Abilene house photos

So, I guess it is about time to share some photos of my new house.  There are still plenty of decorating projects to be done, but here are some shots that give you a glimpse....

kitchen (from the laundry room)

master bedroom

master bedroom

guest bedroom

office/secondary guest room

living room

living room

living room/dining room

living room

laundry room

Ten on Ten - March 2013

I'm finally in my new house.....so enjoy some peeks.....maybe one day soon I'll have time to take real photos and give you all a full tour of the house.  :-)

after 6 months of transition, finally back in my own bed!

one view from the couch in my new house

doing the first real loads of laundry in the new house

8 foot ladder now hangs on the garage wall

spent part of the afternoon switching out traditional incandescent flood lights for more sleek, energy efficient LED  recessed lights

my fancy new tech-y thermostat.....still learning how to use it, but I LOVE being able to control it from my iPhone

shelves assembled in the garage for a place to keep up with the sorted recycling

finally stopped for leftover BBQ chicken pizza from Schlotzsky's

catching up on money stuff and NCIS:LA

one of my favorite springtime sweet treats - I *try* to limit myself to these only at Easter time

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Ten on Ten - February 2013

Well, I tried.....but only got 7 photos today.  Started off the day at church and then busily working to unpack in my new house (more photos and a virtual tour to come!) just kept me distracted from pulling out the camera.  Maybe I need to set a timer next month?

box o' jewelry.....ready to have this reorganized so I can see what I have!

yummy breakfast - cooked for me by my daddy....sure am going to miss that when I am in my own house again!

sweet nieces at church

tostada....yum (olives to the side to give to Emily!)

many boxes to unpack!

first of many piles of packing paper heading out to the trash

two casualties of the move - and these were packed by the movers, so I'll definitely be filing a claim

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Kitchen Backsplash Project

When I bought my house, one of the things that sold me on it was the kitchen.  Beautiful black granite countertops, high end stainless appliances and great cabinet space.  However, the backsplash was always just .... meh.  Not awful, but not great. And the one thing that made it even worse, the prior owners grouted in the switchplates when they installed the backsplash. Not the right way to do it, but not enough reason to rip out the tile.....UNTIL one of the switchplates fell off and I had no way to put it back up.  

before.....basic 4x4 tile.

before

the infamous grouted switchplate

and the one that fell off....which started the whole project

I finally decided it was time to remedy the situation and contacted my friend David who has done quite a bit of other work for me in the past.  He was pretty busy, but willing to squeeze me in on weekends and evenings if I was willing to be his helper.  So, I took him up on the opportunity to learn a bit about tiling and to save myself a little money.


Spent hours and hours online looking at photos of kitchens and finally settled on mini subway tile. (did you know Home Depot will check out a tile board and let you bring it home to see the tile at home?) 

So, one Saturday a few weeks ago, David came over bright and early and we got down to the business of demolition.

Ended up having to take it down to the studs.....the tile just didn't want to let go of the existing sheetrock.  While the studs were open, I took the opportunity to write scripture in the walls as I also did when we remodeled the master bathroom.

After a full day of demolition, we ended with fresh sheetrock and plans to tile later in the week.

Over the next two weeks, one night at a time, we tiled one wall, then the other, then grouted. Here are a few shots of our progress.....

first tiles going up!

sink wall completed - waiting on grout

stove wall completed - waiting on grout

stove wall grouted!

sink wall grouted!

And finally, new outlets, switches and switchplates installed and everything put back on the counters!

the finished product!

the finished product!

So happy to have it all done!  Living in chaos for 3+ weeks was about to drive me nuts. But it was definitely worth it.

Laundry room mini-makeover

I've been struggling with a messy laundry room for a while.  While I am very thankful to have a laundry room, it is a strange shaped and very awkward room.  The main issue was, as my mom pointed out when she was here before Christmas, my shelves were way too small.


Here is the before....yikes!

The during......that box was way harder to open that it should have been! 

stuff spread up and down the hallway.....

.....and the after!  Much larger shelves fill the space better and make more room to spread things out and store like with like.  And even room if some things from elsewhere in the house need to find a new home in here.