Before and After shots...

I'm going to go off on a tangent here from the Christmas posts only because I am sooo excited to do this one!! In November I set out to change the boys room. When we bought this place last year I was giddy that I could finally paint so I chose colors and did it pretty fast. Well this past summer I was farrrr past done with the little boy blue and yellow! I would LOVE to change the beds to bunk beds again but sweet, darling Kooper WILL kill himself by jumping off the top. So I think we're sticking with separate beds for now.

So here's the before...
(Its okay...say it with me UGGGGG!!!)


And after...
Paul and Cindy gave us these ADORABLE jean comforters and valance so I based the room colors around that. I headed to Lowe's and bought this barn red paint, the tan on top we already had from the hallway and bought 5 chair rail pieces (clearanced for $7 each), measured and cut them with my handy dandy mitre saw, painted, nailed the chair rail up and wha-la.



I never posted about these but this past summer my sister Kim stayed with us for a few weeks and drew these for the boys. Kollin is Bolt and Koop is Tigger. I think she did an AWESOME job!!!


And one of my friends does vinyl lettering and I'm just lovin' it!! I'm always wanting to show off the kids artwork and loved this idea. Koop likes to tear his down so his is empty most the time.


And now for the next reveal...this one was the most tedious and frustrating house project that Kev and I have EVER done. And I can speak for the both of us and say that we'll NEVER, EVER, EVER attempt this again! So, when we moved here over a year ago this is what our Kitchen looked like...


We thought it was great and would be fine to live with until Tim and Brittany moved into their new home and I saw in person how beautiful darker cabinets looked. The only problem is that Kev and I are on a super tight budget so we decided to do this all ourselves. Let me just warn you to Not try this at home!! I'm a little coupon crazy and found one for Lowe's so we bought an electric sander and sanded EVERY cabinet door and base by hand. We started this project about the 2nd week into November and it took us all the way until AFTER Christmas to finish. Okay, Okay here's the after....(wait...before you look at it just know that I have to paint the trim around the window to match the blinds still...so don't judge that!)

Ohhhhhh looking at it makes it totally worth all the blisters and long nights of staining worth it. Isn't it beautiful!!! K-my absolute favorite part is the bead-board that we did around the bar! If you look at the before picture its this terribly cheap paneling. I LOVE bead board and plan to do it in other rooms of the house but it turned out awesome in this spot! My amazing husband cut and nailed it and I painted and stained it to match the wall.


I think the most expensive part of the whole project is the new double cabinet door. There used to be a single one that didn't even go to the end of the counter. We bought the only type of unstained wood that Lowe's carried (with a coupon of course) but unfortunately it was such poor quality that the stain didn't turn out very good. One day in the VERY far future we'll buy a better quality cabinet, but like I said...in the VERY far future!

The only thing wrong with this picture is how EMPTY this spot is now. No worries, I already know what I want to do. Kevin just rolls his eyes when I say that but it will be suuuuuper super cute! I want to put a Pendent Light above the sink. I have this website that I'm a little obsessed with and I found the instructions here. I already found one at Lowe's but its $40 bucks so It'll take a few weeks to save up and buy it. Ohhhh I just cant wait!



My other favorite part of the kitchen are the sponge trays that Kev also installed. I have wanted these FOREVER and was more excited than I should have been when I found them at Lowe's on sale! We also got new hardware for the drawers and cabinets which adds this beautiful detail.


I think the next big project next month is going to be Mine and Kevin's room. Its the modge podge room and seems to collect everything that doesn't have a good place around the house...but again - I already know whats gonna happen there. Soo excited. I still need to post about the week when my Mom and Sisters were here. Hopefully that'll be soon. Can you believe January is already HALF over!!! I'm giddy to say this because I'm done with this single digit weather but spring will be here before we know it!!!