Hello! It has been such a busy month! So busy, in fact, that my dear sweet hard-working sister has so *kindly* mentioned that I have not yet posted to our adorable awesome blog! Well here goes the first attempt! We have so much to share!

 As September comes to a close, we are all exhausted from work, school, projects, and taking care of our two favorite little guys, Harry Dog and my little Elijah. We have been so busy transforming the spare room into a nursery!

Our plans for gorgeous gender specific nursery themes were foiled when Baby French decided to be stubborn at our big 20 week ultrasound. All looked perfect and I am so blessed to have a beautiful healthy baby. I have embraced the gender surprise after a great deal of disappointment. It will just be a bigger adventure. It does make planning a bit harder however.

 Now that the gender is going to be a surprise, we had to start back at square one. Good thing Auntie Robyn is so fantastic at anything involving design! I wouldn't have known where to begin! Robyn will be sharing a fantastic inspiration board chronicling what we have been envisioning for this little one's new space very soon and we will be posting updates as we put together the fabulous room. Of course we have some DIY projects in the works and will be posting about those as well. Fabulous and chic baby nurseries do not have to cost a fortune!!!

Here is our beautiful little one!

I was hoping to be able to schedule a gender reveal photo shoot with fantastic Aaron Reed Photography but since the baby's gender is a mystery we are going to settle with just our gorgeous bump announcements! Here is the link to his Facebook photo page where are pictures are displayed. I just love them!! I can't wait to schedule some maternity shots this winter and a family session once Baby # 2 makes their grand entrance!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.507905539235167.134811.128061753886216&type=3

I think I will tease you with some basic details about the nursery plans. We chose to paint the room grey (YES! Grey!). I know it sounds crazy but it is actually a trend in baby nursery design and a color that goes with basically anything. The hubby and Auntie picked a soft, cozy shade and it looks amazing on the wall! Paired with crisp, clean white trim, it will be looking like a baby room in no time. We have white furniture and many other sweet details to tie it all together. I am so excited! I am not sure what I would have done without everyone's help!

Here are a few "before" shots. The room was a butter yellow (which I hated as soon as we painted it years ago). We had to prime it so that the yellow did not show through our grey paint causing it to look purple. That would not have been good if we have another little boy! Elijah loves to paint so we set him up with a little paint area so that he could "help". It is looking so great!

Kyle has begun building the furniture and we are finalizing bedding options. I can't wait to see it all come together. I am sure after all my venting you can't wait either. :P

We are also experimenting with some yummy fall recipes we will share shortly. Thank goodness my appetite returned and the ALL DAY sickness finally subsided around 16 weeks. Now I can actually enjoy all the flavors of my favorite season as the leaves blaze into color and the air cools enough for scarves and sweaters!

Happy Fall!

Tanya

Hello again!

Hey there!

I must be getting ambitious, two posts in one week is quite unusual. Never fear, this will be a short one! Here are some before and after photos of the yard transformation for the fall. I was super excited to score 4 hosta plants for $3.98 at the Home Depot. It was an awesome score, which is exactly why I love end and beginning season sales! I never pay full price for Christmas or holiday decor when it goes on super sale after and before the season :) I also planted some mums in two colors. If we take good care of the baby plants they will come back for years to come. In the spring we will just need to clean up the flower bed, plant some annual blooms and re-mulch. Low maintenance is how I like my yard work.

Enjoy and Happy Autumn!

Before

After.

 How pretty right? The right corner is a little bare, we are planning on adding some kind of bush or arbor vitae in the spring. For now it will stay this way. Also on the right is was a large hosta similar to the one on the left, it is just healing and very small (fyi).

 

 

 

 

 

 Everyone helped out a little, even the hubster dug some holes for me! Elijah really enjoyed helping water the plants and digging in the dirt.

Welcome Fall!!

So, I know I have been going on and on about fall for the last couple weeks... but today was the official first day of fall! As sister's we have been slacking on posting new things, that is what happens when you get busy in the Autumn.

Here's the scoop on what we have been up to!

Tanya and her family are preparing for a new addition! This baby was a surprise and the surprises keep coming. Tanya will post more about this later. Nursery prep has begun and we are very excited. Tan's hubby and I are scheming together to make this nursery adorable AND affordable (sounds like a good slogan for a dream job company eh?). We will so be blogging about the nursery very soon, we promise :)

The hubster and I have been getting settled in and I am still waiting to get my RN license from the MI State Board of Nursing. In the meantime I am enjoying the blessings of fall and being near family! We have not made much progress in the room but the general transformation has been amazing! We will keep y'all updated and post a final picture when all my "pretties" are up. For now here is a before and after picture of the room.

 

Before

After! See the difference? Carpet, new paint and freshly painted trim, ceiling tiles! Yay. It is actually quite cozy.

We have also been working in the yard and getting the house ready for fall! It is very fall-y here at the house now. Pics of the yard will also be coming soon!

Here are a few shots of the hubster and Little E playing. Uncle was teaching him how to throw a frisbee and it was adorbs.

And this is why we moved back. This one image says it all and makes me feel all mushy inside :)

All three of my favorite boys :)

Blessings,

Rob

Fall is here!

Fall is here in the mitten! The cooler temperatures bring bonfires, scarves, boots and cider! Today was little E's first day of preschool, making it feel even more like fall.

 In celebration of the first day of school and the coming of fall (and not to mention a great sale) we decided to assemble a fall wreath for our door. Check out the full DIY tutorial here.

Meanwhile... In the Mitten:

An update about the MI bedroom from Tanya (August 23):

When we first began fixing up the three bedroom brick rancher we bought as our first family home, the basement was not a priority. We removed carpeting filled with mold and cat urine and took down moldy, smelly drop-ceiling tiles and scraped up chipping cheap linoleum tiles that were glued to the floor. We planned to complete the stairway paint job and do something about the actual stairs shortly after moving in but with a one and a half year old, a wedding to plan, and myself going back to school we ended up not finishing it. 

Our initial dreams for the house included completing the basement to use as additional living space. We envisioned a playroom area, separate laundry room, half bath maybe, as well as a living area for the hubby and his buddies to hang out. Our budget has not been conclusive to major remodels so all of these plans have been put on hold. That is, until my sister Robyn began planning ( I call it scheming haha) about all the awesome things we could do ourselves for less than what we would pay others to do. 

When Robyn and Aaron announced their plan to move back to lovely Michigan, it was only common sense that they would stay with us and that we would complete the partially finished room in the basement that was done before we moved in. Here we will chronicle the completion of their new living space and any other basement related projects. I cannot wait until the basement is clean, dry, and no longer a source for my dread and fear. (I often make my husband go down and change laundry when it is too dark out because I get freaked out. Plus there are spiders down there. I. Hate. Spiders. Enough said.)

 Here are a few pictures of the ugly stairs. Yes, they are ugly and yes, we will be fixing them very soon.

Basement stairs looking up.

Basement stairs and landing: yuck! Covering the 1960's mosaic tile asap!

The room needed some major work. Here are some images of what it looked like before. Mind you, this is after removing junk that had accumulated there and a couple of hours of cleaning and removing cobwebs.  You can see the 60's style tile (which we have been advised to only cover due to a risk that the tiles contain asbestos. So we decided to cover them with a classy looking pergo flooring. The walls were dingy, dirty, and faded. They definitely needed a coat of Killz to seal in odor, mold, and any other yuck that did not come off when we washed the walls. After the Killz coat we began painting with a light and warm paint color called Furry Ottertail (I know, weird right?) which brought a nice cozy hue to the room that was slowly starting to look like a living space and not a dungeon. Here are some shots of the room before.

Look at those floors, and blue trim! What were they thinking??

Good thing Robyn thinks panels give a place character and are shabby/cottage chic.

The basement had drop ceiling rails or racks in place that were still in good shape so we left them in tact. They are a little dingy. Even after a good soap down, they looked disgusting compared to the new white parts of the light we installed and I am sure with the new ceiling tiles they will look even worse. So we decided to paint them. Yes, paint them. It was easier with a sponge brush, as the paint did not drop or run as much. They look so much better!  (Picture of light and tile racks)

 The room has two corner shelves that we decided to leave in tact for decoration purposes. They were the same ugly wood that the doors in the room were so we freshened them up with clean, crisp white paint.

Corner cabinet before.

The main projects for the completion of the room included installing a light (the room is way too dark), hanging drop ceiling tiles, painting the walls, and laying a new floor. Upon beginning the project we found a section of the drywall to be wet and rotted causing unsightly bubbling. We called our Dad over, who removed a small portion of the wall and replaced it with a new piece. It was a quick job and the wall will look like new once sanded and painted.

In addition to painting the walls, and dealing with floors and ceilings we painted the doors white. They were a dark stained wood that made the room feel small and dungeon-like. The white made them look clean and new. If the budget had allowed, we would have replaced them as well.

More photos and an update will be posted soon! 

~Tanya