the words "I love you because" print on a piece of paper under the glass. Everyday You will write a little something why he loves me and I do the same for him. It's a sweet way to have love notes to your spouse. 

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Next on our list was the bathroom

 Joey put in the same wood paneling but with narrower lines and new laminate flooring

 he continued the flooring on top of the shower for a more "expensive" feel, ha,ha.

 We took down the boring square mirror and added this circle one I got from Roses for $7 and added some vinyl lettering ($5)

 a new faucet ($30) and the neatest thing ever a whale that will turn your faucet into a water fountain to help the kids when they need wash their mouth out while brushing their teeth!!! ($3 at Kmart)

 our bathroom closet got a makeover too. We took the door off because it was just in the way. Then I added cute contact paper I got from the dollar store and rolled our towels instead of folding them and placed them in baskets from Michaels. 

 I also got some jars from Walmart, the dollar store and one from my grandmother that I used for storage.

Now the biggest project of all was our living room. First Joey repainted our living room to give it a more calming feel. We went from a tan and burgundy to a white and blue. Poor Joey stayed up all night on a Saturday to surprise me in the morning, it was so sweet.

 We also added old barn doors that my dad had giving me to the wall to add a rustic feel.

To have the doors go with the pops of lime green I added pictures I printed out to the center of them.

Next we spiced up the bookshelf in the living room to make it an art piece with some decals from Family Dollar ($3) and pictures and nic nacks. My goal was to make the bookshelf tell a story.

Then we added a sitting area under the rose window with furniture we already had (the table was stained from a goldish color to a dark espresso) 

 but in my wishy washy decorating I found a better idea for under the rose window! We took our old entertainment center, cut the top off and made it into bench seating with storage underneath. Total cost about $5 for the little chalk board name plates from Michaels.

 Next was the floors. Joey and I have always wanted wood floors but with a concrete uneven slab that was just not in the cards for us.... until we found laminate sticky planks! These strips mold to your floors so if they are a little uneven that's ok! So out with the old carpet and in with new floors! Total time about two days and total cost about $300. 

I also wanted a family tree in the living room so Joey painted me a tree and then I added black and white photos of my family hung on clear push pins with lime green string. I took family pictures from Christmas cards and used those to fill in the missing "branches" The lime green picture in the middle was the starting point of this tree project. I got it at a yard sale for $1.

We added some little details to make the room come all together.

 a flat screen for the wall (thank you tax return :), sconces we got from our wedding spray pained black with cute Christmas ornaments that "flew" from our family tree

  and curtains over our front and back door for more privacy.

 Final result was an amazing living room!

 Next was the small hallway. I wanted to make it less boring so here's what I came up with. The board is actually zebra printed duct tape (about $5) the paint is left over from the living room and the pictures were framed with brown frames I spray painted black along with the clock. I added some hooks we had around the house and then some baskets under their book sacs to put their shoes in and whala, non-boring and functional!

If the hallway was updated then the laundry room had to have a face lift too. Our laundry room is actually a cutout in the kitchen so here's what we did to that. On the dryer added an area for unmatched socks

 and to sort our clothes better a place for "darks" "whites" and "towels". I got the baskets from Big lots for about $5 a piece, the sticker letters from Michaels and Joey made the shelf from scrap wood and a piece of molding. Total cost about $25.

The "Wanted area" did not work too good because our unmatched socks can literally fill a shopping bag but the clothes sorter was a life saver!!!! 

Next we tackled our room. It was purple and blah so we made it calming with the same blue paint color and made changes.

My mom had given me some leopard printed sheets that I honestly was afraid to use thinking they were too loud but I think they worked pretty good. The "LOVE" plaque was like $3 at target.

 The chair I got at a yard sale for $5 !!! and the table beside it was my grandmother's hope chest Joey sanded down and restored when we were dating.

These are my favorite pictures in the entire world! I placed them on my side of the bed above my nightstand. They are just snap shots of the kids that I printed at Walmart in a purple tint with $5 frames and another vinyl sticker that came from the dollar store. The picture on the top is of Ayden when he was about 3 hours old and the one of Brock was him in a bouncy seat at my desk and Bethany was in her carseat as we were leaving my work one day.

Joey also added me a place to put all of my necklaces and scarves behind the door and added a second bar to my closet for more clothes space. 

We had a lot of projects in 2012 but the end result was a home that feels right.... now we are thinking of moving !!!!!????!!!! Oh well, at least we know what we want now :)