Kitchen and Breakfast nook Updates

Shane and I love to do upgrades to our home. It adds our own personal touch to our house, but it also gives it a little face lift too. I think everyone should do little things around their homes every now and then to freshen things up. Home is for sure where the heart is, however I feel that it is so important to make your house no matter how big or small feel warm and welcoming for not only yourself and your family, but for all you love. I don't think you have to break the bank in order to achieve a tidy, welcoming environment that surrounds you. There are a lot of do it yourself projects that I have found while randomly searching through great blogs. Simple idea's that can help everyone in the decorating and organizing their spaces. Updates and remodels can be something as simple as changing out your pillows on your couch or adding a beautiful wreath to your front door; to an entire room makeover or landscaping overhaul. Whatever it is you plan to do; Make sure it will mean something to your entire family and yourself. I think meaning behind what surrounds you will make all the difference in the world!

Our Kitchen Before at Christmas 2009

Our Kitchen Jan 2011...We had a back splash added! Thanks to Bagwell Custom Flooring!

I don't have a before picture of our breakfast nook ceiling, but this is a pic of the wood slats that we had put up by Bagwell custom flooring....The ceiling was plain white before hand.

Finally Got Hayden's Curtain up

We have only been living in our home for a year and a half and I am finally puting up curtains in our kids rooms! Actually, I am lying. I have only put up curtains in Hayden's room. I still have Hannah and Gracie's to fix up!

Below is the before and after pictures of his window! I love his little blue jean overall curtains! I want to give a huge shout out to my sweet friend Allison for helping me out with his curtain rod! If it were not for her help I would still be looking for one! Thank you dahling! :)!

Hayden's Train Room!

Hayden's room has been redone for awhile, but I haven't posted pics of the differences.

We bought his train bed off of craigslist. The shelf and the chair are from Ikea from a few years ago and He got the train table for his birthday last year. I have two old school pictures of trains in his room, but would love to find bigger pictures to fill up the walls. I also have the most adorable blue jean overall valances for his window, but I am currently trying to find a wood rod:). So I'll post more pics as I update it. Also the paint colors in the before and after pictures are the same. I took the before pictures during the day and the after pictures at night...

This is before....

This is his room now, minus the bigger train wall hangings and his adorable blue jean overall valance.... Again we haven't changed his room color's the lighting just makes the colors look richer. His colors are very soft like the "before" pictures. I will probably never change his room color. I LOVE IT and always have....

Hayden's Train Room....

This is hanging on his door! My friend Allison made it. I love it:)....

This is a picture of the wall hanging. I love this train picture, but I want a bigger picture for this wall...

This is his little bed. I love the deal that we got on it and the bedding. All of it was 100 bucks. Its over 300 bucks at Toysrus and that doesn't include the bedding. LOVE CRAIGSLIST FINDS....

This shelf unit came from IKEA. It was orginally in Shane's old office, but when he wanted to sale it last year I told him that I wanted it for Hay's room. PERFECT... Thanks RP Field Services LOL....

I found this precious hat rack at Homegoods store. It has railroad crossing signs all over it and it holds my cutie's stylish hats and ties. LOVE this find for under 10 bucks....

My Perfect Little Tea Pot!

A few posts ago I stated how I had found what I wanted for my china cabinet! I found the tea set named by Gracie China and two beautiful China Collections that bare the name of Hayden and Hannah. Well, Shane decided to order me the beautiful Tea Pot and Tea Cup/saucers from Gracie China. He surprised me with them :)! I was actually planning on waiting because I am not in that big of a hurry to get things done, I mean we have moved a lot over the past 12 years and now that I feel settled what is the rush you know? When I opened the box to view my new tea pot I noticed right off that the handle was broken! Shane immediately tried to wrap it back up and place in the box to be shipped back so that we could get another one in perfect condition! I grabbed it out of his hands and pulled it close to my heart and told him that it was indeed not going back from where it came from and to me it was perfect in every way!

You probably think it is so odd that I would want a broken piece of china sitting on my shelf in my dining room, but I don't think there is anything anymore beautiful or inspirational especially for me to view on a daily basis! First off, Shane purchased that piece just for me as a surprise so that within itself makes that little teapot unique, but then you add the imperfection and well I just think that it is perfect! Just think? A beautiful piece of china that has been broken! What a story! That little tea pot reminds me of myself. On the surface I put on my makeup, enjoy fashion, I am very delicate and fragile and yet I am broken! Every time I look at this tea pot now I will not only see my precious husband's love for me and the sacrafice he made to give it to me, but I will see God's love for me and the sacarifice that His son Jesus made for me on the cross when He was broken that I might be saved! He was perfect, but was broken for my sins! I will also think of the fact that I have been broken, but God continues to love me and take care of me and mend me. Yay for God's love and Yay for my little broken tea pot! xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Finding Meaning in Our Surroundings

In the changing up of our dining room and living room I discovered that to most current decorators the ever so famous china cabinet isn't really in right now and china isn't the "in" thing to buy! I could careless! I want some china! :) and I am a rebel! :) HAHAHAHAHA! Don't get me wrong I love certain new trends and styles when it comes to clothing and decor, but when it comes down to it I am a traditional girl all the way and my husband is just as traditional as me! I like to add trendy touches and such, but the classic-traditional style will never go away...Not ever!

Since I haven't received or bought china before I began to look at collections that would mean something to us as a family that we could pass down! I guess that is where my traditional sense comes from because I am a sucker for old things and stuff with meaning and depth behind them! I love old pictures of my family and Shane's family sitting around our house because that is our heritage they mean something to me and I love those sweet people in those black and white pictures! That is how I feel about nearly everything! I am very sentimental and when it comes to decorating I want the piece of furniture or the wall hanging or photography even the vases and candles to mean something and tell a story about our family or where we bought it or the experience behind it!

Gladly I have come across pieces that stood out to me for 3 reasons each collection bares the name of each of my children! LOVE IT! They mean something! Sounds silly, but it'll be something special to our children to have their name on the collection and it'll be neat to talk about later on down the road!

The Royal Hannah Collection by Lennox is inviting, charming, fun and beautiful just exactly like my oldest Hannah

This is a little collection of tea cups and a tea pot called the Gracie China Rose Chintz! What is so neat about this collection is that it totally suits my Gracie and will always remind me of her girly twirls and dress up days!

This is they Hayden Collection By Noritake! It is sweet, precious and just simply adorable! JUST LIKE HIM! SIGH! :)

Let's Have A Re Do

We moved into our house a little over a year now and I am totally enjoying

it! I am so thankful for our beautiful, cozy home. I'm even more thankful for the warmth and love that resides here! We are finally doing a few things around the house as we settle in after a year of being here. It takes time to do projects, but I must say that it is fun and I actually enjoy seeing the difference.

I am trying my hand at being creative in the decorating sense, this doesn't come easy to me! However, I am grateful for the blogs of other creative women and men out there that can truly inspire my desire to make my home warm and a reflection of our Family Stone!

Here is one little project that I hired an amazing painter to come in and do for me! My EYE SORE of a desk had to be changed! Here is the after picture! I unfortunately can't find the before, but just imagine and all white wood desk before you! This amazing painter painted my built-in desk and shelf/cabinet to look as if we stained it! LOVE HIS WORK and the top of the desk is paint also! looks like marble, but it's not! :) LOVE IT!

These pictures of our living room and dining room were taking December 2009: Not Shabby, but also not exactly what I had in mind for these two rooms

This picture is the Living room December 2010 Still NOT my goal! In fact this room has been annoying to me and never felt quite right for our family for the past year and a few months!

Last Saturday I finally got rid of the black couch! YAY! Some of you might have loved this look, but I hated it in my living room and I just didn't think with a big den and a theater room upstairs that we needed another sitting area...It was too modern for our taste especially since everything else in our home is more traditional! I put our new dining room furniture in the living room area and placed my electric baby grand in the dining area!

I bought a beautiful china cabinet at cost and mismatched shelf for my "NEW" dining room! We got an amazing deal! The below pictures are just the beginning of the change in these two rooms. Everything is a work in progress! That is what makes it fun! I have no decor yet so I am really browsing the web for idea's and for the china that suits our family and our style!

The Piano room (former dining room) is not finished and we are currently looking at purchasing a used baby grand and oval or round area rug for this area, plus I am totally not finished with either room! So, most of the wall hangings and photographs aren't going to stay!