The Finished Basement

We finished our basement last fall.  (And by we I mean Zack.) It was completely unfinished with one framed wall, laundry hookups, and rough plumbing for a bathroom.  We basically used it as a big, messy storage space.  Now it has a small bedroom, a bathroom, storage closets, and a laundry room with food storage shelves.  Here are some before and after pictures. 

Looking down the stairs.  

 The corner we turned into a bedroom. 

 A better view of the bedroom. 

 The corner we turned into a bathroom. 

 The walk-in shower.  The lighting in this picture doesn't do the tile justice. 

 The vanity.  I really love the quartz counter top. 

 Last, but not least, the corner we turned into a laundry room.  Zack even built that custom pedestal and put a counter top on the washer and dryer. 

 The shelves wrap all the way around to the door.  This room might be my favorite. 

It's so nice to have it done and have a nice, usable space now. 

A Few Projects

We've done a couple things to the house and a couple projects lately that I wanted to document.  First, our exterior lights used to look like this.

And, no matter how often we fixed them, they would always flip upside down like this.

So I got a deal on black Friday and Zack replaced them with these.

One of my neighbor's gave us this rocking chair.

Somebody else bought it at the DI and gave it to her.  Nobody knows who Orion is.  So I had Zack paint it this pretty blue color for Berkley's birthday.

I got these custom puzzles online.

And painted them with spray paint we already had for the girls' birthdays.


And lastly, our front door.  This close-up shows the condition it was in.

So we picked out a nice blue color and Zack transformed it from this.

To this.

I really love the pop of color it adds.  In hindsight I think I would've left the trim white.  Oh well, maybe someday we'll get around to changing it.  Or maybe not. 

A Couple Little Crafts

I have so many crafts that I would like to do.  The trouble is, between taking care of two small children, a house and a yard, being the primary president, and working three days a week this summer I've rarely had time to do normal things like fold laundry, go grocery shopping, or shower.  So craft time is pretty much non-existent. Fortunately, Merrisa and I were able to find a little time here and there over the course of about a month to make some decorations for the girls' rooms.

I've been feeling bad that Peyton's room is still decorated like Zack's office.  Especially since Berkley's was all decorated before she was even born.  So I finally made her name to display.  I think it looks pretty cute.

I also did collages in both of the girls' rooms.  We spray painted frames that I already had and a few that I got at a thrift store.  We cut out the animals with the cricut and mod podged them onto the plaques from hobby lobby.  The printables I got from here.

Now I feel like Peyton's room is starting to look more like a nursery and Berkley's room has a little less empty wall space.  If we could only get their walls painted...

A Quarter of a Century

I have to admit that my 25th birthday wasn't spectacular.  I had to work from 3-11pm and since Zack works 8-5 it's tough to do any celebrating.  25 is kind of a big deal though so I was expecting some sort of surprise.  When Zack turned 25 I threw him a surprise party with all of his friends.  I didn't need a party, but I wanted something.

I was kind of expecting Zack to make me breakfast, possibly even breakfast in bed.  I had told him several times that I wanted Madbrook donuts instead of a cake on my birthday so maybe he'd even pick those up?  He came into our room while I was still sleeping and said he had to go into work early.  Then he left.  No breakfast.

Berkley came in and woke me up by saying, "Happy birthday Mommy!"  That was cute.  (And surprising that she remembered because Zack had told her to say it when he left a half hour earlier when she was still mostly asleep.)

I spent my morning making jam (apricot raspberry, which didn't even set up right so I had to toss it) and playing with the girls.  I thought I might find a note or gift somewhere.  Nothing.  So I went to work feeling a little sorry for myself.

Zack brought the girls to Bountiful and we went out for a quick dinner on my break.  That was nice but he wasn't really off the hook because I told him to do it.

A little while later my sisters came in (along with their ridiculously tall male friend) and serenaded me with happy birthday and brought gifts and treats.  That was a good surprise and put me in a better mood.  I have some pretty awesome sisters.

When I got home around 11:30 I noticed a green tinge on the garage floor and it smelled like paint.  I thought Zack had painted Berkley's dresser or something.  (I've been wanting to do that for a while now.)  I walked in the house to this card.

Very cute.

And then I went up to our room and found this.  Zack was in bed pretending to be asleep but couldn't keep the smile off of his face.

A little background info:  When we bought our house (a year and a half ago) all the walls were white.  We were able to paint the family room and an accent wall in the living room before we moved in with the intention of painting the rest soon after.  I complain about the white walls often.  I've even bought paint for several of the rooms but we just don't have time.

Zack had come home just after I left for work.  His Mom watched the girls and his Dad came to help.  They painted the entire bedroom and he spray painted our lamps (somehow finding time to come take me to dinner.)  It was a huge surprise!  I didn't see it coming at all.

Not only that but he had a dozen Madbrook donuts waiting for me on my pillow.  I thought he forgot about the donuts.  He didn't.  He had even pre-ordered them.  He's pretty great.

I had wanted to do a nice grey in our room and this gallon of paint was in the oops section at home depot for $5.  It looked like a good grey so I bought it.  Can't beat $5.  Well, it turned out darker than I expected and looks a little more purple than grey but I still think it looks nice.  Better than white.  Zack chose the lamp color on his own.  They used to be dark red like this.

Now I feel like I just need a fun new bedspread to tie it all together.

Side note:  My Mom gave me a shark steam mop and it might be the best thing that ever happened to me!  (Ok, not really but definitely the best thing that ever happened to my kitchen floors.)  Seriously though, if you don't have one you should get one.

Getting Organized One Step At a Time

I don't know if it was the start of  a new year, the Spring-like weather we've been having (that makes me feel like Spring cleaning), or if my nesting instinct has kicked in.  Whatever the cause, I just feel the need to clean every nook and cranny of our house, organize everything, and get rid of lots of junk.  Unfortunately I don't have a whole lot of spare time or energy so I don't think I'll accomplish everything I'd like but I'm doing what I can. 

When we moved into our house and unpacked our stuff, the linen closet in our bathroom was fairly organized but it was set up for failure from the beginning.  We had so many tiny items on big deep shelves that it was impossible to know exactly what was where. 

The last straw was when Berkley got sick in December and we couldn't find her booger sucker anywhere.  Zack and I both searched the closet more than once (along with several other places.)  We never found it. 

Fast forward to the end of January when I was getting something else out of said closet and there it was.  The booger sucker that we so desperately needed a month ago.  That was it.  I went out and bought some storage tubs and went to work. 

The closet transformed from this (how embarrassing):

 To this:

I'm sure I could have done it so it looked cuter and fancier.  I'm sure I could have figured out a classier way to label than using masking tape and a sharpie.  I just needed it to be functional and that's what it is.  I know exactly what we have and where it's located.  I know it's such a small accomplishment but it made me feel so much better to have it done.

The American Dream

Zack started a new job in May as an estimator/designer at Out of the Woods Custom Cabinetry.  His job is in Layton, about a 40 minute drive south of where we lived in Brigham City.  He had to wake up at 5:15am to make it to work on time!  He also goes to school in the evenings at Weber State University in Ogden which was about 30 minutes south of Brigham City.  So we decided to move closer, plain and simple.

Once we started looking, we realized that a mortgage payment on a 3 bedroom house would be significantly less than rent for a decent 2 bedroom apartment.  Seemed like a no-brainer so we took the plunge and bought this little charmer in Clearfield.

It was a foreclosure and vacant for over a year so it needed a little TLC and A LOT of deep cleaning, but we got it for a steal of a deal!  This is actually one of our 'before' pictures of the yard which needs quite a bit of work.  I'm so glad that Zack (and his dad) can fix just about anything!  Otherwise, all of the "small" fixes could have cost a pretty penny.  However, Zack did get to the point where he was at Home Depot every single day and the workers started recognizing him... yeah, he's a little sick of that place.  I've realized that the projects will never be finished and there will always be something else we want to do to the house but for now we've got it to where we're comfortable and that's good enough for now. 

Overall we're totally loving it!  We love having a place for our cars, love having room for all of our stuff, love being able to do whatever we want to it because it's ours, love that I can plant my garden in the Spring, and Berkley loves not sharing a room with the computer desk!

Before we moved in we totally redid the family room.  Here's a before pic.  (I didn't have my camera so it's a crappy phone pic.)

You can't really tell but the carpet is way stained and worn and the blinds are super ugly pink mini-blinds.  So here's what it looks like now.

A little more inviting don't you think?  Don't worry, I know the carpet looks sort of purple in these pictures but it's not, it's brown.  We replaced the carpet, painted the walls, and got new blinds and it's a whole different room!  We wanted a little color to spice things up.  I know orange isn't very conservative but we like it, and I think the paint really makes the white shelf stand out. 

 It's not totally decorated yet.  We have some beautiful shelves to put on the TV wall.  (Made by Zack of course, along with pretty much all of our wood furniture.)  My question is what do I put on the big white shelf?  I don't want a bunch of knickknacks and trinkets to make it look cluttered but I don't want it to just be empty either.  Most of you who read my blog are far more creative than I am so let me know if you have a suggestion. 

I want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who helped us clean, fix, pack, move, etc.  We couldn't have done it without you!  So far we love being closer to everything and we love being homeowners!

Out of Commission

Ok so I'm aware that it has been a month since my last post but I have an excuse... We moved!

The week or so before we moved I was so busy cleaning and packing that I didn't have time to update the blog. Now we're pretty settled in but we don't have the internet hooked up yet. That'll happen sometime next week. (I'm updating from my phone right now which is awkward.) I promise lots of posts once we're connected to the world wide web again!

Speaking of which, do you realize how much we rely on the internet? I mean really, I can't even make my grocery list without it. Pathetic right?

Preparations

Well the time is near and here is what I have to show for it:
We were too lazy to take a picture at 36 weeks but here I am at 38 weeks. She dropped between 36-37 weeks so the belly pokes out a lot more now that she's lower.

Remember when I thought I looked pregnant at 20 weeks? Pahaha, what a joke.

We had both of my family showers on Saturday, January 2nd. (Thanks Lisa, Rylee, Misty, and Merrisa for throwing those for me! They were great!) So after that I spent time organizing and finding places for everything.

These are some shoes Zack picked out at old navy for 97cents. He loves them and kept them hung up on his dresser forever. When I was packing our hospital bag he requested that I bring a going home outfit that matches these shoes so she could wear them home. Pretty cute.

This girl definitely won't go naked! She ended up with a bigger wardrobe than her parents put together! Thanks everyone for the cute outfits!

We also got TONS of diapers. Even after this picture was taken we were given a huge costco box of 216 more diapers! I've been told they go through them way fast but I think it will take her poo quite a while to fill up all of these babies!

One of my projects was a bow board. Zack made the frame for me for Christmas and backed it with the extra fabric from our rocking chair pillows and I added the ribbon.

Now I just clip all of her bows to the ribbon and it keeps them organized as well as being a cute decoration! I also made most of those bows and there is room for plenty more!

Here is the crib Zack handcrafted out of walnut. He did a great job in my opinion! It converts into a toddler bed and a full-size bed too so we will always have a use for it. How practical.

I decided against buying a ridiculously expensive crib bedding set and opted to buy these bedding separates on clearance at target. They are cute and that way I didn't feel bad about getting something not so gender neutral. Don't worry, that pillow is from the rocking chair and she will not be sleeping with it.

Speaking of the rocking chair, here she is in all her glory. Lisa helped me re-cover the pads and pillows. If we have a boy in the future, the pillow fabric can easily be changed.

And here is the lovely dresser Zack built. He did it antique white and walnut to tie everything together. I think it's pretty gorgeous.

And for the grand finale, here it all is. I have one last project going above the crib. It may or may not be finished before the baby is born but I'll post it when it's done.