While the builder was working outside, we kept ourselves plenty busy inside! Buck and Graysen got the old track blinds removed and the new ones set in place. You may recall I had painted them from their lovely minty green when we moved in to match the brown accent walls. However, I got REALLY tired of painting blinds, and decided to leave the splattered white/brown on the other side :) When the track started pulling from the wall though, we decided it was time for a total upgrade. Good work guys!




Another major kitchen project . . . refinish the table! There's no way that you remember this, but when we bought the table from our little regional K-mart-ish type place back in our last hometown, we'd had it about two days when our kids' babysitter let them paint their nails on it. It splashed polish remover on the surface, and we've had a lovely whitish spot ever since :/ Buck and the boys decided to take care of that--first by dumping our current nail polish removers over the surface--didn't work, can you believe that?! So, then they did some sanding, then they got the finish remover and gooped that brownish-looking varnish right off of there!

"It looks like gross apple sauce," said the boys :)

We're painting it blue to match the walls, so cute! I think the chairs are getting spray painted black to match the legs of the table. We've never had a matching dining room set before, so this is exciting stuff!!

In the meantime, I was busy unpacking my photo wall. I guess that project wasn't as far away as I thought! For about an hour, I pried the frame stands off the backs of dozens of pictures in hopes that they won't always swing sideways when nailed upon the wall. I tried several different arrangements on the living room floor . . . and then measured and realized my designs were bigger than the wall . . . oopsie!

If there was a list of things that Buck dislikes when it comes to home improvement and decorating---hanging pictures would be scribbled at the bottom and crossed out five times. But, he is a sweet husband and he very patiently, for several hours (we took a few Alaska show breaks throughout the evening) hung pictures for me in the kitchen! My picture wall is back! And BIGGER than ever :)






Oh, and one more project got started--chipping the tile backsplash out of the bathrooms to prepare for new countertop installation! The countertops are not really an upgrade in anything but color (farewell baby blue and purple!), but I think they'll look really nice once we get them put in place :) And again--pretty much all we've purchased so far is carpet and a shed. We've been getting everything else off of the rebates they keep giving us. Then we get rebates off our purchases with the rebates, so it's like a constant cash card in our mailbox :)