House Update
June 16th was the 1 year anniversary of owning our home; even though we didn't move in completely until the end of July last year, June 16th is the anniversary of the day in which we signed on the dotted line, like real adults. So, naturally I felt as though an update on how things look around here was in order.
First off, the roof which, as you know, is brand spakin new as of a few weeks ago. I know this picture seems really odd and you're probably thinking, "what on earth is the a picture of?" But I'll explain...
this is acutally a picture I took while standing underneath our new soffitts during a downpour. In short, this picture explains it all... we're happy new roof owners. Prior to our new addition, this would not have been possible at all. Rain, especially during a downpour, would have been dripping down through the entire surface of our old soffitts which I've learned is not a good thing. And remember how it was also coming into our house right at this very spot? Well, not anymore. I'm happy to report the water stays away from our house and our lovely sliding glass door remains untouched by water. Mission accomplished; and we're glad we did it.
Roof aside, probably the biggest change from a year ago is that all the rooms in our home now function as they were meant to function. For example...
our family room is home to everything a proper family should house. This has become a great spot to hang out with friends, watch movies, and play video games when time allows. It feels great to walk into our house and see the room like this as opposed to full of boxed kitchen cabinets like it was a year ago.
Speaking of the kitchen, that too is still fully functional.
Seeing as how this was the first large-scale DIYish project Mike and I have ever taken on, it's still quite amazing to me that it does function as well as it is.
Perhaps the true mark that this house was truly "ours" came when we moved beyond basic "increase the function" projects to smaller projects that made each room feel more like home.
Projects like...
finally adding some art to our walls.
This was a fun little afternoon project. The P is actually a cardboard letter I picked up at Hobby Lobby for 1 whole dollar. I grabbed a shade of the craft paint I liked, slapped it on, then placed magnetic strips to the back so it stuck to this fun board given to me by my aunt for our wedding. The other items are things I had lying around anyways and thought they'd look cute seeing as how this is the first thing you see when you walk up the stairs and into the main living area of our house.
I also surprised myself with this fun little idea:
I saved two wine bottles and soaked off the labels one Saturday. Then about a week later I taped off a rectangle on the "front" and applied two coats of chalkboard paint inside the taped off area. Once the paint dried, I poured hand soap and dish soap into each, placed the topper on (which you can buy from a kitchen supply store for about $3 a piece) and wrote the appropraite label for each. It's fun and looks a bit more attractive on the counter than the normal soap containers; I actually think we use far less dish soap than we used to just from the change in dispenser. A piece of advice in case you want to do this too: You have to water down the hand soap in order for it to properly pour out of the spout, otherwise it's too thick to come out. It still works though, once you pour and rub your hands together you generate the same lather.
And to finish the tour; I'm still pretty darn proud of this project from Winter Break 2011...
First off, the roof which, as you know, is brand spakin new as of a few weeks ago. I know this picture seems really odd and you're probably thinking, "what on earth is the a picture of?" But I'll explain...
this is acutally a picture I took while standing underneath our new soffitts during a downpour. In short, this picture explains it all... we're happy new roof owners. Prior to our new addition, this would not have been possible at all. Rain, especially during a downpour, would have been dripping down through the entire surface of our old soffitts which I've learned is not a good thing. And remember how it was also coming into our house right at this very spot? Well, not anymore. I'm happy to report the water stays away from our house and our lovely sliding glass door remains untouched by water. Mission accomplished; and we're glad we did it.
Roof aside, probably the biggest change from a year ago is that all the rooms in our home now function as they were meant to function. For example...
our family room is home to everything a proper family should house. This has become a great spot to hang out with friends, watch movies, and play video games when time allows. It feels great to walk into our house and see the room like this as opposed to full of boxed kitchen cabinets like it was a year ago.
Speaking of the kitchen, that too is still fully functional.
Perhaps the true mark that this house was truly "ours" came when we moved beyond basic "increase the function" projects to smaller projects that made each room feel more like home.
Projects like...
finally adding some art to our walls.
This was a fun little afternoon project. The P is actually a cardboard letter I picked up at Hobby Lobby for 1 whole dollar. I grabbed a shade of the craft paint I liked, slapped it on, then placed magnetic strips to the back so it stuck to this fun board given to me by my aunt for our wedding. The other items are things I had lying around anyways and thought they'd look cute seeing as how this is the first thing you see when you walk up the stairs and into the main living area of our house.
I also surprised myself with this fun little idea:
I saved two wine bottles and soaked off the labels one Saturday. Then about a week later I taped off a rectangle on the "front" and applied two coats of chalkboard paint inside the taped off area. Once the paint dried, I poured hand soap and dish soap into each, placed the topper on (which you can buy from a kitchen supply store for about $3 a piece) and wrote the appropraite label for each. It's fun and looks a bit more attractive on the counter than the normal soap containers; I actually think we use far less dish soap than we used to just from the change in dispenser. A piece of advice in case you want to do this too: You have to water down the hand soap in order for it to properly pour out of the spout, otherwise it's too thick to come out. It still works though, once you pour and rub your hands together you generate the same lather.
And to finish the tour; I'm still pretty darn proud of this project from Winter Break 2011...
I played around with the decor for a while but it's been like this for about a month now. The shelves are holding up well and I love how it added some much needed allure to our huge, used-to-be-blank wall.
It's been a great year really. We continue to be pretty happy with our choice in home. I've also come to love returning home to it everytime we leave for a weekend or more here and there. It also brings great comfort in knowing we're staying in this house for the forseeable future which, to me, means we have plenty of time to continue "sprucing" things up as we see fit.
Nice work - I absolutely love your kitchen!
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