Office redo

A special Happy Birthday today to my brother Jonathan!  We love you and wish we could see you today on your birthday!

I forgot to take pictures of the office a while back when I was doing remodeling of our room, kitchen etc. I also redid Jay's office but just forgot to post about it so here you go....

Before

Jay had a really big desk that he bought when he was studying in seminary and needed alot of space but now doesn't need such a huge desk.

So I let him pick out the paint color and I painted it/remodeled it for him to have a "getaway" space.  It looks much better and has much more room.

He also had 4 bookshelves and we got rid of a bunch and he took some to his office at work and we narrowed it down to just two bookshelves.

Living room changes

I did make changes to the den also during the renovations.  I did paint a couple of weeks ago as you already knew but I tried to make some changes to coordinate with the adjacent kitchen so that the two rooms blended well. 

Just like the cornice board, I used the same fabric and made some curtains for the den.  The truth behind these cute curtains...I did NOT use a needle/thread or a sewing machine.  I followed this Pinterest tutorial but instead of sewing, I used fabric hot glue!  So easy and seem durable enough to fall apart but easy to change up if I wanted to also!  And I lined them with $5 twin sheets from Walmart!

These pics above the couch...$1 foam board from Dollar Tree!  I just cut them to size I wanted, painted them (same color as kitchen), had pics printed at Sams for $7 and put them on using spray adhesive.

I spraypainted the tray (the spray paint I already had picked out before picking out paint color)...super easy and bought cheap pillows from Target to put on couch that matched.

I originally painted this monogrammed name board black but then changed the color when re-doing the room.

I added splashes of red in the room just for a change....

Not too many changes but it does look better coordinating with the kitchen.

Daddy's home from INDIA!

Daddy returned home last night from a mission trip to India with a group of 4 guys and we are SOOO glad he is home!  His trip and team were great and the Lord was good to them.  Of course he came home with lots of stories that had us grossed out, laughing and shocked.  I will do a post later about his trip and will include some pics he took and maybe even a video if I can get it uploaded.

Here we are last night at the airport with our bells on waiting for daddy!

He came home bearing gifts....

And I came bearing a gift to him....which is part of the reason for my absence on the blog for the past week or two.

While he was gone (which I didn't mention on the 'ole blog for obvious reasons) I surprised him with a brand new master bedroom!  Not only was I finishing up renovating the kitchen (painting and re-doing the cabinets) which he did know about, I had a renovation in our bedroom up my sleeve that he did NOT know about.  Now that he is home and has seen it, I can let the cat out of the bag!  

LOTS of pics coming soon!  My project for today is the BLOG!

Our weekend

One of the pieces of advice my matron of honor Amber gave me before Jay and I got married was to buy and use neutral decorations in my home that way you can change it up as much as you want.  Decorations are easy to change and furniture not so much.  So that is what I did.  Most of the decorations in my home are browns and cremes so I have loved having colors on my walls.  I change paint often because it is one of the cheapest ways (maybe not the easiest but I like to paint) to change up a room.  

However, I have recently come to the conclusion I have TOO many colors in my house and most of them don't go together anymore (due to changing things up one room at a time).  So I am trying to change up the colors and neutralize the colors I don't like so much anymore.

Exhibit A

I love the stripes and wanted to keep them but this green color was a color I picked out 6 years ago when we moved in and I am tired of it.  So Friday afternoon/night I painted this room and went more neutral.

 I haven't taken a pic of the final product but here you can see the difference.  The middle strip was old paint and the others are the newer paint.

Friday night Karis ended up spending the night with Mari-Morgan and Brayden spent the night with Ethan/Eli.  No it was not planned but us but worked out in our favor.  So Lucy and I got to go on  a date with our favorite guy, daddy.  We went to Outback and Lucy was such a sweetheart.  We loved having that special time with her!

Saturday morning I ended up painting our entry way too because it was that same green color I am tired of.    I had a REALLY cute helper.  :)

We had one of our favorite breakfasts waffles and sausage.  And of course Lucy had to have her purse with her at all times (her FAV thing these days).

Saturday afternoon while Lucy was napping I decided to paint my den too.  I have hopes/plans to do some more painting/remodeling too but my house is suffering so I must do some catch up first!

Sunday after church we met up with our friends Matt and Megan (and Gideon and Charlotte who is still in the oven) to eat lunch and see their new house.  We love them and were so glad to get to spend time with them!