It's Ok....

Linking up with
Amber & Neely @ A Complete Waste of Makeup for...It's OK Thursdays!

Here goes...

It's OK...

That I really wish today was Friday even though it's only a 4 day week to begin with!

That I'm excited to do NOTHING on Saturday besides clean and put up my Fall decorations!

That I didn't start running AGAIN this week...next week it's happening b/c I am starting a challenge at work and I'm the team captain...the captain can't fail!

That I drank almost a bottle of wine last night...I live in TX and the weather has finally gotten "patio" nice...so I sat outside and relaxed with a few glasses while my Honey cooked steaks!  YUM!

That even though I have a new house that I love, I still daydream about what I can do to make it even better!

That I don't have enough funds to do the above just yet!

That I'm probably going to sit out on my patio again tonight and have a few more glasses of wine...diet starts next week...gotta live it up!

That I don't take very good pictures.  I want to be one of "those" people that takes great pictures of their home and blogs about it and has a million followers...I've come to terms with the fact that it's never gonna happen!  And it's OK! :)

Enjoy....The Curvy Life!

 

My New Country Cottage Kitchen!

The first time we looked at this house I wasn't IN.LOVE. with the kitchen...but I definitely saw the potential it had.  I have always dreamed of having a country cottage kitchen and this kitchen had "good bones."  I knew the first thing that had to go was the drawer and cabinet pulls.  They were white with pinky flowers on them.  Nothing against them...but the cabinets are also white, however, not the same white as the pulls...it wasn't pretty!  I knew exactly what I wanted for the drawers and that I wanted something simple for the cabinet pulls.  I live about 45 minutes from a flea market that is open once a month...it's called First Monday Trade Days in Canton, TX.  You can get ANYTHING here...from a pot belly pig to, well, cabinet pulls!  I got the drawer pulls for $3 each and the door pulls for $1 each...which was good because I needed 27!  Next up, the paint had to go.  The granite in the kitchen is a dark green, which I liked but the green paint that was chosen for the backsplash just wasn't working for me.  I had a vision in mind...BEADBOARD!  I liked the idea because it's not something you see everywhere and it really went along with my "country/cottage" look.  I put my Dad to work on the beadboard...and while he was at that, he added lots of new plugs, which was a plus! Once the beadboard was all in place we took a cabinet door to Lowes and had them match the paint so that the beadboard and cabinets would be the same color...yeah, did you know that Lowes can do that?!?  B/C They can and it's AWESOME!! Then we painted over the rest of the green with the same color as I had chosen for my living room, it's Devonshire by Ralph Lauren (actually, I had Lowes match it in their Valspar brand). 

SO...enough of the details and on to what I know you really want...PICTURES!!

Here are several BEFORE pics (excuse the mess...we were painting the whole house, as well as re-doing the kitchen)

 See what I mean about the green??

 I also got a new faucet in the process!  This is the old one.

And the AFTER....

 Our lab Koopa wanted to help me take pics!

 Close- up of the beadboard and trim.

 More of the beadboard and trim.

a close-up of my $1 pulls!

I love the plate rack around the tops of my cabinets...and a cool story about the angel you see on the right...my families home burned down my junior year of high school.  This angel was hanging on a wall in a room that was very badly damaged by the fire.  The wall was covered in wallpaper.  When we went into the house after the fire the wallpaper had burned off, yet this angel was still hanging in her spot on the wall.  We saw this as a sign from God that we would make it through such a difficult time in our lives.  He continued to test us that year, but we made it through and are better people today because of everything we went through.  It's very true, God never gives you more than you can handle. 

Enjoy...The Curvy Life!

Linking up with...
A Diamond in the Stuff
Tuesday's Treasures at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
House of Grace
Savvy Southern Style
No Minimalist Here

Part Two - For all of you Before & After Lovers!

I have a confession...I'm absolutely NO good at taking pictures of my home.  I tried, really tried...I took about 500 pics...they just don't look pretty like the ones you see on the other gals decorating blogs!  I'm sad about this...but hey, practice makes perfect, right?!?  Hmmm...how MUCH practice!?!  You would think that 500 pics would be sufficient...not so much!!  Enough whining...and onto my pics! I promised in a previous post to show more pictures of my hutch re-do...so here you go...

I've linked up to my previous post (above) that has the paint and glaze colors...but in case you forgot...here's the before...

I tried to get close up so you could see the glaze detail.

Here you can see the chair we painted to match the back bead board.

Keep checking back...I will be doing a post soon on my kitchen before and after!!  Here's a little sneak peak...

OH...and yes, I have a candelabra on top of my hutch, minus the candles...I have two for it...I had a major brain freeze last time I was at Wal-Mart and only bought two tapers...KNOWING that this thing takes 3 candles!

Enjoy...The Curvy Life!

Linking up with
No Minimalist Here

It's OK....

I'm linking up with Neely for "It's Ok Thursday".  I'm new to this one...but it sounds fun, so why not.  So here goes...

It's OK...

That I haven't been blogging nearly as much as I'd like...I get home and don't want to do anything!

That I've fallen off the diet wheel...AGAIN.  I'm starting back on Monday, though.  It's truly a never-ending battle.

To not wash my hair for 4 days!  Gotta love that dry shampooo!

To put my fall decorations up when it's still 106 outside!  I just can't wait!

To want to look somewhat "Cute" while at the lake.  My momma ingrained in me not to "leave the house w/out my face on" and it's a hard habit to break...unless going to Wal-Mart, then I break it, a lot!

To shamelessly look at Facebook and Pinterest about every 15 minutes.

That I've had about 6 miniature Reese's PB cups for breakfast. (See, totally off that diet thing!) 

To sleep all day after a really fun night!

To want another tattoo...this one to be exact

To listen to Miranda Lambert, then Pistol Annies over and over and over again. 

. 

For All of you Before and After Lovers!!

Hey my blogger friends!  It's been way too long since my last post.  I've been super busy getting settled into my new house!  Which, by the way, I am totally, 100% IN. LOVE. with!!!  It's perfect!  More than I ever dreamed of!!  I have taken a lot of pictures of the new place but they're stuck on my dad's memory card, it's one of those big memory cards from like 5 years ago!  Geez...technology moves too fast for me and apparently my newer computer doesn't have time for those big memory cards, it only takes the small, dainty ones!  UGH! So, until we can find the cord that hooks up to the camera, there they are, stuck on that stupid card!  I have a few I've taken w/ my camera phone but they're just not the same as the ones taken w/ his Cannon Rebel!  Until I can get the photos...here's a little teaser of a before and after...I don't know about you but I'm a HUGE sucker for before and after pics!

My mom found this hutch at a garage sale...the lady had it marked at $200!  Way more than we were willing to pay...so after driving back by later in the day she noticed it was still there...the lady said "make an offer" and my mom offered $85!!  Sold...and that is how this story begins!

Here is the hutch before....

Which we found out, in the process of sanding and painting (or "destroying fine wood!" as my dad put it), that it's Ethan Allen (honestly, I didn't know it was a big deal but according to my parents it's nice, expensive furniture!) and made impressively well! So that was a plus!

BEFORE:

Here's the hutch after my dad painted it.  (I had him paint it b/c he has one of those fancy spray guns that car painters use so the paint goes on really smooth and pretty!)  The main color is Sherwin Williams Alabaster (I think, I can't really remember!), the blue is Behr Geyser from Home Depot.  The blue was just brushed on after the main color.

75% Done

We then took Ralph Lauren glaze in "smoke" to give it that "antique/rustic" look.

Who knows...I might decide to "rough her up" a bit by sanding off some of the paint, but for now, I'm loving her just the way she is!

AFTER:

I'm so pleased with the final result!! And, as you can imagine...the nick-nacks on it have moved and changed since this picture was taken!

I would like to give special credit to my mom and dad, without their help and guidance none of this would have been possible...oh yeah, and their sweat and hard work, too!

Linking up w/ "Wow Us Wednesday" over at Savvy Southern Style

Enjoy...The Curvy Life!

Home Sweet home...almost!

After months and months of looking at house, putting a bid on one, losing it and starting the search all over again we finally found the house!!  It could not be more perfect for us!  It is actually on the same street that I grew up on...a dream come true for me!  My Honey and I were actually driving one day and passed the street and I said "if a house on that street ever comes on the market, I want it!"  God definitely had His hand in this because the week after we found out that the "short...should be called LONG" sale was not going to work out the house went on the market and it was in the perfect price range for us!!  I was so excited I was shaking when I emailed my realtor about it.  My Honey, on the other hand wasn't too keen on the idea of buying a house that was built in 1964.  He has lived in several old homes and had bad experiences.  I was crushed but he agreed to go look at it anyways.  Once again, God knew what He was doing...My Honey fell more in love with the house than I did, you see, I was a little concerned over the no walk in closets and the w/d being in the garage.  But I just had a feeling that it was the one!  I dreamt about it that night and we went to look at it again with my mom and dad.  We were all in love!  We made an offer that day and they accepted a few days later.  We close on July 14!  We (actually just me) have a few things to do before we move in...a fresh coat of paint on the walls and cabinets and other little things but for the most part it's move in ready.  OH, except for the bathroom that has a baby blue toilet and royal blue tiles half way up the wall....but hey, who doesn't love a good DIY home project??  I know I'm excited!  Here are a few pictures of the home now. 

We love the huge trees!!  You don't get that with a new home!

This will be our TV/Media room...we will eventually say goodbye to that oh so lovely plaid wallpaper!

This mantel alone could have sold me on the house!

Another view of that fabulous mantel and the living room.

Living room again!  Love the HUGE window!

We are getting a enormous backyard...and yes, that storage shed stays too! 

The back porch is huge and perfect for all the parties we are sure to have!! :)

View of the back porch from the yard.

In only a few short weeks this beautiful home will be all ours!  We couldn't be happier!  God's plans are the best...sometimes it's easy to get impatient but like so many great friends told me through this process..."Good things come to those who wait!"  And oh man, were they right!!

I have a BIG favor to ask....

Hey everyone!  Oh man...I've been a bad, bad blogger lately!  I apologize but I got in a little bit of a funk because things weren't going quite as planned in the house hunting department!!  But this has all turned around and we just finalized a contract on our first home...and what's even better is that it's on the street where I grew up...a very small, quiet street that holds SO many memories for me and my family!  God truly had his hand in all of this and knew exactly what he was doing....even when I was starting to wonder...It's an older house, built in 1964 so guess what that means...renovation time!!  Actually, the two previous owners have done a few renovations here and there so we're not taking on a huge project but there are a few things left to be done...like the bathroom that has bright blue tile and a baby blue toilet...yeah, that has GOT TO GO!  So get ready...because I'll be blogging all the way through the fun renovations!!!

AND NOW...to that favor...Please check out this link to my precious nephews newborn pics and leave a comment so that the new mommy and daddy can get some freebies!!!