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The Girl's new room

1/29/2016

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The decision to redo the girls bedroom was made primarily due to the fact that Colette, who is almost 3, was still in her crib. First I had to take down their wallpaper. I thought it would be similar to other wallpaper in our home, which was much fairly easy to remove. But this type took a little more work. Once it was done it made a huge difference! Then I got to work painting, and Josh began putting the new bed together. Our house was quite a disaster zone for a while! 

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We had been gifted this BEAUtiful dresser from a friend! I bought glass knobs, and painted the existing hardware. Then I gave the dresser a nice sanding. I love the organic wood look that it has!

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My first shopping trip was to Goodwill where I found a surprising amount of awesome items for the room. I found this cute little table which I painted with chalk paint, and soon after was scraped off… Oh well LOL. I also found a log planter which I painted white.

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We decided to buy the girls a be a loft bed and turn it into a bunkbed. Our original thought was to put their bed in the closet so as to save more room in the floor. But it was just a few inches too large so we decided to make a book nook! I had leftover tulle from our wedding, and I found curtain rings at Goodwill! It has to be the coziest place in the house and they love it! It took us about five days total to finish. The first two we had friends and family help watch the girls which was a huge help. After that I worked on it here and there throughout the day when I could. I'm so happy with the results and the girls love their book nook almost as much as I do! 😜

Enjoy! xoxo

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I had such a fun time making them matching pillows! And it was very inexpensive!
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For the wall art I used pages that I colored and put them onto canvas!
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The girl's books fit here so perfectly! And it adds such a fun whimsical touch to their room!
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The sweetest thing is she did this on her own!
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I made these sweet polka dots using drawer liner!
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Kitchen update

10/1/2015

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When we first moved into this house I knew that I wanted to update the kitchen and still keep the vintage accents that make it so unique! The previous owner built all of the cabinets himself and they were great quality so I wanted to keep them as well. We threw around the idea of painting them, but I didn't want to upkeep that comes with that. We talked about staining them, but It would be such a mess and I wanted the go for a lighter and more airy feel.

So when Josh went out of town on a business trip I knew that I would have evenings free and it would be the perfect time to work on it! I was determined to get it all finished within 3 days! With family to help with the girls and my friend Theresa, we got to work! I had a vision of what I wanted it to look like, but had never seen it done in the same way, so Pinterest wasn't much help! ( bummer! ) There was so much sanding to be done...seriously...it was ridiculous! There was a total of around 12 hours of just sanding! So much dust in my hair, clothes and lungs *cough*.

I was ecstatic when I didn't have to look at another piece of sandpaper again! Josh was just moments from walking in the door while I screwed on the last cabinet door. I wish I could say that's where it ended. Hah! But less than half of the hardware was on ( oh my gosh that was a nightmare!) and the doors still had to be sealed. So a 3 day project turned into a more realistic week and half project. But I am thrilled with the results!

​I learned so many lessons along the way that I will now share with you to perhaps keep you from making the same mistakes!
  1. Give yourself a reasonable timeline
  2. Make a list of all that you have to do and in what order
  3. When putting on hardware take a deep breath, take your time and use a proper alignment tool!
  4. Have good friends around who are able to help you stay sane!
  5. Pump up the music and take dance breaks!

     Now without further ado, here are photos of our kitchen's makeover process!

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Wallpaper, shutters, and SO much orange!
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Speckled and stained counters. We painted and polyurethaned them. The polyurethane ended up yellowing a little. But they're still so much better!
And now here's what it looks like now! :D
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I hope you enjoyed! Please leave a comment and let us know what you think! :)
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One Year.

9/30/2015

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​One Year. It's been just over one year since we took a huge leap and "bought" our first house! Technically it's still the Bank's house, but it's out home! :P What an adventure it has been. As I sit here writing this blog a plumber is in our basement sawing through pipes and trying to fix a massive and rather disgusting clog and leaking pipes that we've been dealing with for a couple weeks! Our yard has a massive ditch in the front of it because we had to dig up the gas line and replace it. And when I say "we" I do mean Josh and his Dad! We went without hot water, or even warm water for nearly two months! Boy oh boy was that a fun adventure haha! They keep telling me "welcome to home ownership!" I'm realizing that this is a large part of what it is to be a home owner. But it's certainly not without it's perks! Now let's talk about some of those! I love to take something that has been forgotten, or in need of repair and giving it a facelift! That's exactly what we've been able to do with our home. We have almost completely redone every room in our house. Bit by bit, Target decor by Target decor! :P So now here's a tour of our home and some fun before and after shots! :)
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This is now one of my favorite rooms!
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Removed carpet, new light, removed "shudder walls", and a fresh coat...or three of paint!
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I found this table and chairs for just $100 and recovered the chairs and painted the table!
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I adored the original wallpaper so I decided to go for a English Garden room for the girls!
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I love having a special place for our guests!
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Better, but still too dated!
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Ditched the old lady curtains, new bedding, DIY bed lights, and a redone (craigslist find!) Ikea bed frame. I'm still looking for nightstands. I'm thinking about making some of my own soon!
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Kitchen update coming soon!!! :D
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    Ashley Friend

    Jesus is my all! I'm a design enthusiast, lover of mini people, tea time, & genuine life! WV Wedding & Family photographer. 

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