Kitchen Update: Part 2: Dishwasher and Faucet

I talked about updating the tile and showing before pictures of the kitchen last week. 

The second thing we did to update our kitchen was to get a new stainless-steel dishwasher and a new faucet. And note, we did not do this ourselves... we had a plumber do this! :) Like I've mentioned before, we aren't very DIY when it comes to big house projects.

Here is another couple of pictures of the old faucet and white dishwasher. 

And here is the updated faucet and dishwasher. It really made a big difference... 

Yup, I'm pregnant..

So last week I shared this news...

Yup, we are having a baby - due October 1, 2013 and we couldn't be more excited to add to our little family.

We found out that we were pregnant in late January... 

Funny story... we found out we were pregnant and then an hour later, Todd's brother and his wife came over and told us they were 5 weeks pregnant. We responded (rather loudly) that we too were 5 weeks pregnant! Come to find out that my sister-in-law, Hilary and I, are 2 days apart on our due dates! 

 Our kiddos are a little more than 3 weeks apart, and now the next two will probably be even closer in age. So fun! 

Celebratory Frosties

Later that night, we took some happy/excited family photos. Do you sense our excitement?

Paid it all

photo credit

It is so easy, like Christmas time, to be so worried about the daily hustle and bustle this time of year and forget what this weekend is really about. Easter is not about the candy, baskets, bunnies or brunch; it's about Jesus and what he did for you and me. Dying on the cross, he paid our sins and three days later overcame death by rising from the dead. 

Hope you have a Happy Easter this weekend and remember what He did for YOU. 

Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. 

Kitchen Update, Part 1 - Tile Backsplash

When we first moved into the house, we did a few updates right off the bat - the first being was to add a  tile backsplash to the kitchen. Just so we are absolutely clear, Todd nor I did the tile backsplash. We are just not DIYers when it comes to certain things.... tile being one of them. That's ok... we are alright with having an expert doing it. I'm sure there would be more satisfaction if we did it ourselves but we picked the tile out... so I guess we can be happy with that. There will be lots of phases of this kitchen, it won't be finished for a long time, but here is the first step: 

The before pictures of the kitchen, before we did anything to it: 

And here is the kitchen with the tile backsplash...

Some exciting news...

We are excited to announce.... 

 Thing 2 due October 1, 2013!

Chevron Wall

I loved all the awesome chevron walls I saw on pinterest and knew I wanted to have a chevron wall in my house. Originally, I was going to do a chevron wall instead of the chalkboard wall in the eat-in kitchen area, but felt it may be too busy. There was this blank, boring wall in the entryway area that was calling for something special. Since it sticks out a bit more than other walls, I thought a chevron wall would make it more of a feature wall. 

My first step was to do some research and read up on how to do a great chevron pattern on a wall. Next, I painted the wall white. 

Then, I collected some supplies to help me with the measuring of the lines and patterns. I grabbed a ruler, level, painters tape, measuring tape, laser level, two colors of crayons, some paper and a pencil and a calculator. I measured the wall out and figured out how I should divide the wall up for the grid. I could not tell you what those measurements were and this was probably my least favorite part... I just hate math! Every wall is different and based on how far you want the stripes spaced out would depend how you would measure it and grid it out. 

After I had my measurements figured out, I used a green crayon to draw the lines, making a grid using the help of the laser level. I used crayons instead of pencil so that the lines would be easy to erase with a magic eraser. 

 Next, after the grids were in place, I used the ruler to draw with a purple crayon, a zig zag design by making diagonal lines from the opposite corners of the grids. 

After the chevron pattern was all drawn on the wall, I wrote which stripes would be black and which would be white. I then did the big task of taping. I taped the outside lines of the marked black stripes, getting the wall ready to paint. 

I painted the stripes and then removed the tape. This was the results. After living with the wall for a few days, I realized I didn't like it. Ahh! So much work to not like the results. Some how it reminded me of Charlie Brown's shirt. 

I still badly wanted a chevron wall, so I taped the wall exactly like I had it before - outside the black lines. I decided to use the light gray paint, Revere Pewter, that I was using through the hallway instead of the black. 

I LOVED the results. It was softer and not so in your face. I had a few places I needed to touch up when the tape came off, but the crayon easily cleaned off the wall. 

 

The fabulous chevron wall! 

Organized Jewelry Shelf

Since we moved in, I have been keeping my jewelry in the closet in my bathroom. I dedicated a special shelf for all my jewelry to be housed.... 

But unfortunately, all the jewelry looked like this... a pile of necklaces that took me an hour to untangle.  The earrings were in their own box and weren't too disorganized, as well as all the bracelets in their own box as well. 

When I took a trip to Ikea, I bought some Bygel organizational pieces to clean up this mess... I got the bar, basket and hooks. 

And here it is, looking all pretty and organized! I hung the bar on the back wall of the closet and used a different hook for every necklace. Now they are easy to find and keep separate from each other. I mounted the basket on the left side of the wall to make the bracelets easy to look through. I kept the earrings the way they were and put all my perfumes and sprays on a charger to make it look more pretty. 

 This is now the most organized corner of my house.