Welcome to my kitchen, part 1

These first few pictures were taken the day we got our keys. We were just checking things out, and taking pictures...
The walls were a make shift sort of cardboard stuff that were glued onto the plaster walls behind them.
And the part of the wall at the top had SEVEN layers of wall paper on them!!! So when we started to tear the wall paper off, we realized that the whole wall needed to be taken down and replaced with drywall.
We thought this was an odd choice to put a GIANT shelf in this space...
until we moved it and discovered that THIS was why it was there:

Oh, just a big hole in the wall. This was once a door that connected a bedroom to the kitchen. WIERD!!
Here are a couple pictures of us still in the discovery stage of the massive project ahead...
And then came the DEMO...hours and hours of demo... seriously, Car would come home from work, and spend ALL night- usually til about 1am demolishing the lath and plaster walls. He would come home seriously BLACK, and it didn't wash off easily either- it took him about 40 minutes to scrub it off. Our great friend, Bryant helped a lot with the demo, too. THANK YOU BRYANT!!!

This is a picture of where the giant shelf was covering up the door- view into the boys' bedroom.
A picture of the glue and the laths (wood slats) just as you walk into the kitchen from the living room.
Another view into the boys' bedroom from the kitchen. We tore up the carpet in there and found pretty wood floors that we are going to refinish.
That is 100 year old lath and bits of plaster ceiling. (This is what it looked like after Car tore out the layers of wall paper and plaster ceiling) Pretty interesting actually.
This is the chimney that goes through the kitchen on the back wall/corner.
This is a pic of the last wall that needed to be demo'd

Another view from the kitchen into the bedroom. And to the right is the back door that leads to the laundry room.
Behind that sheet is the front room.
And a picture of the nasty lenolium that will soon be wood floors.

So, that's it! You thought you were going to see pictures of my cute decorated kitchen, right? WRONGO! We have now lived here for a week and a half, and the walls have now been drywalled, but we still have to hang the cabinets, then finish sanding, and put in the wood floor, then paint. But, I have to hand it to my husband for working SO dang hard!! He has laid the sub floor, installed the bottom cabinets, put in the sink (hopefully he will get it working today), installed most of the plumbing, framed and hung drywall, mudded the drywall, etc. It is getting there. But, if I have to live in a construction zone for too much longer, I think I might scream!! I haven't been able to cook, or wash my dishes for almost 2 weeks!! It's getting really old.

Sneak peek into my remodeled bedroom

I know I said I would post pictures like forever ago, and I didn't, so here is one picture, that shows just a peek of the massive overhaul we did on our bedroom. CLICK HERE to see what it USED to look like!!
After I put some pictures up and get my curtains up, I will post some real pictures of the whole room!

Bedroom Decor!

I bought some "accent fabric" for my fall colored bedroom and recovered the bench on my cedar chest, and also made a neckroll pillow complete with tassels to put on my bed!


This is a chandelier style hook that I hung all my neckalces and braclettes on! It really does look like a little jewelry chandelier!
And finally, I put this above my closet, so that I can see it before I fall asleep each night. It is an excellent reminder! Sometimes I accidentally look up at it, and then remember that I need to Pray!:)

New Decorations

Here are a couple new decorations that I added to my bedroom. I wanted to incorporate fall colors. I will be putting up a whole post later on with the makeover I did in my room! so stay tuned!
I painted this. JK!! I wish I did! I don't think it would be terribly difficult to do though. (Maybe I will attempt it sometime) I bought this painting at Bed Bath and Beyond. It was originally $140, but I got it for $15!!! That is a steal! Go me!
I got this wreath for $2.50! I seriously would rather have something in my home that I got for a great deal than something that cost me a million bucks. Is that weird?

Shadow Boxes

This is the shadowbox that holds my wedding head band, and some of the flowers from my bouquet! My Mom made this for me and gave it to me for my birthday, just a few months after I got married! I absolutely love it!
This one goes in Charlie's fisherman themed bedroom.
And this one holds Charlie's cute little blessing outfit that my Mom and Dad gave him. My sister, Marcie, made him the cute little boutonniere. I just love that!

Tribute to my Mom!

This picture is of my Mom as a little baby, being held by her grandfather. Amazing!
And again, this is my Mom as a baby, being held by her other grandfather. I love it!!
For mothers day this year, I decided to get some pictures of my Mom's childhood- the two above, and blow them up and frame them for her! Such a simple, yet very meaningful gift. My Mom is so great! She raised 6 kids (I'm the 4th), is a dedicated member of the Church, and is admired by many for the person she is. She is so talented also. Check out just a few of the quilts she has made, and documented on her quilting blog.
I love you, Mom! Happy Mothers Day!!
This picture is of the St. George LDS Temple. I love this picture for many reasons. My Mom's father took this picture on his honeymoon, but since I never met him (because he died before I was born), this picture says a thousand words to me- about him, about his faith, and about what he would have taught me, if I would have been able to meet him. I blew it up and it now hangs in my bedroom. I know this picture probably speaks a million words to my Mom as well, since it was taken by her father!

Vinyl Lettering Crafts

This one is still in the works. It is above my bed, and I have some other stuff to do to it before it looks how I want it to:)
Also in our bedroom. I tell ya, vinyl lettering is a RENTER'S dream!!
This is in my craft room. NO, I don't think I am a creative genius, but it is what I would like to aspire to someday!:)
The step stool that Charlie got from Santa. I spiced it up with his name and a little owl!
I gave my husband a kitchen herb garden for Christmas and I was shocked at how much he loved it!! I made little labels for each herb!

And I ordered the vinyl on this last project from The Letter Factory! I love it! I just put it on a pizza pan and hung it in my kitchen!
I got a CRICUT expression for Christmas, and I have been having a BLAST with it!! Especially cutting vinyl! These are just a few things I have been doing with it!

Remember this wall paper? I thought this would be the biggest project we had ahead...but as you see below this post, I was dead wrong. Yes, tearing off all that wall paper was hellish, and painting wasn't a treat, but it was nothing compared to our other projects.


Just after we had torn all the nasty wall paper off the plaster walls...

The odd closet, before it was painted.

STARTING to come together. My Dad is a painter, and he had this room primed in less than 45 minutes! He is SO fast!!
And here I am, painting my little heart out, while Car demo'd the kitchen and boys' bedroom, and the kids were screaming. FUN!!
It's a two toned room, with a white chair rail separating them. I will post pictures of the completed room when I get around to it!