Our Kitchen Before and After

Confession: I have been putting this post off for quite some time now. In my head I was going to do a huge deep cleaning before I took some after photos of our kitchen, so that everything would be sparkling and brand new looking. "I will just do it all during nap time!" My optimistic (or more like unrealistic) mind thought. Well, every time I attempted this planned "deep clean" I would only get part of the way done before the reality of two daughters that hate naps and love messes would set in. Not to mention a dish-soaking-is-totally-doing-the-dishes husband. So, I finally just gave up on the deep clean idea, did a quick wipe down and hoped that the smudged fingerprints wouldn't show too much in photos. If they did they would only add character, right? So here it is! Our mostly IKEA kitchen remodel! 

First I will share some before photos of what the kitchen looked like when we bought the house. 

Mmm isn't that linoleum yummy? Okay so it really wasn't THAT bad, just a little outdated. We had visions of a more open concept though, and I had a bright white kitchen with an undermount sink on the mind, so Kevin got to work taking down the cabinets. 

Then things got real and walls started coming down...no turning back now!

It was a long, hot summer. No, I'm not talking about the passionate, sexy kind. I'm talking about the sweaty, swollen, moody and pregnant kind. It was a long road to get it all done, but it was all worth it in the end. We could not have done it without the help of so many family and friends, a HUGE thank you to all of you. At 7-9 months pregnant I accomplished several days and late nights building cabinets, sanding trim and painting with the help of frappuccinos, slurpees and the good company of Kelci (who probably spent more time working than I did) and Kevin. I can't even begin to count the number of hours that Kevin spent working on the house. And this was after already long work days spent in the "office" known as my old bedroom at my parent's house (thanks mom and dad for housing us for a few months by the way.) All to bring this vision that I had in my head to life. He's pretty amazing to say the least.

Here's the final result!

I love putting this peachy pink color in the new kitchen. The previous owners were apparently rose lovers, and we have at least 10 bushes around the yard.

I'm in love with my huge BLANCO sink and faucet! Emery likes her new bath spot too :)

A close up of the backsplash that was apparently a huge pain to install. Sorry Kevin and Brian!

It was so much fun to have a vision in my head and see it come to life. It was a TON of work, especially with a toddler and another beeb on the way. In fact it was basically like a bad episode of a house flipping show on DIY network most of the time, but it all worked out in the end. Thank you so much again to all of the friends and family that helped make it all happen. More after photos of the house to come!

Emery's Nursery

I have finally finished putting little Em's nursery together, and I am so excited that it is actually complete! I am only about...nine months late? Kind of funny, that is about the amount of time that I carried the little bug in my tummy for. Yikes, time is skipping on ahead no matter how hard I wish it not to. This nursery was SUPPOSED to be brand new and ready for a squishy little newborn, and is now instead where my almost-walking and kind of talking (kitty kitty, bye bye and mama totally count right?) nine month old sleeps.

I'm not entirely sure what I would even call the theme or decor of this nursery. Eclectic feather fox maybe? I was mostly inspired by the gold and jewel tones in the glittery feather garland that I made for the wall space above the crib. My initial plan for the room was a gender neutral woodland animal theme. I kind of got stuck on foxes, and then of course some bunnies with a little bit of help from my sister Kelci. I have recently come to the conclusion that I fill my Kelci void with bunny things (they are her favorite animal, she is absolutely obsessed) and have accumulated bunny themed items ranging from throw pillows to Emery's snuggle blanket. Anyway, here are some photos of Emery's finally completed room. I know it is kind of a random mix of things, but I absolutely love it all! It feels so good to have that beautiful chaos migrate from my mind to real life.

The giraffe painting was a gift from my talented sister Kelci. The fox on the lower left was a thank you card from the Kimbles that I hung onto because I liked it so much (Thanks guys!). I painted the little orange fox on the bottom right, and the other four were free printables that I found on Pinterest. Twinkle Twinkle, Feathers, E print, and the "Little Bug" print I created from this neat website that lets you shape a bunch of words into any shape that you want.

The beautiful fox cross stitch was a gift for Emery from Grandma Lisa.

I love these cute little blocks from Little Sapling Toys.

I collected this colorful basket from IKEA, and super soft and beautiful blanket by Busy Spinning Thread.

Another gorgeous piece from the talented Kelci.

My absolute favorite picture of when I first put up the feathers for Emery.

Emery's favorite elephant that she enjoys talking to every morning.

I found this sweet snuggle blanket online from H&M. It is sooooo soft, and the perfect little size. And of course, covered in adorable little bunny rabbits :)

And now for fun, here are a few photos that I snapped of what the room looked like before we fixed up the house. 

Decorating nurseries is my jam. It makes me so giddy inside. Thanks for checking it out!