Some Christmas Around the House

Hello!
Just wanted to share some pictures of our home decorated with a little Christmas decor. We haven't done too much, but it is enough that it feels like Christmas is almost here and we are enjoying that.

I also wanted to share some before photos with you of our home to compare the difference between then and now and how far we have come in the process of making this more our home....and bringing the place a little more up to date. 
Oy...I cringe just a little  when I look back at these old photos of our home after we moved in. When we first moved into this home, we had (and still have) green carpet downstairs, blue carpet upstairs, green countertops in the kitchen, mint green walls in the bedrooms, and mismatched wallpaper GALORE everywhere else. All of the appliances are 15-20 years old. We still haven't been able to replace them because of finances, but we are saving up to do so some where down the line.They are functional, but for many reasons, it will be nice to replace them for sure!

Here is a photo of the kitchen before we got to work taking down the upper floating cabinets.

Yowza!!!!

Here is the after...which means "after" taking the upper floating cabinets down, painting, adding new hardware, etc.  Ahh....so MUCH better!

We really love our kitchen...there is PLENTY of space to put cookware, dishes, etc. even after the floating cabinets were taken down- which is something a few people thought we wouldn't have enough of. But really, how much space do you really need? I think we have plenty and then some still. And we have a kitchen island that is perfect for prepping food and baking...which is something we never had in our last home. The island also has storage space as well. We couldn't be any happier with that!

Here are a few more before photos...

And this is what it looks like currently after we did some more work to the kitchen area.

And how about some more Before pictures for kicks and giggles.....

Woah!!! Okay, now I can share a few more updated pictures.....
there is still a ways to go with this house, but it IS progress and I can't be any happier with that than what we have been able to get done so far. :)

Still love that large picture window and the girls enjoy eating their breakfast here.

You know, it's funny because before we moved into this house, one of the first things I wanted to do was replace the green carpet in the family room with something a bit more updated and neutral....BUT, finances came into play again and once we started getting quotes on how much all of that was going to cost us, we just had to wait and save. Hopefully, by next summer, we will have the old carpet gone for good though. It had been with the previous home owners for a long time and for sanitary reasons and such we are hoping to replace it.

I will be back tomorrow with more photos of our home and the Christmas touches...some will be repeats of today's pictures and there will be more new ones added to the mix.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy December everyone!!

Happy Sunday!

Just popping in to wish everyone a wonderful Sunday!

We have started putting some Christmas decorations up around the house and the girls are loving it! I will be sharing more photos and another blog post with you tomorrow about it...with some before and after shots too! Stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by!

Girls Bedroom Progress

Well, the girl's bedroom is almost done...I figured it would be good to post about the progress made in there so far and I will add the details about the room progress at the end of this post.

I will start with some pictures first. :)

I have been waffling back and forth about curtains for the windows. I was thinking of either white or pink ones to replace the ones in there already because they are just make-shift curtains right now made from a bed sheet. :)
I asked the girls about which color they would prefer, and of course the answer was "Pink"! So I am giving it some thought...IKEA sells the ones they like, but I'm not sure we will be able to make a trip up there anytime soon.

The nightstands were moved from our room to here.  They fit perfectly in here and the girls love them. It's funny, because my youngest keeps trying to pull the handles to "open" the drawers to the nightstand, but it still hasn't completely clicked with her that the handles are just for decoration. There actually isn't a drawer. hehe!

The girls also want the walls painted pink...but if we actually do that, I think I can only handle a VERY pale pink wall color. Especially if we end up getting pink curtains...pink walls on top of that might be overkill. And I want this to be a room that will grow with them as well...not one where there has to be a drastic change every few years.

I think the picture above is one of my favorites!
And you can see that our younger daughter's bed (the one on the far right) is lower than the other bed...that is because we haven't put the bed frame on the bed yet. She is still a little young, and although she hasn't fallen out of the bed, we just want to be safe. So we have it sitting pretty low for her right now.

Source list:

Wall color- Was here when we moved it- but it is a light creamy, yellowy off-white.
Bed Spread and pillow covers- A gift from my mom and purchased at Ollie's
Nightstands- Thrift store find
Lamp- Outlet Store in Williamsburg
Frames and pictures- Gifts from grandparents
Basket- Thrift store find
Bell Wreath on Door- Another thrift store find :) Once the girls saw it, they "just had to have it"
Mirrors on wall- Target


**I would still love to also get a rug for this room to put between there beds to add a little more texture and color- but there is no rush for it so I am taking my time finding one.

That's the tour of their room for now. As we make more progress in here, I will post and share pictures.
Have a great rest of the weekend everyone!!