House Warming gifts!

We have been steady home improving and unpacking little by little.  It is so different trying to unpack a whole house as opposed to a tiny apartment.  Add the fact that we are changing the house while we unpack & all our wedding gifts we just got from storage and it equals a huge project.

That's why we were so happy to have it all almost done in time for Ed's Dad and step mom to come up form Florida and see it.  We had a great family BBQ and got to eat on THOR (what my mom named our new dining room table).  We made crab legs & shrimp!  Yum!  We learned a new way to cook them by just placing them on the grill instead of steaming them.  Also, a little olive oil on the shrimp (still in their shells) and you can put them in a pan on the grill too!  Quick and easy.  My mom made her BLTS no bread.  You take tomatoes (the oval shaped ones) scoop them out and fill with lettuce and bacon and top with a yummy sauce that is slightly like thousand island. 

Our nieces had never tried crab and assumed they'd hate it so we made them chicken.  Our youngest niece requested "plain white chicken not made of crab" hahah.  Our 2 oldest nieces tried the crab and the shrimp and are now hooked! woohoo!

Ed's dad and step mom gave use a wonderful housewarming gift! We are using it for our fire pit & chairs and our back splash for the kitchen (we had another gift card as a rebate from when my aunt purchased our washer/dryer).  This back splash is no grout needed which makes the job so simple. We chose a stainless steel one for above the sink to add a little pop, but still match the stainless steel behind the stove.

                                   Ed is setting up our fire pit tomorrow.  Smores here we come!

We have had fun additions popping up in our home this week!  We got a new laundry mat & our canvas prints came in. We were really excited to use one to cover the ugly old "weather station" we had in the house.  Now no one is the wiser.

Only a few more weeks until our big housewarming with all of our family and friends.  It should be a wonderfully fun time!  One of our #1 "must haves" when searching for a home was one that we could entertain everyone in.  This house meets that criteria and now we are ready to put it to use!

Stick Stick Stuck

Good-Bye horrible green bathroom floor!  We plan on eventually gutting the master bath for a tub, better vanity, and floors, but until then we simply had to get rid of the gross floor.  I know people have differing tastes, but YUCK!

A very inexpensive quick fixer-upper is stick on tiles.  They look nice, are easy to install, and work well as a temporary solution.  They are also great for first time apartments or college dorms.  Ollie's has a bunch and so does Lowe's.  We have become regulars at Lowe's since buying the house.  I can even "kind of" find my way around now.

The adhesive backing can become a hazard.  A few tiles stuck to our feet and the sticky residue stayed on our hands.  Thank goodness for Goo-be-gone.  If you don't have any you have to invest.  This stuff is amazing and is so useful for everything.

 The green floor that didn't match anything in the bathroom.

NEW FLOOR!!!

A few of my favorite things!

Wow!  We have been so busy moving and home improving that I haven't kept this up at all!  Everything is moved in and the unpacking is almost done.

We decided to take our time unpacking boxes so that we could decide where everything would/could go.  We didn't want to unpack everything and then be stuck playing a big game of Jenga to get it all in functional spaces.  With our kitchen I wanted it to be convenient for use.  Dishes near the dishwasher for easy unloading and pots near the stove for easy cooking.  We still have some more glasses to unpack & once our china hutch is here we can unpack all our china and spare silverware into it.

 I love the fun kitchen organizers that came with the house!  Pulling out the shelves to get to pots & pans saves so much frustration.

Next step for the kitchen is a back splash around the counters! 

Sunday Funday

We took a break from home improving, but it was time to get back to it.  We move in a few weeks.  Once we move it we will still have things such as a back splash to add and a fire pit to dig.  In a few years I really want to redo the master bathroom!

There are somethings such as the floors and painting we want done for move in.  We are giving all the closets a fresh coat of paint and today we painted our spare room.  We are using it as a kid play room until we have a kid and need a room for them.  There are 13 kids in our family and this way there is a place for them to play and be loud and we can put all our old childhood stuff in the room.

We were going to paint a chalk board on the wall, but then Ed decided to just have us paint one whole wall.  After painting we realized the other wall had been chalk board painted previously so now they have a whole room.  However,  the chalk flows onto the floor so Eddie will be building something around the base boards to catch it all.

 

Mix unsanded tile grout in with paint!

Turns out this wall was already painted in chalkboard paint!

Afterwards we decided to do a little yard work while we waited on pizza.  Gigi calls it "lab" work.  We wanted to remove the dead shrubs.  We will plant a little for this summer, but in the fall we are killing the yard and restarting since it hasn't been taken care of.  Ed's mom was lining all of our cabinets while we were doing all of this.  I am so excited because I hate lining stuff.

OBSESSED

IN LOVE WITH OUR NEW FLOORS!!!  We had them installed today and the house looks so amazingly different.

Riping up the new floor showed some floors underneath we didn't know about









The finished products are awesome!  It's worth investing in good flooring and never by the cheapest padding.  You want at least a step up and one with a moisture barrier.  You may get the spill up on the surface, but without a moisture barrier you could get growth underneath from it leaking through.

We put dark Walnut laminate downstairs and carpet in the hall and master bedroom!  Love how soft the carpet is!

I highly recommend this tiny paint roller form DOLLAR TREE.  It saved us painting around the banister on the stairs.  One of the best tools we had.

Eddie sure is getting his workout from his "honey-do" list.  He creates half for himself.  Family is helping so much!

Sometimes you can't scrub all the paint off

We have almost finished all the painting!  We just have to finish the edges and painting the hallway.  It used to be an ugly pink/tan color so we are painting it a clay color a tad darker than the apricot accent wall in the family room.

 

Eddie painted the living room ceiling and I am painting the closets to brighten up the white.  The KILZ white paint is the hardest to remove from your clothes and skin. 

Painting Day!

YAAAY  Maggie came home.  Poor pup had been getting sick in the house and if a dog is sick for more than 24 hours you should take them to the vet ASAP!  We have to change her diet and give her a few pills, but she should be A-okay now!


I am still trying to scrub the paint off of my hands and arms!

Today was a major leap towards the home of our own the way that we want.  Eddie spent the day demoing some of the garage and soon he will be building the shelves and what not how he wants.

Some fabulous women helped paint.  First up was covering the horrible purple in the guest room so that we can paint it mint green tomorrow.

Next was painting the mancave and completing the stairs for the fabulous print!!

 

Finally we started on the family room!!! We will finish tomorrow with some other friends.  We are so thankful for all of the help and are so very lucky!

 

Then our Realtor dropped of some gorgeous tables for us and Ed's mom and Mutti came by and so did my parents.  Such a fun day!

Out with the old

First to go (other than the dirt) are the tiny flowers painted on the stairs.  We washed the whole house and are going to KILZ all the closets.  My awesome little is going to paint a chevron print on our stairs.  We are super excited.  BYE BYE random flowers!!!

Home Sweet Home

And its OURS!!!!  We completed the walk through as well as signed the one million pages restating over and over that it was our house and we would pay for it.  I almost felt like asking for a moment of silence for all the slain trees on that one document.  Our agent was AMAZING and anyone looking or selling in the area please ask me for her contact information.  She made this whole process comfortable and fun!

Ed's birthday was a success.  After we signed I picked up my mother along with folding chairs and a table.  We grabbed mini cheesecakes and tarts from Whole Foods and some birthday decor and made the empty house into a mini party place.  It helped that my Aunt sent us two balloon collections.  One was Congrats on the new house and one was Happy Birthday for Eddie!

We met up at Mexican with friends and family for a great dinner and then went back to the decorated house for everyone to see and to give Eddie his gifts.  My mother had a Rhino painting (Ed's favorite animal since he was a little kid) commissioned for him.  His mother got him a gorgeous ladder ball set.  It is made of very pretty wood.  I got him a globe bar for the man cave.


His mother and grandparents gave us such sweet house warming gifts.  They are very precious and so special. This neighborhood is so friendly.  My car was in the driveway 10 minutes and two separate neighbors dropped in after seeing a different car and wanted to introduce themselves!

Today began home improvement.  We bought paint for a bunch of the rooms!  I am so lucky to have sisters and friends volunteering to help us paint over the next few weeks.  We are also painting  the closets and trim to brighten up all the white.  Eddie is going to rebuild our pantry and then on to improving the garage and the backyard.  We hope to have a housewarming this summer, but we won't be doing most of the yard until the fall.

I also kept on packing and found some great old books that I am putting up in our 4th room for all the kids to play in at family gatherings and for when we have a kid eventually.

Snacking & Shopping

Perfect snack for on the go.  I don't always want the normal easy-to-port cubical snacks such as 100 calorie bars and reduced fat Cheez-its.  So getting some fruit and variety in is great. Bonus is its all natural and gluten free.  I am allergic to EVERYTHING so these two facts please me greatly. Eating tiny/healthy meals constantly help to boost your metabolism too.

Tonight my mom and I joined some friends for a shopping party at a cute boutique in town center.  They catered cupcakes and yummy drinks.  I entered to hopefully win another shopping party.  Got the perfect blouse for signing on our house and celebrating Eddie's birthday on Friday!  Shopping & snacking make the best combination!

Longest week

This is going to be the longest week! So excited to sign on Friday.

I have been multitasking to stay busy. Ed and I LOVE banana bread so I made muffins.  The box stuff is great, but they're even better if you add some apple sauce, fresh bananas, and a tablespoon of vanilla extract!

I FINALLY finished all of our Easter cars.  I am hugely addicted to snail mail.  Formal invites and paper cards are more personal to me then text messages, evites, and facebook.  In the digital age a little old school can be refreshing.  Plus the stickers are great and it especially allows me to catch up with my grandparents and extended family members who aren't attached to their computers like some of us are.

And so the packing has started.  We began with the DVD and VHS collection along with books.  I am dividing things up based on what rooms they will go to in the new house.  Normally all of our movies stay together, but our niece gave us a suggestion.  We have a spare 4th room.  We were leaving it empty until we decide to have a kid.  We new we could use it as another guest room.  Bella suggested a toy room. At first we thought we had no toys, but then realized she was brilliant.  We have old Disney movies, my old dolls, etc so we are storing all of that in the spare room so when we have family gatherings if its raining or kids don't want to play outside they have a space to color and play and have some fun away from us stuffy adults.

Day 1 down!  Come on Friday!!!!

And so it Begins!

Eddie and I have both been working lots trying to make any extra money.  I am so proud to have a husband that works and hard as he does.  I worked until about 1 Saturday and then instead of dragging Ed all around after work I went to different stores with my mom and brought options home to him.

We are going to lay new carpet in The family/dining room, living room, stairs, 4th room, and our room.  I found great carpet at Lowe's. I wanted carpet that had a little variation in the color so you can't see every little piece of dirt.  Ed's job results in dirty shoes and unless I followed him with a vacuum I loose.  So this seems like a great solution.  It will be great to for whenever we decide to have kids because they are messy little creatures too.  We are also painting a few rooms.  Most have great colors already, but we will be painting the family/dining room and adding bead board as well as repainting the guest room, and Ed wants to paint the man cave too.  The master, the 4th room, the living room, & the kitchen have wonderful color choices already.  We agreed on the family/dining room and guest room, but have to go back for more man cave colors!

Now begins the packing process!  I have had some amazing friends help out with box and newspaper donations.  We found out to check out the "donated" boxes section at the U-Haul places too.  Other than boxes I am a big believer in using suitcases.  We will wait on our hanging clothes and throw them in a comforter and lug them like that over to the new place.  We have a month and a half so we can slowly move and unpack something prior to the big furniture being brought in.

SURPRISE

I have been slacking on my blogging because I had a very large secret.  We are buying a house!  We got the call this week to set up utilities.  We are so excited.  Be ready for home improvement and crafting blogs.  It is perfect and in the exact location we wanted.  The best part is all that is really needed is things that have to do with our tastes verses the previous owner.

Hoping that furniture sales happen ASAP.  The best thing I have learned is to excepted almost anything offered.  Luckily my mother is getting new furniture so we shall be taking her old set off her hands.  We cannot wait to be able to have our wedding gifts in our home.  It will be fun reopening all of them and remembering what we have.

Spending all weekend cleaning, purging, and packing.  Throwing out anything still in a box from our move 2 years ago!!!  We decided to not be rushed so even though we close this month we have until the end of May to move.  It makes it easier to paint and lay new carpet in an empty home and then fill it slowly with all of your belongings. 

I know our friends will be incredibly happy because we will actually hire a moving company this time hehe.  All of those lovely movers who volunteered last time will only have to sit back and relax this time.

Today is work's Spring into Spring potluck.  I made fun colored Hummingbird cupcakes.  They are super sweet and easy.  Flour, a bunch of sugar, fruit such as bananas, peaches, & pineapple, vanilla, and cinnamon and TADA all done!  Decorate with fun colored icing!

Have a lovely Friday!