Wednesday, August 31, 2011

And all of God's people said, "Amen."

At least that's what I'm saying (and probably all of our friends and family are saying!). I mean, we've only been working on this house for almost 14 months now. There are still a few minor things to be finished on the inside, and the shutters still are not on the outside of the house (coming soon), but I can actually say that we are pretty much finished! Overall, I'm pleased with the final product...now let the moving begin. It will still be several weeks before we move in for good (of course it turns out that when the house is complete, we have too much going on to move), but I will begin moving items for each room slowly and trying to get things organized before we really move into the house!

The front entry way to the house, which leads to...

the wonderful stairs! I'm in love with them. We've been waiting on the treads for over a month, and they were well worth the wait! I am also very pleased with how the stair railing turned out.

The top half of the stair treads.

The back deck and patio.

The back yard.

The balcony off the upstairs guest suite (handrail to come!).

All of the storage on the front side of my kitchen island. I'm sure I will find plenty of things to fill up these cabinets!

They need cleaning, but these are the pendants over the island in the kitchen.

Master bathroom vanity.

My bathtub. Oh how I'm in love. I had to fight for this thing, and it was well worth it. Love, love L.O.V.E. it. I had to remind Drew how much his bike cost when he told me I was crazy to spend that much on a tub :).

Door into the master bedroom. All of the interior doors look like this. They are reclaimed cypress doors from New Orleans.

Back wall of the kitchen with all of my cabinets. I used Terry Jones (Jones Home Design in Starkville) for my cabinets. They were great to work with. Check them out if you are looking for semi-custom cabinets that look very custom!

Powder room. I got all of my bathroom sinks, toilets, and faucets from Southern Pipe in Starkville. Jesse Clare was wonderful to work with.

Vanity in the guest suite upstairs. I found the medicine cabinet at an antique store pretty cheap; I think it cleaned up really nicely.

Guest suite double shower.

Tin ceiling in the guest suite. One of my favorite rooms.

Avi's room & sweet chandelier. Her room is pink & white stripes.

Girls' bathroom.

Cute knobs on Sally Sharp's built-ins. I found them at Anthropolgie.

Sally Sharp's room and adorable pink chandelier. I got all of my lighting (except for Avi's fixture) at Lighting Unlimited in Columbus. They are fabulous to work with. I highly recommend them!

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Happy Birthday Drew!

We celebrated Drew's birthday yesterday. I cooked a yummy dinner with Drew's favorites--all veggies. For those of you who don't know, I have started a new position in my department. I am now teaching online classes. This semester, I'm teaching one in the classroom and 3 online. So, I am able to spend more time doing wonderful things for and with my family. I was so excited to be able to be home yesterday and cook dinner and make Drew a birthday cake.

It is hard to believe we are in our thirties, much less that we are creeping up on being closer to 40 than to 30! Where does the time go?!

Daddy's sweet girls had fun celebrating with him! We love you and happy birthday!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Are you TANGLED?

In Rapunzel's hair that is! Avi and her friends will be soon! She is having a Tangled-themed birthday party this year! I'm sure it will be lots of fun. I'm not sure why I thought making these invitations would be fun, though. I found a tutorial for these invitations, and thought, oh this is a great idea for Avi's invitations.


So, I ventured out to create my own version (see above) of the invitations. Don't get me wrong, I think they turned out really cute, and I'm very pleased with them. BUT, it took a lot longer than I thought it would to make them (I'm kind of a perfectionist when it comes to designing things). And, for goodness sake, I haven't used a hot glue gun in YEARS! There should be a warning on that thing that says, "This hot glue gun is very hot and can burn your fingers. Be very careful." OH WAIT, there is a warning that states that...hahaha, just joking, but I did "burn" my fingers several times, which made me remember why I hadn't used a hot glue gun in YEARS! Anyway, I think Drew felt sorry for me last night because he even offered to braid some of the "hair" for the invitations! If you know my husband, you are probably laughing about now. But, nevertheless, I thought it was a kind gesture, even though I didn't take him up on his offer. So, anyway, I ended up only making JUST enough to give to Avi's friends and to keep one for memories. Sorry family members, you are not getting one this year. You will have to marvel at my wonderful creation on the Internet!