Happy Memorial Day!!!

Let me start by saying I LOVE 3 day weekends...there is no "ugh" feeling on Sunday night about Monday morning and I don't have to dread the sound of that alarm the next morning. And...this 3 day weekend was even better because when Memorial Day hits, school is almost out! There is no better feeling than to almost be done for summer.


We spent our Saturday (most of it) celebrating Blayke's 2nd birthday at Lana and Jp's house...and we stayed a little later than the party cause our ac crashed. Sweet.

Good thing they didn't mind us staying a bit later and playing. No rush to head back to a hot house. So we stayed, we played, we ate...it was a good afternoon and a lot of fun in the pool with this fam.

Riley, Cole (mid-yawn), and Reese

Misty and I!

The Carter Fam:

It would be an understatement if I said Cole didn't like the hot pink cupcakes. I think it's just cake in general- or sweets- anything baked he takes after his momma. I was so glad my camera was on it that afternoon as he just made a complete mess of himself.

I think he attemped to wipe off what was around his mouth and just smeared his whole face which left a pink fade and made him look kinda sunburned with pink lipstick.

...and yep, he had pink poo again the next day. Totally threw me for a loop. I had forgotten all about the red dye. Ha ha.

Cole LOVED playing with Misty on the float. She pushed him over to the fountain which overflows into the pool...constant entertainment for a little boy who loves the water.








He found his way to Chuck ( he would be Misty's other half- if you don't know...and super funny guy) too and they had a good time and gave mommy and daddy a break while we sat on the side of the pool. (We weren't actually lounging...more like going back and forth on the phone about the ac.)

My feet needed watering too...so cute. He got in, filled it up, crawled back out, walked over and watered mommy and daddy's feet, then repeated.
We spent the night in Tomball Sat night because our house was just unbearable with two kids and 2 doggies. We kept Bella, a Golden, while her parents floated the Frio.

So once we got the air fixed ( which turned out to be not a big deal, just the compressor saver) and made it back home on Sunday, the kids wound up in the pool in their clothes. What started as dipping feet turned into full out splash mode with Bella. Too bad we didn't put Cole in a swim diaper before it all started. Oh well, it was comical. Check out his diaper...down to his knees.

Both of our kids were soaking wet and were loving this...

I'm pretty sure Bella loved the attention too- we can't seem to keep her out of the pool so I guess the kids figured why not join her? I love her expressions I caught.

Monday was sweltering HOT and we spent a while out back eating popsicles and watermelon. Yum-o. We strippedoff our shirt and let him go at it.

My kiddos love watermelon...

Our weekend was pretty relaxing overall and summer is just about here...today was the last day of school and yes, I cried. More tha once. Some of those kids who left were some I had 2 years in a row and it was not so fun saying good bye. I truly will miss them as they go to jr. high...and while I am partly sad the year is over, I am SUPER happy to home with my own babies.

The kids start MDO tomorrow for summer and I know they are going to enjoy going to church "school". Hopefully Cole adapts to it well. Stay tuned...I plan on being busy this summer! ( It's not like they are going to let me sleep in anyway. HA).

Flip this House!

Well, this is going to be a rather LONG post but hang with me... I have lots to share... I have wanted to do this post for a while, pondering it many times, and then always posting usually about just what's happened recently. This is what's been happening at our house over the last 5 years. It's a before and after of our house...


When I saw this house on HAR I wanted it. The pool immediately got me. We looked other places and other neighborhoods but always came back to this one...we love the neighborhood- our street is super quiet...no one comes down it really unless you live on it...and well, we saw potential.

I'm going to make a general disclaimer before all of this and state that wherever I say we, I mean Brian and Steve. Those two have beenthe ones behind these pics. I personally had no hand in any of this hard work except changing paint colors and well nit picking along the way.

It's been fun, stressful, and exciting to see how far this house has come...

So here we go....the before and after's....

This is our pool- looks very inviting....yep, I saw myself in it right away.

Until you look closer and see this...the entire pool had to be re-plastered...upon move in. The owners dyed the pool that awesome blue you see above. That was not the water color- the dye clogged up our DE filters and everything was blue making it hard to see what was beneath.

So it was fixed asap and is now better. I just didn't include the pic. There are so many better things.

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You probably remember the mailbox incident in which our trash co. just cracked it right through- thank you so much. I really didn't like that mailbox!

So we had it rebuilt in limestone....

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Let's move inside.....

here is our master bath BEFORE: Take note of the two different types of wallpaper...ugh. So we stripped it and had to re-texture the walls. Then paint. Then I decided I didn't like the paint color I chose- not quite what I was going for...so it got re-painted to what you see below. ;)

We took out the fur down and panel lighting and huge mirror and changed it...

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The gameroom upstairs before:

And now...not too many changes aside from the peach colored paint and old carpet....

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My sweet Roo Bug's room before:

I have to take a moment and explain the walls- they were the 70's linen "grassy" wallpaper (ugh) that was painted that very nice lilac hue, then re-wallpapered on top (double ugh) with the brick pattern. Now, how many of you want that in your rooms? I know, your jealous, right!?

We did not strip this wallpaper- no way...we ripped off the walls and re-did everything down to the studs. (I wish I had the pics but I lost them when my old laptop died. Behind her room is a HUGE attic space which could easily be an office or extra bedroom.)

Brian and I really wanted scripture for her wall so we chose Jer 29:11

She had bi-fold doors on her closet and so we ripped them out and a friend gave us these....(please excuse my son who worked his way into the pic).

Basically everything got re-modeled in her room.

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The half bath in the LR before:

I LOVE red! (please excuse the demo from the tile- it's still not all put back together) It looks orangy-red here but it's barn red.

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The upstairs banister - which got replaced as a side job to the sagging ceiling we had caused by the AC and water heater in the attic. The banister was wobbly and unsafe... and I had visions of it letting loose and the kids falling.

After:

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The living room before:

you also might remember a blog entry about that old back door....

Here's the boys when they laid the wood floors- took them nights during the work week and the weekend too.

And the fireplace cover is now black...

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The formal living room- just behind the main LR.

Before:

After:

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The dining room- I think this room takes the cake for best decor! I did end up selling the lovely glass chandelier at a friends garage sale for a whopping $5...and the green rose carpet I gave to a lady that wanted it for hers. To each his own....

C'mon ya'll! You know you dig the mirrored walls....although it did make the room look pretty big

We got rid of everything...mirrored walls, lovely green rose textured carpet, and yep, you guessed it...wallpaper- but just a border in here. 2 of them.

Now this room is the kids toy room...so imagine it...this isn't the most up-to-date pic. The floors are painted concrete but will have wood eventually.

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This is Cole's room before:

I went with a cars and trucks theme...which suits him (and his daddy) very well. We got rid of the wallpaper border, re-insulated the walls which meant also new sheetrock, and then added crown molding and carpet.

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The famed fruit kitchen! Before:

There was wall paper floor to ceiling and it was fruit! Grapes, pears, whatever....everywhere! Had to go right away. This was one of the very first things we tackled after moving in.

There's that old dining room again in the background...

This is the way the kitchen was for the first four years after the wall paper came down and we finally got to paint. (5 layers ya'll in the kitchen. That's one of the biggest surprises of this house- just when you think you get the paper off- there's more!

But I got tired of it and thought it was too "cold" feeling with the grayish color on the wall and I wanted to warm it up and re-paint and the lack of curtains always bothered me too. I thought Brian would adamantly refuse since painting is about his very least favorite thing to do....but he didn't. We re-painted just before Thanksgiving last year...now it is a warm mocha and I LOVE it.

We demo-ed all the laminate a couple days before the tile was laid... and while I didn't mind the laminate itself, I HATED the color. I could not keep it clean and it showed everything. I despised cleaning that floor. Thank you to Sears for flooding my laminate floors because they forgot to re-connect the hose on the back of my washer during repairs!!

We picked 18 x 18" tile and had it laid diagonally...

AFTER!

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The kiddos bathroom...

Not even close to being the worst room in the house, but we tore the painted wallpaper off the walls early on after moving in and just didn't quite get back to finsihing it...along came Riley and Cole. And you already saw their rooms so that took priority. Here we go-

Of course, we wouldn't have been able to accomplish much with out the help of this little boy...and he even wore his "safety goggles".

BEFORE:

Notice the "fur down" which that big piece of empty space above the lights. Notice the long 70's lighting. Notice the wallpaper, which was painted over to a wonderful huw of peachy-brown! Oh yes, they painted over wall paper.

Good bye! We won't miss you!

A much improved way to brush your teeth! ( btw, it was painted by Brian first...then I really didn't lilke that color green we first chose, so... I had to repaint it all by myself the 2nd time. He would NOT help. HA HA. It was worth the re-do.)

BEFORE:

AFTER!!!

No more 70's ugly brown everywhere! ( No we did not replace the tub- we had it re-plastered which is the way to go if you have a cast iron tub you do not want to get rid of it. Plus, do you know how much it costs to replace a cast iron tub? WOW!)

So, we've been here for 5 years and have come quite a ways from the 70's/80's decor faux pas. There have been many days and nights and trips to Lowe's...many friends and family members who helped us rip wallpaper. It's good stress relief! ( I think though sometimes it made me more frustrated bc behind one was always another layer...and we still have one room left that has it!)

We most definitely could not have done ANY of this without my amazing father-in-law who has dedicated many, many hours to this "project" we call home and for that we are forever grateful. He has poured his blood, sweat, and well, maybe not tears, but very hard work into this house.

Everywhere you saw wallpaper and walls that are now painted are only so because of his talents. He has re-done all of those walls...and some I did not include. He has helped us with wiring, demo, baseboards, crown moulding- you name it, I'm sure he has been a part. So truly, I have a huge appreciation for all of it.

My amazing hubby Brian has done a LOT of the work too and so they, together, deserve the credit. Thank you both for putting up with me and my OCD when it comes to minute details, evenly painted lines, and who knows how many more complaints ( I mean, suggestions) I had along the way!

Stay tuned...there are many more things that will eventually get done around here...