Outside and Inside

It's been awhile since I've updated our blog.  I have a good excuse.  I went out of town- twice (post on that later).  I'm growing a baby and taking care of 2 kids.  Oh, and we've been home improvement fools. 

 

The term "move-in ready" is a big ol' fat lie.  Nothing is "move-in" ready, even a brand new house.  This past May we celebrated our 1 year anniversary of living in our new home.  Since then, we've completely re-landscaped the front yard and finally did something with the front room. 

 

So here's what we've done so far to the OUTSIDE:

 

YARD 2012

 

YARD 2013

 When we moved in, we were left with the standard builder picks of the crappiest plants you could find just plopped down in the generic formation.  In the back growing bed, we took out the boxwoods and some other shrubs and the front bed we removed the 3 live oaks, 2 trees I can't remember the name of, and a random assortment of shrubs.  We also found lots of construction material:  bricks, slabs of wood, concrete, wires, trash, and lots of sand.  Bob worked really, really hard and we still have a few more plants to purchase, but the yard is pretty much done.  Bobby planted a magnolia tree, Japanese maple (I've always wanted one of those), day lilies galore, a crepe myrtle, azaleas, and roses.  It's so beautiful.  Everyday when I pull in, I smile because I know it's "our" yard.

And now for the INSIDE:

 

When you first walked into our home, you were greeted by what I lovingly refer to as: the dog's hideout or what it really was: the entryway/formal dining room.  It was basically an empty room with our old Provo basement carpet (to help catch dog hair), the piano, and the dog.  We knew we didn't want it to be the dog's room (ya think?) or the formal dining room. So instead, we made it our formal living room.  I slowly started purchasing furniture for the room and found a few accessories that I had packed away that matched my vision: a Pottery barn-esque room on a shoe string budget.  Bobby wanted to create the look of wainscoting along the bottom and a dark gray on the walls.  We bought 6 cans of paint: 2 shades of gray + an extra gallon of the decided shade, 2 shades of white, and a sample gray that turned out more taupe-y gray- what a pain! 

Imagine more accessories, a killer art piece created by yours truly above the piano, and these drapes in white. I love these drapes, but they won't be here until August (bummer).

 



 The entry way is almost 100%.  It's missing something that I can't quite put my finger on.

 This wall will have a couch (pictured below or some variation of that style) along with a gallery of artwork created by P and B.  We're also going to change out the lighting in the entry and living room for something more industrial/casual (pictured below or some variation of that style)

 

I love the front room now, where before I dreaded going in there.  One negative, is that Boo still hides out in there, but at least the room doesn't look like a storage room anymore.

We still have a few more projects up our sleeves:  nursery for Lil' Bean, B's "big" girl room, and the kitchen, but funds and lack of time have caused us to prioritize what needs to be done and what we want to have done.  Story of our life.