Living Room Renovation Project

Since the last update, Carter was super busy with work and it just so worked out that we had completely opposite schedules.  Everyday that I had to work, Carter would get no calls and he would be home.  Then when I was off of work, Carter would get calls and be gone while I was at home.  It got really old to say the least.  But, over the last week we have gotten to be home at the SAME time!  YAY!

Sunday, March 10, Stephen & Anna celebrated their 6th Wedding Anniversary!  We were invited to celebrate with them and their family the Saturday before with a nice meal.  Carter was out of town at work, so I went alone, but we had a great dinner and a fun evening downtown.  

HAPPY 6TH ANNIVERSARY

Anna & I

Sunday, March 10, our small group from church met up and went out to eat supper together.  We love our small group and have been so blessed by the friendships that we have developed.  We have been so busy with work or being out of town that we haven't gotten to spend as much time with them as we would like, so it was nice to have a relaxing evening with each of them, even though there were several that couldn't make it!  

Colby & Jessica 

Matt & Landra

Rob & Staci

Sohn & Jennifer

Stephen & Anna 

Carter & I 

The whole group

Since Carter and I both were at home for a few days together we discussed maybe taking a little get-away trip.  After tossing around a few options, somehow we came up with staying home and starting a HUGE project....texturing and painting our living room paneling.  Sounds fun doesn't it?  We started it on Sunday evening after our small group get together and didn't complete it until Friday! There was quite a process involved to cover the paneling, including a total of 5 phases.  It was quite the undertaking, and after a couple of days of working on it and our house being in upheaval, we were both wondering why in the world we had started in the first place!  It turned out looking AMAZING and we are so very proud to have it completed!  It makes such a difference in the overall look of the house!

Getting started!  Caulking all the lines

Before & Phase 1 

Phase 1

Phase 2: KILZ primer, bye-bye paneling 

Phase 3: A level layer of texture to cover all the lines well 

Phase 4: The layer of texture with actual texture 

Phase 5: Prime and Paint

Completed living room with crown molding and all! 

Doesn't it look great!?

A close up of the texturing, since you can't tell from far away

Lucky for us Dad and Mom came down on Wednesday evening and stayed through Thursday evening.  Mom and Aubree helped us finish up painting and Dad shortened some of our mini blinds for us!  We were happy to have someone else at the house to help keep us sane after the week we had of constantly working on the living room!  We really enjoyed Dad and Mom's short stay!

So, since I didn't get to do anything fun or relaxing last week on my days off, this week I decided to sew some curtains for the bar in our game room.  There is a neat bar with storage space underneath, which we have taken advantage of!  I love the storage space, but hate that it is open and visible to everyone making it look unorganized! I think the curtains turned out quite nice!

 

I also mentioned last blog that I was planning to make valances for the kitchen and dining room.  I finished those a few weeks ago and I love them!

Dining Room 

A little closer view

Kitchen

And last but certainly not least, I have mentioned that Carter and I have very smart, talented siblings.  We found out just a few weeks ago that Megan passed her first CPA exam on her first try!  We are all so proud and excited for her!  One down and 3 to go before she is a CPA!  

Until next time...