Finally Finished

Okay, so this post, is just about one and a half weeks old... but let me tell you what happened. The night before I was suppose to post this finished product post, my computer broke. Yes that if correct. And for those of you who know me, I work from home on my computer. Needless to say, it was a terrible night which lead to a few days of anxiety and panic. And then two weeks later, here I am.... all in one piece - How does God do it? Everytime I am certain my world is caving in, He makes everything perfect again. I am blessed beyond measure and completely undeserving of His love and grace.

So let me try to pick up where I left off, just around two weeks ago....

I was about to unveil the finished, empty house. Well mostly empty, our parents helped us move a little before they left.

Now, right after they left, we pulled both of our cars into the garage. This is David's very FIRST time to have a garage spot, that is all his! I think he cried a little...

Back to the inside of the house. This was the kitchen... all painted and finished and beautiful.

If you can remember this is the cabinet that David fixed after taking down the three cabinets above the bar. Now, TELL ME THAT DOESN'T LOOK GOOD. David and my dad did a great job!

I forgot to show this before it was fixed, but we had the most disgusting mess of baseboards and water damaged nastiness behind our washer and dryer area. And of course my dad, the genius, made it look absolutely lovely. If I would have even known it was going to be this good looking, I would have taken a picture before he fixed it. Thanks dad!

Then there is the fabulous living room... Just looks awesome.

And David's Room, as we call the room with the TV and one day an AWESOME sectional.

The guest bathroom looks fantastic all red and stuff.

And then there is my office. And yes, I am still in love with the green. How fun is this chair David's grandmother gave me over a year ago? Love it.

Now this is the awesome Magnet board I got from Susan for Christmas. I am so excited to use it. I just need to figure out where to hang it...

And this is the fun Christmas gift I got from Holli. Another thing I cannot wait to hang. I love this thing. Shelves, clear jars... ribbon... it is perfect.

My office.

I hope you saw the chair. $5. That is right. It is ligit.

Our bedroom. Love the blue. LOVE IT. I am serious.

Awesome closet. So thankful for the extra shelving and rod! Thanks David!

This my friends, is our tiny little bathroom. Another blue... that I love. I was skeptical. This was one of those decisions I made to appease David. But it is awesome, so glad we went with this darker blue in the bathroom!

And our mirror. Have you heard about this thing. My wonderful mom bought it for me, because she knew how badly I wanted it. It was one of those deals, you just could not pass up.

It. Is. Huge. I mean big. But how awesome is it? I think that every girl needs a big, full length mirror. You HAVE to check yourself out before you leave the house. I mean often times for me, I just need to check and make sure I look as sloppy as I do. Check. And I am off. That is all, just making sure. If you do not have a full length mirror in your house. Go. Go and get one right now.

Oh and we are going to hang it on the wall and mount a light above it. Yes. This thing is important.

This is our front door. It is very nice, just ask our parents. They told us it was a nice door. More than once. Too nice to paint apparently.

And our guest room. This is where you will stay if you come and visit. (And you should.) Don't worry, we will get curtains. We did not realize how stinkin' big this room was, until we put the bed in it. Looking for a fun chair to go in the corner... let me know if you are giving one away!

And now people, you must know what my incredible husband did for me. I really wanted to replace the electrical outlets and light switches throughout our entire house. (Did I mention that I am a perfectionist?) They were that ivory color that look really yellowish and brown. It wouldn't have been too big a deal, etc. that up against that wainscoting, it looked SOOO noticeable.

So we looked into it once, shortly after we had started this project and it seemed like a pain in the butt, so I dropped it. For a few days. Then I brought it up again. And then without telling me, David bought a few to experiment with. And he did it. They looked so good that he even knew we had to do them. So he replaced them all. ALL OF THEM. Like I think 40 outlets and 20 light switches, some cable, telephone outlets, etc. It was a big job. And he did it. It took like 4-5 nights. But he did it. And they look awesome. Here is a picture to show you the difference:

So now when you come to our house, you won't even hardly notice the outlets. But I want you to. Yes... look for the electrical outlets and comment on how good they look. Because they do.

David is the best.

Okay, well I guess that is all for now, but before I go... I must say Thank you to some very important people that made this entire project possible...

Thanks Mom and Dad.

Thanks Susan.

You guys are the best. NEVER would have accomplished all of this with out you guys.

Now the truth is... We are much further along at this point, in fact we moved in this weekend (Feb 6) But I will have to upload those photos later. This post has taken alot longer than I had intended!

Round Three - Saturday

This is where it starts to get good. Now I have to admit, I was a poor photographer on this day and so many of the jobs are not documented, but I will fill you in and catch you up to speed with my long-winded wit!




Susan drove in and arrived in town before I was even awake. This woman is amazing. I'll tell you, she blows me away. Get her some coffee and breakfast and she can go all day... occasionally all night too! What a great mother-in-law she is to me. I could not be more blessed by my in-laws!

So we got started early. Ran a few errands in the morning, picked up some paint from my new favorite local paint supply store, Spectrum. They are so friendly and helpful, I would highly recommend them to anyone starting on a painting project. You will not be disappointed, but be aware: they close at noon on Saturday. Don't let their "contractor's" hours, stop you from getting work done. I made that mistake and it is so frustrating!

My mom went right to work, she was in the kitchen hard at work, finishing those places we had missed the day before. I love her for this, I cannot seem to stay focused, but she always does. What a huge help, I was so tired of that kitchen. Thanks Mom!!


My dad was hard at work on the cabinet faces and drawers. I think he started the day with like 12 to finish and by the end of the night, he had finished them all!

I think I asked him to do like 73 things throughout the day, I would pass by a place that needed to be caulked or touched up and I would point it out and a few hours later, it was finished, along with something else, I had not even noticed. He is good. Real good.


David was gone for the first part of the day, working, his "real" job. But when he arrived, he had his work cut out for him! There were plenty of cabinets ready to be hung. And as you have figured out by now that always comes with plenty of detours and hang ups!

Then he and my dad finished off the end cabinet. This cabinet has been a concern since the project begun. When we ripped out the cabinets above the bar, it left a "problem" cabinet. But David did a fantastic job fixing this cabinet and making it look "normal" again. Compare to the ugly duckling story - happy ending! I am not even sure how it all came together, but by the end of Saturday we had one great looking cabinet. And I am pretty sure he impressed the genius again. [This does not happen frequently.] Now I just need to find cute little baskets to fit on these shelves! Suggestions?



My mom and I spent most of the day in the closets, painting, cutting in and touching up. It was definitely not a "high priority" job, but important to me. In fact, I have been told by many people that the closets were "not a big deal," "don't worry about them," "don't spend too much time on them," "do them later on, after you move in" etc. But they were a big deal to me. I wanted to move in all of our stuff to a clean and freshly painted house. And my mom seemed to be the only one who COMPLETELY understood that and even AGREED with me. (That didn't happen all the time either, people agreeing with my decisions, that is.) But it was awesome to have so much help with those; her and I and Susan tackled those closets and finished them. Actually they did most of the work on those closets. I had to meet a bride for a wedding consultation and when I came back, I could not believe how little there was left to do.


Oh yes and one thing that I have failed to mention throughout this entire "house story", is the amazingness of my mom. Umm... everytime she came up to help, she brought tons of food. I mean not just food, but she brought dinners, lunches. At home she would spend her "free time" making food for the weekend. She would prepare it, freeze it, pack it and then bring it down, so that we would not have to leave the house in the middle of the day to get food. There it was, hot out of the oven and ready for us to eat. Burritos, hot dogs with chili, you name it. oh and cookies... yes please. She is the best mom EVER. Ask any one of my friends... they love her. She bakes incredible treats and meals that only a fool would turn down. Am I right?


Susan did an incredible job cutting in and touching up some rooms that still needed that special attention. And she helped out in the closets also. I am not sure how Susan did everything she did....

I do know that she has one INCREDIBLY steady hand. I think that every room and ceiling in our house has been touched up by her! Maybe it's a left hand thing, I am not sure, but she is just darn good at that. And the most wonderful thing, is that she does not seem to mind, she always volunteered and did the BEST job. Thank you so much Susan, our house looks like a professional paint job, thanks to you!


So here we go... CLEAN UP...



that's right on Saturday night before we left, we cleaned up the entire house. We removed all of the drop clothes, blue tape, and random trash bags. Vacuumed the entire house, swept the floors. I. Mean. EVERYTHING.


Susan and my mom cleaned the grossest things from this kitchen. My kitchen will NEVER be as clean as it is right now, thanks to these two incredible moms! I'm telling you, they both keep such clean houses at home that I should have known this would happen.

I am so blessed that we got to the cleaning point. Because if we had not, my kitchen would have never been what it is now - pristine! Nothing like a clean kitchen.

My mom cleaned cobwebs from the vent in the hood above our stove top. How does a spider live there? It looked like new when she was finished.


David started hanging the outlet covers!



As we were cleaning my dad decided to fix something that was not perfect and I am so greatful he did. I know that I get my perfectionism from him and I absolutely LOVE that about him. He does each project perfectly, I mean everything, every little project. So... I had painted the hutch counter top and had planned to do a perfect Steve-quality-job, but it was not smooth like I had hoped. I pointed it out to him early in the day and at the end of the night, he took on the huge project. Sanded down the top and repainted it. NOT FUN. And it is 100 percent better, hardly any scratches, knicks, bumps, etc. Thanks dad.

Okay, as I said at the beginning, few pictures, lots of words. Look for the final post tomorrow, our finished and clean house. Hold your horses.

Oh ya, we love our family.

Round Three - Friday

Friday night... deep breath...okay here we go.

My parents arrived around 7 pm, again amazing... left straight from work, grabbed a quick bite to eat on the road and showed up at our door as soon as they possibly could have! Can't believe it.

So we put 'em to work.


My mom and I had another HUGE job. I had tried so hard to paint the cabinet faces in the kitchen, pantry-laundry room combo that I could, but there is just so many cabinets. So my mom and I set out to finish that on Friday night. And we did! Thank goodness. So my mom... can I stop for a minute to tell you how incredible this woman is? She works so hard at everything I asked her to do. And so many times I didn't even ask her, she just found the next project and got after it. She is so detail oriented and I think there is even a bit of OCD, perefectionism in her. Under cabinets, on the floor getting baseboards, that hardly anyone will ever see.... there she is. We spent a while in the pantry-laundry room combo painting and it was really fun. We laughed alot. I definitely get my sense of humor from her! oh yeah and my good looks!


Meanwhile, my dad had taken some cabinet doors to Texas to have them fixed to fit properly with the new hinges. I could go into details, but I would have to make up alot of stuff and pretend to know what I am talking about, but instead I just trusted the genius. It worked well, but not perfect, always acting on the safe side, we did not have the people remove enough edge on the wood, so that left another "project" for the guys to fix. And this is where I get to tell you how amazing my husband is. He took on the task of making these doors fit and did alot of measuring and drilling new holes and was able to make all of these unique doors fit perfectly! He did such a great job, I think he even impressed the genius a little bit!


They were not excited about stopping for the camera, not sure if you could read that on their faces or not?


As I mentioned in the last post, my brother finished all of the drawers and did alot of little things I was so tired of doing. He had his share of contact paper to rip out of a drawer also. He too is amazing. Pretty much comes over, every opportunity we give him and lends a hand... agin for no reason. I think he likes us...


He started painting these shelves that go in our closet. Pretty boring job.

That is about it, we tried to get out of there early, but we didn't. They are such troopers!

Thanks mom and dad, I love you

Almost there....

This post is going to update you on what we did last week, after our parents left on Sunday evening and before they returned again on Friday evening.. YEP that is right, our amazing parents came back to town for ROUND 3!

I am telling you, David and I have the Best Parents IN. THE. WORLD.

Who else would selflessly give us 3 out of 4 weekends, to do TONS of manual labor, for absolutely NOTHING in return. That is right, we didn't even have to buy them food, in fact normally they bought us food!? I guess that is such an incredible picture of God's love... we absolutely do not deserve their love, generosity, kindness and help... but they love us SO much that from their overflow of LOVE we are so blessed by them. Their kindness seems to never end, even when I was short, irritated, frustrated or needy, they continued to love us. WOW! I could go on and on and trust me, I will, but for now, I want to prove that David and I DID work when they were at home. I have pictures to prove it:


While they were here last time (Round 2), we had run out of cabinet/trim paint and so I had set myself up for a BIG job. I needed to paint as many of the cabinet doors as I could before they returned. Let me tell you there are almost 40 cabinet doors in the kitchen and living room and 3 of them are over 3ft tall, so this was no small task. Not to mention we had to paint both sides and give the front side two coats. Each coat took at around 5-8 hours, with prepping, painting and drying.


These are the first set that were finished, my dad and I started them during ROUND 2 and I finished them after he left.


I have to brag on David quite a bit here, he picked out the handles and knobs and they look so awesome, I was convinced we could find ones we liked for cheaper, but I was WRONG and I am so glad he was RIGHT. They are exactly what we wanted. He was also in charge of adding the hardware and making them fit, which again was no small task. That ended up being another project in and of itself. But if was all worth it, they look phenomenal!


I had finished about 28 of them before my parents arrived on Friday evening. In between coats, I would head to the kitchen to paint the faces of the cabinets... yuck. I am glad we have a big kitchen with lots of storage, but this week, I hated it. It took so long and I had to be so careful, no streaks, no drips, full coverage, lots of drying time, it was quite a mess!


My friends, Aimee and Lauren started priming our drawers. And let me tell you, that Aimee, she ripped out all of the wallpaper/contact paper in the bottom of one of the drawers. We had given up on it a couple of weeks ago, but she would not. Thanks Aimee, now I am not laying in bed at night worrying about the contact paper we painted over in one of our drawers.


David found a ceiling fan for our bedroom and hung it by himself one evening...not sure how he did that now that I think about it....hmmm? but he did! I love him. :)


My mom painted our closet before they left during ROUND 2, so this is what it looked like when they left. While they were gone, David did some more carpentry work and added a shelf across the top. More shelving in our closet is definitely necessary.



This was basically the look when my parents arrived on Friday evening. Starting to look finished!

Get ready... it will only get better from here.