in bloom

Our yard is in full bloom and it's almost summer! Over this past weekend we spent a lot of time working in our large yard. I really enjoy gardening and yard work so it was a lot of fun.

My window baskets have never looked better.

With the help of Dusty's parents, we created a shade garden in our backyard. It's not a garden with flowers- just shade loving plants like hostas and astibles.

Dusty is modeling how to walk on the new steps as he waters. (Gunner's always getting his butt in our pictures).

Now if only we could figure out what to do with the rest of our backyard.

Da Roof!

Old Roof...

...New Roof!

living room makeover

I'm finally getting around to posting some pics of our living room. It has undergone a huge transformation since Dusty started work on it in July.  (The "before" pictures are at the bottom of the post.)

I thought today would be a good day to take pictures since the sun was out and the room gets great light at this time.  If only my camera could really capture the true light.

Just imagine Dusty sitting on this couch playing xbox live with Chris, Ben and Andy for countless hours.  

We added a light and took out the ceiling fan to modernize the joint.  We didn't really need the fan since we have A/C.

The carpet doesn't look like it was in that bad of shape but some of our renters had pets and we also had a dog.  It just makes it easier with the floors we put in now.

The wood stove is no more.  Someone actually bought it off us (and they picked it up) for $100 off of craigslist.  Who would have thought? Where the stove was is now one of our hutches and a tall table. 

Surprise by Tree

I came back from Seattle on Friday evening and Dusty had a surprise waiting for me.  He got us a tree!  We had initially planned on not getting one this year since we will be out of town for the last 2 weeks of December.  Dusty couldn't resist though.  

Merry Christmas!

our guest lavatory

Any guesses on which one is the "before" and which picture is the "after"? 

This was probably one of the easiest home improvement projects that we did.  Most of the changes were cosmetic.  

Oh ya, I forgot that as we were bringing home the new vanity from The Home Depot, the whole thing fell out the top of the box onto the busy road.  It broke into a million pieces.  Dusty turned around the truck and pulled into the center turn lane.  I put on the emergency flashing lights so oncoming motorists wouldn't hit him or the vanity pieces.  Also, it was night and the store was closing.  We were too steamed to go back to the store that night and ask for a new one.  The HD did decide to give us a new one since the box wasn't secure and since they loaded it into our truck.

my latest sewing project

This weekend I made some floor cushions.  I got the idea from the Amy Butler Sewing Kit I bought myself months ago.  Our floor really needed cushions since our area rug isn't the most comfy thing to sit on.  The cushions provide more seating for potential Office parties or football fun.

Dusty really loved the fabric so I need to think of other things I can use the scraps for.  Any ideas?

Remodel- The Demo

As most of you know, Dusty is living in Boise to prepare for the new school year. He's going to be a 2nd grade teacher at a school close to the center of the city. On top of that, he and his parents are remodeling our house. The house was built in the early 80's but also has wonderful hints of the 70's. Here are some pics of the remodel so far.

Here's a before picture of our kitchen. We are planning on repainting the cabinets white and adding some hardware to their faces.

We also decided to take this cabinet out since it opens up the kitchen space. We don't need the storage since the wall across from the windows has a large pantry.

Doesn't that look better already?

I was sweating trying to rip off our current trim with a crow(sp?) bar.

Our living room had a large wood-fire stove. We decided to take it out for a few reasons- 1) it took up lots of space, 2) it's not modern 3) it doesn't burn clean.

This was not an easy task for the guys.