Kitchen and Dining Room Tour

Welcome back!!! Are you ready to see my kitchen. I love to see kitchens, and I think most people do too. I guess that is why kitchens are such a big selling point for homes. So here is my kitchen.....

My kitchen is where I had the most influence in the building process. We came into our house when it was almost completely done. I got to pick the carpet, the counter tops and the appliances. Everything else was already picked out. I can thank my builder's wife for her degree in interior design and her great taste. She did a fantastic job picking out everything else (except for the bathroom countertops, but I will save that for another post!)

The builders were already planning on putting in granite countertops, so I just had to pick out the color I wanted. This wasn't an easy task since I was 6 hours away. So they Fed-Exed me some sample pieces. I don't know what happened along the way, but most of them arrived broken. The Fed-Ex man wrote on his computer thingy (you know what thingy I mean don't you?) that the box had "EXPLODED" and that is what it looked like. We assembled back the pieces and tried to imagine what they would look like in a kitchen we couldn't go look at. There was really only one option that we liked in the end, so that was easy (Where is my Easy button?). They also asked what appliances I wanted, so I found the Clean Steel G.E. appliances. They are not supposed to fingerprint as bad as stainless steel, and they are magnetic. Unfortunately those appliances were not in their budget. Luckily for us our realitor cut us a deal and paid $1000 towards the appliances for us. Sweet! So I got the appliances I wanted after all. Yipee!

I was on a blog the other day that was ripping on fake ivy plants. In particular, fake ivy plants over your kitchen cabinets and how horrible they are. Well as you can see I must not follow current trends. LOL!!! I love my fake ivy. They have been with us in every one of our houses. We have history together. I wasn't just going to shove them in a box and forget about them. I love that I don't have to water them or take care of them. Can you see that rooster up there? My sister gave him to me and I love him. I was sad when I was decorating because I couldn't find him. It was a happy day for me when I finally unearthed him from a forgotten box hiding in the garage.

Can you read the vinyl above my pantry? It says, "A Pinch Of This, A Dash Of That". It was the very first decoration I put up in my house. I told my hubby that I was going to limit myself to 2 vinyl items per room. He he he, I don't think it happened. I went a little crazy with it in my pantry....

but don't you just love it. I love having an organized place for everything. And if it is cute then all the better. And why we are snooping in my pantry do you want to see in my fridge too?

What? You didn't see any vinyl in there? Well yes, there isn't, but just give me a few more months. ---Insert wicked laugh here--- I do have vinyl other places that I didn't get pictures of. I have a Mommy's Kitchen Helper list on the inside of one of the cupboard doors, and a label on my garbage disposal switch (so my hubby doesn't get confused again....this one was actually his brilliant idea...did I tell you he is amazing?) While we are looking in things let me show you inside one of my favorite cabinets (Don't worry I won't drag you around my kitchen showing you in all of my cabinets....unless you ask!)

Don't mind all the mess in there. I wanted to show you the cork board we put on the inside of the cupboards. I love it in there. It gives us a place to put our calander and all the crazy reminder notices and things we need. Do you see all the post it notes stuck to the side? That is because I can't find any more thumb tacks. I hate to go buy more because I KNOW I have some.....somewhere.

Do you want to see in my oven too? Ha ha, just kidding! I will tell you though that there are chocolate chip cookie dough brownies cooking in there right now. YUM!!!

Well, let's move on to my dining room.....just take a step backwards, and you are there! I just finished making the curtains to go in here and in the kitchen. We had a hard time with the dining room ones. We couldn't figure out how do do curtains in the bay window. Finally we purchased a l--o--n--g rod and my amazingly talented hubby bent it to fit the bay area.

I should have gotten a better shot of the buffet by the window. It has some pretty fun legs. This was my hubby's grandma's. We inherited it after she died. It was painted a funny creamy green color. We sanded it down and refinished it. It is one of my favorite pieces of furniture. I also love our table. We actually bought this table about a year and a half ago. Since we were living in my in-laws house for the last year it just sat in a box in our storage unit. It still looked brand new when we set it up here.

See the pretty flowers on the table? My hubby picked them for me. I love this time of year because the wild sunflowers are everywhere. I love them. My hubby always brings me some every year. And isn't that baby cute! She is sitting in her high chair eating crackers so I can take pictures of stuff. She is such a good baby to let her mommy play and be silly.

Well that is all for our home tour today. Our next stop will be the family room and I will probably squeeze the 1/2 bath and laundry room in with that. Stay tuned!

Entry and Livingroom Tour

Come on in!!!! (Don't you just love vaulted celings? We had them in the house I grew up in. I loved them. We always had the biggest Christmas trees.)

Please remove your shoes and place them in the basket. With new carpet, a yard full of dirt, and a crawling baby, I am sure you can understand why.

Let me show you around. And since I love details I will share all of those with you too.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this table. I love it even more because my hubby made it for me. Have I ever told you that he is amazing!?! I should have taken a close up picture of that little stitchery on there. I made that a few years ago. It says, "God Bless Our Home". Are you wondering what is in that cute little burgundy chest? I have reward papers for my kids in there. When they get their chores done they get to pick a paper. They have random rewards on them like: stay up 15 minutes extra tonight, Big Hug, 25 cents, watch a movie, have a treat, etc. I would tell you what is in that drawer, but I really don't remember. In our old house there was a Handyman magazine in there, but I don't know if it made the move. And don't you just love that R. Don't you think R is the prettiest letter in the alphabet....okay, okay, I am a little bit partial. :)

Here is our coat closet. There is this space above it that was the hardest spot to decorate in my house. I still don't think I did it justice. It is hard because it can be viewed from 3 different sides. I tried and tried to think of something to go up there that would look good from 3 sides, and I couldn't. I figured that most people coming to my house would only see one side, so I went with that. I love these candle sticks....and bonus because they were cheap! Before we left our old house my friends threw a good bye party for me and gave me this cut metal sign. It says, "Home is where your journey begins." I love it because I love the ladies that gave it to me.

So you want to see in my closet? Oh, don't be shy. I don't mind showing. I love looking in peoples closets. You gain a much better sense of who people really are when you see what is hiding behind closed doors.

Yup!! I am far from perfect, and I have the messy closets to prove it. Once I get that board painted though things will be better. We will put some hooks on it to hang all those coats and back packs on.

Now onto my living room. Oh wait, I forgot to show you my fun banister and railing.

I love the combination of the wood and iron. LOVE IT!!! I will take you up stairs on another day.

Come into my living room.



One MAJOR criteria for me when we were looking for a house was that it HAD to have a formal living room. I love this space. My formal living room was my favorite space in my last house. I have not formed such a strong bond with my new one yet, but I still love it. You have to have a place for the Home Teachers to come and not sit on toys right!?!

Do you like my couch? When I went looking I had a really hard time finding what I had in mind. I was actually looking for a solid green couch, but this was the only one I could find. I thought my hubby would never go for a floral couch, but he did. (I told you he was amazing right?)


And who wouldn't love a couch with legs like this. Oh and that mirror above the couch was my hubby's grandma's. I love it too.

Here is our new piano and side tables which we have added since we moved here. I even found tables that had the same cute legs as my couch.
Do you see that tree on the table on the right. That is a very special tree. We got it from a neighbor when we got married. It is actually several trees that have their trunks braided together. It was to symbolize our marriage as we intertwined our lives together. It is really cool. Anyway, on to another of my favorite things....this shelf.
Can you guess where I got it? Yes, my hubby made it for me too. I tell him what I want, draw him a picture, and he whips it out like lightening. He is wonderful and so good to me. I love this shelf. It reminds me of sweet things. My dh gave it to me for my birthday when I was pregnant with our third daughter. See those cute candle sticks? My sweet friend gave them to me. They remind me of her. That stitchery I made is supposed to remind me to bring more love into my home (yes, I sometimes forget!) That picture hanging below is a picture of my hubby's whole family that was taken at his little sister's wedding. Every time I see that picture I want to cry. I know you can't see it, but my hubby looks AWFUL in that picture. You think that is a horrible thing to say, but he had just had surgery 2 weeks before to remove a cancerous tumor. It reminds me of those days and makes me think of how grateful I am that he is still around. And of course the picture of my precious little girls...yes, I love this shelf.

Well that is all for the home tour today. Stick around for tomorrow when I take you into my kitchen.

Home Tour.....Finally!

I am finally getting around to giving you a tour of my home. Sorry it has taken so long. We still are not settled. Maybe by the year 2025 we will get there!


So....welcome to my home.....

We moved into our new home on May 31, 2008. The outside doesn't look much different than it did when we moved in.....there is still a lot of dirt in our front yard. Come a little closer.....

I have always LOVED front porches. This isn't quite what I was hoping for in a front porch, but I have big plans for it. It is nice and roomy. I have a plan for an adorable bench to make to go on it (when I get around to it!....again, back on that 2025 schedule!). And I want to add some fun decorations out there that will change seasonally. As I said, big plans.....

Are you wondering what it says on my front door? It says Welcome, and then underneath that it tiny print it says "No Soliciting". Ha ha. I know those are two contradicting statements. Everyone is welcome except for people selling me junk I don't want. I just had to make that distinction. I really don't like door-to-door sales. If I want your product, I will come looking for it myself, so don't ring my doorbell.

Did you notice all of the tan in my yard...tan house, tan dirt, tan door. Well I had to add a little splash of color, so I made this adorable wreath. I love it. It is so fun and cheerful. It is a bit autumny (if that is even a word), but I think I will leave it up most of the year, except for holidays.

Come inside.....I have lots to show you.

Stay tuned until tomorrow ....

Back to School & Ten Months Old

My girls started school this week. M will be in 2nd grade this year and A will be in Kindergarten. It will be an adjustment having them both gone. I will sure miss them. The younger two won't know what to do with themselves since their big sisters won't be there to boss them around.

A is so excited for Kindergarten. I think she is just getting bored at home. I think she just NEEDS something else, and something just for her. She has watched her older sister go to school for 2 years and bring home fun stuff and I think A has always been a little jealous. Now she gets to go do all of those fun things too. She just had testing this week and will actually start next week.
I am not sure if M was excited to go to school or not. This is her third school in three years and I think it has been a little hard for her. She has one little girl in her class she knows from church. I am glad that she has a friend to play with at recess. The funny thing is that she has a boy in her class that was in her Kindergarten class. We have moved twice since she was in Kindergarten and this boy moved too. It is funny that they ended up in the same class again.
Little H turned 10 months old on the first day of school. (What a big day for everyone!) She is sick this week and a little cranky, but still has the cutest smile. She has been doing better lately at sleeping in her own bed.....and that makes Mom and Dad very happy. I think she was just hungry. Now I give her a snack before bedtime and she sleeps much better. She is still infatuated with our stairs. She even says, "up" when she starts up them. She is learning how to climb down now too, but is still not too stable at it. Her favorite thing to do lately is get in cupboards. She is super determined too, so if you take her away from one, she goes RIGHT back.

The Last Week of Summer....

I guess I need to chase those chirping crickets out of my blog and do a post. Summer is just busy and has been slipping by too quickly. This will be our last week of summer break before school starts....I can't believe it is almost that time of year again. I thought I would catch you all up on what we have been doing at the itybty house.

Sheesh, I guess I have to back all the way up to the end of July! We had a fun 24th of July. The week before we did some fun city activities. We went to a parade, visited the carnival (and I just have to tell you that I am terrified of Ferris Wheels....yes, I am a big scaredy cat!) We live close to the city park, so we had front row seats for all the fun fireworks.

Over the weekend after the 24th we met up with some good friends for a weekend of fun.

We had a fabulous time with them. It was so great to get to see them and their family.

They have 4 little girls just like we do. The girls had so much fun running and playing together. We made quite a stir wherever we went with so many girls....especially when we added in my niece....add that all up to be 9 girls 11 and under.

We had fun going site-seeing with them.

And going to a parade.

And going for a spin on the paddle boat.

And going to a tractor pull...who wouldn't have fun with that?!?

M and I spent lots of time chit chatting and catching up. Can I just tell you that I love her...she is the most remarkable person and a superb friend. I wish I could see her everyday.

We have also been doing swimming lessons.

My sister also came into town, so we got to have some fun with their family. We sure miss them!

I got to meet some of my MOFs. We've played in the pool with the cousins.

We have been feeding the ducks.

We have also been doing a lot of things around our house and yard, but I will post some pictures of those things another day....maybe after school starts, afterall, summer is almost over and here I sit wasting away the last week of it on my computer. So see you next week after the kiddy-boos head back to school. I am off to have a little more summer fun.