Home Tour

As I stated in this post last week, we took our next step into adulthood and bought a house.  I also noted that it needs a lot of work.  We knew what we were getting ourselves into but that hasn't decreased our stress levels any in terms of what all we need to get done.

Now that the ceilings have been scraped and most of the holes in the walls filled in, we moved on to the floors.  I cannot even begin to tell you how sore my hands are from pulling staples for multiple hours this weekend.  The good news is we are nearly done.  All of the carpet and foam padding has been pulled and we have two more rooms left to pull staples in then we will move on to the kitchen and bathroom.  I cannot wait to get the nasty linoleum up off the floor.

This week we plan on finishing up the floors, starting to paint the walls and baseboards and hopefully get all of the ceilings washed and ready to be finished.

Now for the home tour!

Check out those lovely floors and keep in mind the sink is avocado colored as well!

I love the size of this kitchen and cannot wait to see it when we are done with all of the updates!

I apologize for the poor lighting but this is looking into the dining area from the living room.

The living room has a wonderful natural lighting thanks to the big front window.

That cabinet will be going sometime this week and if you look closely you can see the lovely pink linoleum.

And this light fixture will also be going.

Gotta love the pink tiling!

Master bedroom

Bedroom #2

Bedroom #3

I'll keep everyone posted on our updates and can't wait to share before and after photos!

What are your home remodeling tips?

#24

Time for some big and exciting news!  Drumroll please.............................

..........................

..........................

..........................

..........................

..........................

..........................

..........................

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! (#24 on my 101 things in 1001 days list)

Please excuse my attire-I dressed knowing I would be sweating my behind off scraping ceilings.

This has been in the works for quite some time, but I wanted to wait until we officially closed and the paperwork was all signed before I made the big announcement.  We are both very excited about this next step into the adult world and cannot wait to make this house our home.

There is a lot to get done on the inside, but it has good "bones" and we know we'll be able to make it ours fairly easily.  The first step in the renovation was scraping the ceilings.  I don't particularly enjoy popcorn ceilings, but I really don't like sparkly popcorn ceilings.  When we first looked at the house, I told Aaron those had to go and what better time to scrap than when the house is empty.  Thanks to the help of my mom, my dad, and my stepmom, we had all of the ceilings done in three hours time (hallelujah!).

One of the bedrooms after scraping.  Don't worry, we are not keeping the red carpet!

Our giant pile of popcorn ceiling remains.  My mom decided it looked like a huge pile of kitty litter.

The past two evenings were spent vacuuming up our mess and puttying up nail holes.  We still have a long way to go but it's a work in progress!  There will be plenty of updates to come.

WIWW and a Wednesday Wedding Update

Boy do I have so much to share with y'all!  Some exciting things are happening over here and I promise I will let you know what they are soon.  In the meantime, here's a look at what I wore this past weekend and an update on our wedding plans.

Saturday was spent running errands, going to my brother's baseball game (it was so windy that we left early because we were literally caked with dust-gross!), and having dinner with some friends.  It was a beautiful day outside and I took the opportunity to wear my new scarf!

Shirt from Gap (similar here), shorts Levi's (couldn't find any similar), scarf here, earrings here.

I love this scarf!  I first saw it on Pinterest Told Me To and knew it would be the perfect accessory to take on our honeymoon to add an extra layer.

Sunday was more relaxing.  We went down to Topeka to having lunch with my dad for Father's Day, played a game of Cranium (the gals beat the guys!), and then came home to work on a few projects.

Our ceremony is at the church Aaron grew up in and it is literally in the middle of nowhere.  Seeing as most of my family and friends are not from the area, I decided we should put out signs where people needed to turn.  I really wanted to stick with the rustic theme and then Aaron and I came across this old wood and it was perfect!  I bought some paint from Hobby Lobby and got to work painting.  This piece will be cut in half to make two separate signs and then there will be arrows as well.

Our invitations arrived in the mail a few days ago and I am so pleased!  Throughout this whole wedding planning process, I have discovered Etsy to be the perfect place for ideas and products.  I knew I wanted chalkboard invitations but hadn't found anything I loved.  Then I came across LaneLoveDesign.  She designed our invitations, printed them, and had them to us in one week!  Our programs will definitely be coming from her Etsy shop as well!

I linked up with The Pleated Poppy for What I Wore Wednesday.  Happy hump day!

Wednesday Wedding Update

According to the app on my phone, we have 79 days to go until the big day.  79 days!  The time is flying by folks and I feel like we've entered crunch time.  All of the big stuff has been done for a while now (church, reception location, DJ, food, flowers, cake, photographer, etc.), now we are focusing on decorations.

Our wedding is going to be fairly simple as I'm not a super fancy person.  I've decided to go with the rustic country look including lots of burlap, lace, jute, and chalkboards.  Our flowers are a tribute to the state we both love and grew up in and I cannot wait to see everything come together.

Last weekend, mom and I started making the centerpieces for the tables and they turned out perfect!  Here's a sneak peek.

The invitations have been ordered and they should be on their way to me shortly.  Aaron and his dad are working on our cupcake stands and signs and I'm planning a crafting day with my bridesmaids (here's your heads up ladies) to finish up some other projects.

79 days to go!

#68 and #97

It was a beautiful weekend here in northeast Kansas and we took complete advantage of it!  Friday night, Aaron and I headed to downtown north Topeka for the First Friday Artwalk (#97 on my 101 things in 1001 days list).  I had never been before and was really excited to see what it was all about.  We arrived around 6:00 and it was already packed.  In fact, it was so packed that it almost took the enjoyment out of browsing the wonderful stores and looking at the art.  I felt as if I was being herded through each store and could not stop to look at anything that caught my eye.  That being said, I loved so many of the stores and can't wait to go back sometime when it's not so busy.

This was one item that caught my eye and I snapped a quick photo.  I love sunflowers!

Saturday morning I woke up to the sound of rain.  Thank goodness the storms passed just in time for mom and I to participate in the Walk to End Alzheimer's (# 68 on my 101 things in 1001 days list).  We had walked a few years ago and we were both looking forward to walking again.  My grandma has Alzheimer's disease and I work with individuals diagnosed with both Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, so it is a cause that is near and dear to my heart.  It was a great walk and I look forward to participating more in the years to come.

Mom and I getting ready to walk.

Each participant gets a flower with the color of the flower representing whether they have lost someone to Alzheimer's, care for someone with Alzheimer's, have Alzheimer's themselves, or someone who supports the cause.

After the walk, we ran all sorts of errands and then headed back to my mom's house to work on wedding stuff.  Stay tuned for a Wednesday Wedding Update later this week!

What I Read Last Month

I'm going to change things up a little bit and start doing a monthly post on the books that I have read for that month.  Here are the books from my 2014 Reading List that I read during the month of May!

The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls

I absolutely loved Glass Castle and I knew I wanted to read Jeannette Walls' other books.  The Silver Star was definitely five stars!  This is actually her only fiction novel but the quality of writing was very similar to Glass Castle.  Next up is Half Broke Horses!

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

This was the May book for Bon's Book Club and it was another favorite!  The love story between Tom and Isabel was beautiful, their inability to have a child was heartbreaking, and Tom's struggle with raising a daughter who was not his own made you think long and hard.  The whole story was magnificent and I highly recommend it!

Nurses in War: Voices from Iraq and Afghanistan by Elizabeth Scannell-Desch and Mary Ellen Doherty

This was probably the most difficult book that I have read this year.  Not because it was hard to read, but because the stories were real experiences of war.  This book was recommended to me by one of my nursing school professors  and I'm so glad I took her up on the recommendation.  I learned so much about being deployed as a nurse in the military.  Here is your fun fact for the day: I had all of my paperwork in to join the Navy as a nurse and then I met Aaron.  I wasn't tied down at the time, I wanted adventure, and I loved the idea of serving my country.  When I met Aaron, a new adventure began and I decided to serve my country by taking care of our veterans.  Anyways, I would highly recommend this book to any nurse.  It is a compilation of stories that were told by a group of nurses from all branches of the military who were a part of a phenomenological study.  It talks about being deployed, the tragedies of war, their living conditions, being away from family, hygiene, and just about every other topic you could think of.

There you have it!