We have another project for our home.  One that we have been saving for and are going to begin tackling in the fall.  One that intimidates both of us but we are excited about! Welcome to our kitchen:

A little 1970’s but still pretty.

And the other side.  See the beautiful built-in shelves Justin’s uncle built? We have this little island that was a Craigslist purchase.

It will definitely be replaced with something that has more storage and is a little bigger. So here is the plan… We obviously have an amazing canvas to start with.  Gorgeous shelves, panelling, a chimney (seen in first picture…)etc.  We have to leave the counter tops and back splash as is…which is great because we both love black countertops.  We also are going to keep our appliances the same.  The floor we have talked about replacing but that is not going to happen right away. We cannot afford to make big change so we are going to have to work with what we have.  It’ll be a challenge but we both enjoy this sort of thing! We would love an island this big. This kitchen is an idea of what we are envisioning.
But then I love this as well:

I will keep you posted.  Thankfully I have Justin to tackle this project and he is so talented with all things design…he’ll come up with the best solution!

After a lot of hard work (mostly done by my father-in-law) the window boxes are finally hung.  They look amazing and once the plants fill in, will look even better.  Here is a look at our house from the outside.

My dad laid the brick walk…he also has been the one to do all of our landscaping.  We are blessed to have such loving and helpful parents!

With all this heat and no rain our landscaping is looking a little crispy.

Our home is looking like a little cottage…which is what I love.

Thanks again to our two dads and thank you Justin for making our home have so much more curb appeal!

This past week has been busy.  The “For Sale” sign has been pulled from our front yard.  We have been rearranging our house.  We are taking the guest bed from Cora’s room, we are adding a day bed to our side room…and moving the TV in there.  (YAY!!!)  The window boxes (remember me blogging about them?) are built…thanks to Justin’s dad.  After the wood dries we’ll paint and hang them…I cannot wait to see how they look! 

Friday night Justin’s dad had an art show in Chattanooga.  If you did not already know this, my father-in-law is a very talented artist.  Emilie and Perrin met us at the gallery and we went to eat at a Japanese restaurant.   My mom was kind enough to keep Cora over night. 

Other news…I have a new piece of furniture I cannot wait to share.  I spent every evening last week painting furniture or potting flowers and putting fresh flowers in our house.

Cora continues to crawl and cruise.  She is now saying “Uh-oh,” “Hi,” “Mama,” ”dada,” and “Cora.”  I did not believe Justin when he told me she was saying Cora.  He has been trying for weeks to get her to say her name.  She and I play a game where I point to her and say “Cora” and she points back and says “Mama.”  Last night in the car I finally heard her say her name.  The whole car ride was “Cora, Cora, Cora.”  Every time I said “mama” she said “Cora.”  I had to admit to Justin that he was right…she is saying her name.  Hearing her say words is amazing. Oh, and the face is back…

And happy 4th of July to everyone! 

I’m hoping to have more time to blog this week.  Til tomorrow!

I was going to post a couple things but realized that the memory card is in Justin’s laptop which is at work.   No pictures today.  Justin has a meeting in Atlanta tomorrow.  Cora and I are going along because after the meeting is over, we are going to Ikea.  I really want to see and possibly buy one of these rugs…if they are available. We all know there is no relying on Ikea inventory to be there.

They are both much bigger than the rug we currently have in our living room.  Now that Cora is busily crawling around we would like a large area rug…one that is soft under her knees.  We have looked at softer, fuller rugs…but they happen to be at least $300.  These rugs are both $149.  In our stage of life with a crawling, drooly baby who leaves a little slime trail…we don’t need to spend much on a rug.  Since Justin works with for the carpet business and knows all that goes into making them he may not be impressed with Ikea’s quality.  So we’ll see whether we actually come back with one!

Oh…and before I forget.  A couple weeks ago I was on one of my favorite blogs and she posted a picture of this cute Norma Kamali dress.

Well, I looked on Walmarts websit (yes Walmart…they must be competing with Target because they are getting really cute clothes) and it was only available online.  I didn’t order it. Last week I was walking through the Walmart near my mom’s house and spied that dress hanging on display.  I snatched it up in black, tried it on…and it fits perfectly!  If you are like me and have wanted a long dress but they are always too short…this dress will work!  It is flattering, it’s long, you can dress it up or down and it only costs $15.

The living room is where we spend most of our time.  Since all our floors are hardwood, tile or laminate, Cora has few places to play comfortably.  There is a small patch of rug that she sits on in our living room.  I give her a giant basket of toys and she is happy.

The living room has been my most challenging room.  Even now, I still do not love it.  Nothing quite lines up and there are strange corners that just don’t make sense.  I am trying to learn not to obsess over such things.  I’ll try to show it from different angles. This is what you would see walking through our front door.

Going into our side room.

The view from our hallway.

To the kitchen.

There you have it!  It’ll change again…because it always does.  I’ll make sure to update when that day comes.

I  believe Cora may be the most unmotivated child in the world when it comes to physical activity.  She has been fussing lately because she cannot get around but she has no incentive to move on her own.  She lays her head down in rebellion when we try to persuade her to crawl towards an object. Poor baby has somehow mastered a backwards crawl…I often find her underneath the coffee table or straddling the leg of a chair. She can pull herself to stand but does not seem interested in learning to move from there.  She is a funny little thing.  I’m thinking she is laid back like both her parents…so she’ll learn to move when she’s good and ready.  Until then, I will be her form of transportation!

Last week Justin and I tried to give her lessons in crawling.  We started laughing.  What has happened to us?  We were crawling around the kitchen table hoping that maybe she would learn by example.  First time parents…

We are wrapped around her finger.

And she knows it.

Something else i have to share.  If you have an ACE Hardware near you and have not bought vegetables or herbs for your garden, they are 50% off!  I bought tomatoes, cucumbers, an assortment of peppers, basil, thyme, and parsley.

This weekend we are going to buy some window boxes.  We have give our house more curb appeal.  We considered shutters at one point but there is  one window that could only be fit with only one shutter.  Since we are still trying to sell our house we figured we may as well do something to improve its looks…and if we never sell?   We have some adorable window boxes.

I love these handmade ones.

But then I had these traditional white ones in my mind but our door is green so will probably have to paint them.  Our house is actually this same yellow.  If only we could have those shutters!

And I am all about this look for Christmas time!  I never knew window boxes could get me so excited.

I’ll make sure to post pictures of the finished product.

I love wicker furniture.  I think it makes any home look cozy and inviting.  Last year I started obsessing over having some wicker on our back porch.  Justin and I decided to have a yard sale to make some extra cash.  Once we had that cash in hand I began to search craigslist and was excited to find a set of white wicker for sale!  When we arrived at the house I was a little disappointed to realize it was weather proof wicker, not the real stuff.  I am one of those people who always wants the real materials.  (get that from my dad) But then my practical side kicked in…have you ever seen what happens to real wicker exposed to the elements?  It becomes dingy and begins to rot.  So we bought the “fake” wicker for a great price and took it home.

What I did not predict about the furniture was how much all the cushions would cost.  When I realized outdoor cushions are way overpriced and are generally palm tree prints.  I’m not into palm tree patterns so I started looking elsewhere.  I found the above green cushions on clearance at TJ Maxx.  They are washable and so much more my taste.  The striped pillows are from a yard sale…$2 for both!

I found the cushion for the couch at another yard sale.  It was also $2 and looked like this:

I covered it with a white sheet.

The wood chairs we have on the back porch are very dear to me as they were well used and well loved at our cottage.  I found these cushions on sale at TJ Maxx as well…They are currently wrong side up as the rain has stained them.  Anyone have a solution as to how I can clean them?

Blue has been my color of choice for the back porch which is strange…I don’t even like blue!  I guess it’s starting to grow on me.

The funny thing is the wicker obsession has not died.  I would love one more wicker chair to complete the set…but until that day, I am happy with what I have!

Wow, this weekend was something else!  I am talking absolute chaos.  Our house looked like a landfill…and still kinda does.  However, my husband, his dad, our brother-in-law and the tile guy accomplished a lot this weekend!  Our house looks amazing.  Here are some before and after pictures of what has been redone.

The porch before:

And After:

Our side room went from this concrete floor:

To this lovely tile:

Now I get the pleasure of spending my day cleaning the house and putting everything back where it belongs!  If only I had a maid.

This week has been busy and is only going to get busier.  I have to organize a bunch of clothes for a consignment sale.  The clothes are washed but all need to be ironed, pinned, labelled and properly hung.  Justin is going to start tiling our side room.  Not only is he going to tile our side room but he is also going to finish painting our porch and he and his dad are putting up a new fence.  All of this he hopes to have finished by Monday.  Needless to say we are going to have a very busy weekend.

Here is was the side room floor looks like now minus the strange shadow/light thing going on in this picture.  Soon this crack will be hidden.

The back deck is painted and soon the screened in porch will be the same color.

After the porch is painted I am going to have to clean all the cushions, pillows and the wicker.  Everything is so dingy after winter. I can’t wait to take pictures of the finished product!