Touring Tuesday - Kitchen Reveal

Last week I showed you the mess that was my kitchen...now let me show the beauty we are workin' with now!

The kitchen is the main focal point of our house. It's the first thing you see when you walk in the door, and it can be seen from every direction in our little home so it was really important to us that we went all out on it. 

We really didn't work on the house one room at a time, it was more like the whole house - one step at a time. After the ceiling was done in the kitchen, the lights and wiring went in, the walls and ceiling got knock down texturing, it was primed, the floors went in, and THEN it was time to paint. Mom, Step-dad and I painted the kitchen/living/dining room this green color that I am in love with. This green has made it's rounds...in fact, my best friend now has this color in her bedroom AND office because she loved it so much too. 

Here you can see our pretty new floors :-) and our wood cabinets that we assembled, with no instructions. And no, they weren't an Ikea special... lol....they just came from a small company for a good deal and I guess they figured if we were dumb brave enough to install them ourselves, we should be smart enough to assemble them ourselves too. That, or it was their failed evil ploy to get us to pay for them to do it. 

Then we had another assembly party for the upper cabinets. I'm vertically challenged so we called in the Step-dad and Step Brother for this project!

 Ta-da! Beautiful cabinets! And then..... there was GRANITE!!!!!

Ahhh.... beautiful clean countertops. Before we added all our STUFF!

This is pretty much what it looks like now. Except we have cabinets over the sink that we added at a later time. We were undecided initially about what we were going to do up there because the company we ordered from didn't sell anything that fit. We wound up ordering small cabinets and an extra doo-hickey that the boyfriend fabricated and made work quite nicely. He's awesome like that....

So, there ya have it! Our newly renovated kitchen!!!! It came a long way from this, huh?

We're pretty proud of it. 

Touring Tuesday - Operation Rip Everything OUT!

I know I left ya'll hangin' last week... sorry about that. I was very busy, and I have lots to tell you, but right now it's Tuesday - so let's tour!

Two weeks ago, I left you with this sneak peak of our original kitchen.

 Pretty scary, huh???

The first step was to start tearing it all apart so we could have a clean slate to work with. These homemade cabinets just weren't gonna cut it.

From the minute we walked into this house, we knew this wall HAD to go. It made the kitchen it's own little room that was super small and cramped, not to mention - HOT! In spite of the cheesy little ceiling fan that hung in the middle. The Boy had way too much fun with this part of the project.

Now that there was room to breathe, we could start ripping out the cabinets and such.

It was already looking SO much better! 

But, things have to look worse again before they get better. The drywall in the kitchen was NASTY and there was this icky drop ceiling that had to go now that the wall was gone. SO, out it all went!!!

See? Whats up with the weird ceiling??? eww....

What a mess! And the fun was just beginning. 

We took a sledge hammer to the tile, and then an industrial chipper....and then....we found 20 year old linoleum under it. NO FUN. Thankfully we were able to rent this nifty tool on the bottom right that helped get it up. Because let me tell you, it did NOT want to come up!

We were very lucky to have a LOT of help from family throughout this whole project. 

The Brother in laws, and my Step dad, came over and helped put up some new drywall, and it was time to start putting things back together! Putting it all together was a much slower process....and the Boy didn't find it nearly as exciting since now he had to be careful and meticulous.

 There are no sledge hammers to be used during assembly!

Next week - the finished product!

I've been thinking....

When I was doing my post about organizing and such... I got to thinking about how I've never showed ya'll how we made our house a home! Our house was a MESS when we bought it. We actually bought in May of 2008 and didn't even move in until September because we were doing some major re-vamping. I'm talking knocking walls down and everything. I was way too busy to blog back then, and then I had every intention of writing about it, but never got around to it. Soooo, I was thinking about doing a series called "Touring Tuesdays" and showing you one room at a time, the mission of turning our house a home. Would ya'll be interested in that?

I mean, really... we were dealing with PINK walls people.

End of Spring Cleaning

Spring is almost over, and even though it feels like Summer down here in So Flo, we're not quite there.We ARE getting ready for it though! The past few weekends we have been cleaning things up around the house. Well, the boy has. I've been helping/supervising. 

We cut the lawn (I actually did this...), the boy trimmed the neighbors trees that have been intruding into our backyard, I helped pile it all up out front for bulk pickup, he cut up our non-functioning hot tub, I helped stack that up out front.... and then we successfully looked like white trash for 4 days until the truck came and picked it all up....

 

And then this past weekend, the boy pressure cleaned the patio, the sidewalk, and the windows. He's such a hard worker, even on his days off...

There was absolutely nothing I could do to help with this task except to keep his coozie full with a nice cold Budweiser. I finally decided that I needed to be productive too, so I took to organizing some stuff on the inside of the house!

I like to stay pretty organized, but every now and then even my most organized areas need a little sprucing. It seems to work best to just pull everything out and start over. So that's exactly what I did. 

The linen closet was the first victim. 

I emptied everything out... and then started putting it back in. 

 

 

I keep all my seasonal and extra scented oils, and travel items in these stackable bins.  I love these little bins. I got them at Target and they are all over my house. 

See? This is my guest bathroom cabinet.

I also use them in my deep freezer. 

So after I sorted through everything and put them in their respective bins, I put everything back in. 

 TA-DA!!!!! 

I know it looks like there is much more stuff in there now, and there is. I actually had a huge stack of towels on the table that I had been needing to put in, but I was putting it off because it was such a mess that I knew they wouldn't fit. I rolled up the beach towels, instead of folding (I think I can fit more this way) and I moved around the junk up top. I'm gonna get some more bins for the extra soaps and such on the right next time I hit Target. 

Next up, I decided to re-do the junk drawer in the kitchen using some bins I got at Staples - 3 for $1!

  

I emptied that whole mess out onto the counter. Set out my bins, and then started the sorting.

Some stuff had to find a new home. And that new home may or may not have been the garbage can. 

And then there was the talking beer opener. It definitely needed a new home. It went to live in the garage on the beer fridge, where I believe it should have always lived. I have no idea how it wound up in the junk drawer. Or why it's still in it's package....

 

So there it went to live. Still in it's package.

And I had a pretty organized junk drawer! 

Keepin' it clean...

I'm not gonna lie... I'm really not very good at this "housewife" stuff. I'm hoping one day I will be, and I think I'm getting better all the time, but I am a work in progress. My house is not always clean. My bed usually isn't made, I don't recommend the 5 second rule around here, and my dog does a lot of artwork on my sliding glass doors...

Source: carrotsncake.com via Amy on Pinterest

BUT - there are a few things I have to keep clean. I like a clean kitchen, and clean bathrooms. The rest I can tolerate. We empty the sink every night after dinner so dirty dishes don't pile up, I wipe down the kitchen counters all the time and I get really frustrated when the boy empties out his pockets on the bar and spreads everything out, so I try and pile it all up

and put it in "his basket". Seriously, when you open my front door this is what you see.

(note overflowing green "basket" that needs to be cleaned out...sigh...at least it's in a basket!)

It's the main focal point of our little house. If the kitchen was grody anyone that comes to the door would see it, and I certainly don't want my UPS man thinking we are the dirty people in the neighborhood. That's not cool. I also insist on keeping my guest bathroom tidy. Mostly because I don't like gross bathroom germs, but also because honestly, you just never know when someone is gonna ask you if they can "take a leak" and I don't want them seein' our pee dribbles, that's kind of embarrassing. Since I'm really not good at this cleaning stuff one of my little "tricks" is to keep some of these in both bathrooms.

They work great for a quick cleanup whenever it needs it, or when you know someone is on their way. You can use them on almost every surface in there to spruce it up at the last minute. (and I may have actually used them to clean the entire bathroom today) Keeping one in each bathroom has definitely made a difference. I used to just say "oh, the counter is getting grungy, next time I walk to the other bathroom I'll grab the cleaner and wipe it", but now I just pull out a wipe and do it. The other thing I keep in both bathrooms is toilet bowl cleaner and a brush. To some it might seem silly to have two of all this stuff, but to me, it helps me keep up on the little things that make a big difference. Countertops and toilets are where are the nasty stuff lives, and nobody wants to get someone elses nasties on them when they visit. That's just gross.

Do you have any daily cleanup tips that can help out this un-wife housewife with a busy life from putting off the little things? I would surely appreciate them. And please, if you are gonna stop by, gimme a 5 min warning so I can wipe everything down and we can pretend that I keep a clean house :)

**I wasn't asked by Clorox to write this post... I was just giving ya'll my advice on semi housekeeping and asking for yours! :) **

The Big Reveal!

FINALLY! I had to time to clean my bathroom today, and I can post pictures without being totally embarrassed! lol. I have to say, for the time it took for this "little" project to be completed, I'm a tiny bit disappointed. It doesn't have the "wow" effect that I thought it would have on me. Maybe it's just because it looks exactly like I thought it would. (We've only had the parts to do it in the garage for like A YEAR now..... )

In any case, it's still a HUGE improvement from what it was, and...

I like it.

(ignore the open outlets... Ed needs to replace them still)

LOVE my double towel bar :)

I think the window needs a valance or something, it's plain. And I'd like to get a small basket or something for the back of the toilet. What do ya'll think? Any ideas for the window? It's so blah!

Did anyone else notice that it was like a potty party in the blog world over the weekend? Two other bloggers I follow worked on their bathrooms last weekend. And... I feel like I had seen another 1 somewhere, but I can't seem to find it now to link you. Anyway. Everyones came out GREAT! Check them out!

Loves of Life

LollyChops

More Changes!

This weekend, Ed had the opportunity to have 3 full days free of work of any kind, so we are tackling another house project! (no, the porch isn't quite done yet, but we might as well have like 3 things going at once! Actually, he's planning on finishing up the screen work while we are waiting for stuff to dry...)

Our house is nicknamed "The Money Pit", and for good reason! We are always working on something, and the more we do, the lower our bank account gets! Oh well, such is the life of a homeowner I guess. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world! I love my home :)

When we moved in, this is what our master bathroom looked like... and it stayed that way for a while. (minus the phone, don't ask... we don't know... and the Orca's and ceiling fan)

The tile isn't my favorite in the whole wide world, but it's decent, and fairly new. Everything else, HAD TO GO!

And "go", it did!

Our bathroom pretty much looks like this now. Our new stuff has been patiently waiting in the garage for about a year now. I'm pretty that sure this weekend it'll be able to make it's big debut! I hope so anyway, walking across the house to the guest bath to pee first thing in the morning isn't so much fun!

Changes... REVEALED!

So here it is... the big reveal!

Sorta.

Not everything is exactly "done" per say. Ed is on shift today and wasn't able to do all the finishing touches, but the big stuff is done.

Before...

After...

And.... the pile of surround sound stuff that still needs to be hooked up

This weekend our new 52"LCD was delivered! We went on a massive hunt for a stand, and finally set most of it up last night. The picture on this tv is AMAZING! Although, I have to say, within 10 minutes of watching it we decided that we would have to start learning the HD channels. HDtv just looks SO much better than regular tv!

Zoey was not a fan of this new addition. She doesn't usually spend much time in her crate when we are home, but she made an exception while we were setting the tv up.

We are pretty sure that if she was of age to vote, she would NOT have voted for Obama. She's not really a fan of anything black, and she really hates change. This isn't the first time she has reacted this way to new black objects. She actually howled at the smoker, barked at the camaro, and cowers at the covers for the grill and smoker. I don't get it.

Even though the TV has been sitting in our living room since Friday afternoon, we had to wait until last night to set it up because the boyfriend was busy setting up something else!

Before...

After!

That's the boyfriend's great Craigslist find! A hot tub!

With lots of spiffy jets... (that side panel isn't missing, it's just off for wiring purposes)

And pop up speakers and a radio!!!!!

I can't wait to get it all set up and running!!! I cleaned it out really good today, so the boy just needs to finish all the wiring, and it's ready to get filled up!