Before and After: Dining Room

We did lots of painting in this space. We also replaced the chandelier, and vertical blinds (we hate those things). I chose to do big grommet curtain panels for easy opening and closing, and also so that I could take them down and throw them in the wash (done that lots) whenever I wanted. I made Jon hang up the faux pergola (which he HATES and is therefore getting left behind as I promised him he wouldn’t EVER have to move that thing again.) and grape vines above.

The dining room as it was when looking at the house.
So we got a hand me down (free!!!) dining set shortly after moving into our house. I REALLY love this table. It’s magic! Easter egg die, permanent marker, crayon, blueberry smoothies… It can take it and MORE. I don’t even care. The children don’t get in trouble (well for purposely coloring something they shouldn’t they do, but accidents… NOPE!) when messes happen. The ONLY reason I would ever consider replacing my magic table (we are talking soap and water clean up!) would be if I NEEDED a bigger one. Anyway the freebie chairs didn’t match the bar-stools we had picked out and purchased.

This bugged me,  but I had a problem. I couldn’t for the life of me pick a color to paint them, or fabric to reupholster them in.
 
 

My dining room is most of the time without the sewing machine.

And so they stayed like this for YEARS. Bugging me. And then something wonderful happened. 

I was finally inspired from Brook at All Things Thrifty. I saw the dining room set she did and it was just perfect. I no longer had to pick just ONE color. AND I knew I would LOVE it and that it would work in my crazy house.

I showed Jon and he was ALL for it (he is the BEST!!!). Then I had to show my Mom (a visual was required to prove to her that I had in fact NOT lost it.) since she was going to be helping me fabric hunt.

These are the fabrics I picked out for my B-day gift from Jon. He actually liked them all. He just request nothing TOO girly. Isn’t my cousin the cutest?!

I did the bar-stools in yellow, orange, and blue. It took me a while to find an orange that went well enough with the other fabrics, and since orange is Kaylee, and Jon’s favorite color it couldn’t be left out. I am hoping to be able to change out the table legs in the near future.

Anyway we LOVE it!  It’s SO nice in the winter when we are trapped in feet of snow (although that’s no longer going to be an issue!) to have a bright and colorful space to remind us of spring/summer/fall….



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a Surprise and a first.

Jon is sneeky. He decided to surprise me for my birthday weekend. I was SOOO surprised! Friday morning at 6:30ish AM I went to check (I had to pee and thought since I was up I may as well get stuff started.) on Regan and get his morning formula ready so I could just hand it to him in bed when he came to get me in and hour or so. Well I was SO scared when I saw a man shadow waving at me from Kaylee’s bed! It took me a moment to realize it was Jon and he was in Kaylee’s bed with Regan (Kaylee climbed in bed with me at about 5:30 AM). I took out my ear plugs and he said, “Surprise!”

It was great (once the shock/fear was gone). That night we had some friends over for dinner and games. Then Saturday morning headed down to St. George to watch conference with my family.

Usually we watch conference, celebrate my birthday, and get new family photos taken. Well since I had no idea that Jon was going to surprise me I told my Mom that I wanted to wait until Jack’ee’s visit to have a party. So poor Kaylee has to wait a few more days until she can blow out my candles.

 Still it was AWESOME being a family again. (Even if it was for just a weekend.) Best birthday gift EVER!

Between sessions of conference we went and got some pictures at the temple. There are several I love and am having a hard time deciding which one to use for our Christmas postcard.

This morning (my actual b-day) I got to take Kaylee to her first ultrasound. Kaylee has had too many UTI’s and so we need to find out why she keeps getting them. She NEVER has bubble bathes, she no longer wipes herself (bums me out, but UTI’s bum us all out so we wipe her…), and she drinks straight cranberry juice (she LOVES it and calls it her “special juice”) daily. So she REALLY should NOT be having UTI’s at all.

I was SO proud of how awesome she did. She was SOOOO scared and told me so, lots. She also said she was going to cry (a little boy was bawling right before her name was called). I’ve been explaining what was going to happen for a few days to prep her. So we went prepared. She got to take her Lamby AND her Barry blanket.

The Tech we had was SO sweet. She showed Kaylee what she was going to do first on my hand then on Kaylee’s and let me lay on the table with Kaylee. Kaylee even requested that Nancy find her gum she had JUST swallowed. So Nancy did (not sure if the white blob really was gum or not, but super nice of Nancy to humor Kaylee).  And Kaylee thought it was SUPER cool being able to see her insides on the “t.v.”

Kaylee was just chatting and giggling the whole time. Telling me and Nancy stories and how excited she was about getting chocolate ice cream. She and Nancy had a long discussion about which was better, chocolate ice cream with or without nuts.

Thanks Nancy for being the BEST tech EVER!

After we were finished I took Kaylee to a local soda fountain (super cute old school fun) for a chocolate ice cream cone. She thought it was the BEST.DAY.EVER!

Let’s face it she got to see gum she swallowed, plus eat a HUGE chocolate ice cream all without Regan there. It was a pretty cool day for little miss. We find out the results in a few days. 

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Before and After: Hall/Children’s bathroom

We (I) did lots in this small space. I painted the counter (the pink counter HAD to go), the walls, trim, the hanging cupboard got paint, and the sink cupboard got satin (found out I SUCK at staining) and new knobs. Not to mention the toilet seat (they had wood seats which I think is gross), and floor! I also removed the old towel bar (brown wood) and put up hooks, and Kaylee’s bow holder. I have a third hook to hang in place when I pack up her bow holder.

Before
After 
After

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