PLAYROOM

Over the past few months it seems as though our house has been overtaken by toys. Our living room seemed to be the best play area for Avery and therefore we were always stepping over her toys and I felt like our house was always cluttered. We have a sun room/office that we NEVER use except for the few times a year that we have someone stay with us and so we thought it would make the most sense to turn it into a play room. BEST.IDEA.EVER. Over the last month we have consigned most of the furniture that was in that room and we have converted the space into an awesome play room for Avery. I feel like I have my living room back and love that Avery has a safe play space for all of her toys. 

I thought I had a picture of the room before we converted it; but, I can't seem to find it anywhere!

The book shelf on the right was in Avery's room, but we moved it into the playroom to make room for baby K's crib in Avery's room....

Organizing the kitchen cabinet

I'm hooked on the iheartorganizing blog and am now trying to de-clutter our home with new organizing ideas. Today I decided to conquer the kitchen cabinet where I keep all of Avery's food, bowls, plates, sippy cups, etc. It's still a work in progress, but I am happy with the outcome thus far.

This was constantly driving me crazy!!!

A meat thermometer was even stashed in the cabinet.... really!?!?

starting over....

I lined the shelves with fun, girly scrapbook paper! 

The almost finished product... still have a few things left to do, but I'm SO happy with Avery's organized kitchen cabinet!

SCUM

Water and soap scum, that is! So here's the deal. Our master shower has two glass walls and they are nearly impossible to keep clean. It absolutely drives me CRAZY!!! I literally cannot stand it. No matter how often I scrub and how diligent I am about using the squeegie (sp?) after showering, the water/soap scum continues to build up. I've had enough! So, today during Avery's afternoon nap I decided I would try to conquer the irritating scum once and for all. I did some research and found that scrubbing the wall with a lemon and then spraying it down with a mixture of water and vinegar should help to break down the scum. Then use a dryer sheet for the scrubbing. Afterwards, I cleaned the shower like normal. It actually helped! It sure isn't perfect, but I can tell a huge difference and feel better about the looks and cleanliness of our shower. Any other cleaning advice is welcomed!!! :)

Under Construction

The nursery is under construction!! I absolutely love it so far! Chris has really been working hard this week and has done a terrific job. I know it's hard working all day then coming home to work on the nursery, but he has shown a lot of excitement and I think he's really enjoyed seeing his handiwork come together. I am so thankful for my husband and have been proud of him for trying new things and accomplishing them (you'll see in the following pictures).

Just a reminder of what the room looked like when we bought the house...

We've sold the furniture and are ready to decorate!

We spent a lot of time at Home Depot our first weekend working on the nursery... a trip on Saturday and a trip on Sunday, in fact. Here, Chris is cutting the chair rail and wainscoting- not an easy job when you don't have an electric saw!

SAFETY FIRST!!! Didn't want Baby "A" to inhale too many fumes, but I absolutely LOVE to paint so the solution was a face mask!

We didn't want the room to be too pink (or pepto bismol pink) so we chose a very pale pink for the top half of the room.

The wood is all cut and painted! Ready to be put on the walls!

The top and bottom of the room is all painted... now on to the wood work!

and the chair rail is up on one wall!! Bailey was wishing she could help. :)

Chris did the wainscoting by himself... it was a very tedious job and he did FABULOUS! It looks so good and it's amazing the difference it makes to the room.

As of today all of the wainscoting is up and all that needs to be done now is the caulking and touch up of the paint-- which Chris is working on as I type. SO, I better go help!! More to come soon!

Our new home!!

Chris and I are buying a house!!! My grandfather has always been really big in buying real estate in Niceville and Destin for investment purposes. Well, he bought this great little patio home in Niceville and completely gutted the house, putting in new flooring, doors, bathroom and kitchen appliances. The house has been on the market for some time now and it truly is a blessing that it was available! When Chris and I decided to move to Florida we knew that this house was perfect for us. My grandfather was selling it fully furnished... and let me tell you, he thought of absolutely everything! The house has brand new/never used furniture, flat screen tv's (Chris' favorite) towels, rugs, and even a scale. lol. Chris and I sat down with my grandfather and made the decision to buy the house. This was a huge decision, but one that we are really excited about. We have been here for almost three weeks now and are loving being on our own again. It has been so much fun making this house feel like ours, which is a little harder to do when it is fully furnished, but it is finally starting to feel like home!! We are loving it!

Here is our bedroom before:

and after.... (we painted the room a dark khaki color and the bathroom is a light blue)

Our living room...

(There is the TV that Chris just loves!)

the kitchen...

This space was empty, so Chris put up these shelves and we are so happy with them!

The Dining room attached to the living room...

The guest room...

The black dresser was actually my baby dresser and I've been using it since Chris and I got married. It was white but when we moved here we painted it black to match the rest of the guest bedroom furniture. We also replaced the hardware.

The guest/hall bathroom...

and our patio!