dining, breakfast nook and laundry!

Hello everyone! Sorry it's been a awhile...I'll try to catch up a little today and finish the downstairs :) (or I guess it's the main floor- the basement started unfinished and still that way!) In other news...just work and school :) We are both keeping busy. We were really sad that we had to miss Abbey's eighth grade promotion. We are proud of her and thought she looked so pretty (and grown up) in all her pictures! My parents and Abbey stayed with us last night and we took them to the airport this morning. They are on their way to London and then to Qatar to see B and Celia! We know they will have lots of fun. We can't wait to pick them up in 2 weeks. I'm not sure what I'll do, not being able to call my mom whenever I want for 2 weeks?!? I'm also really jealous...I wish Joe and I could have gone along! Maybe next time!

Anyway- hope everyone has a great memorial weekend. Here are some pics :)

Dining Room:

We think they used this room as a playpen for their kids and animals :) The walls and carpet were filthy! Notice the chandelier...it actually gets "re-used" in another room upstairs (after a make-over)

All empty- no more popcorn ceilings...primed walls...no flooring!

Paint color...round 1! (It matched the rug, but clashed with the kitchen color!)Paint color...round 2! Also see Joe's handy work on the faux wainscott!

Dining room...finished and ready for guests :) My favorite light fixture (Joe gave it to me for my Christmas gift!)Breakfast nook: Not the greatest picture, but shows the popcorn and previous ceiling fan! In between stage... I don't have a good picture of our work area, but you can see the purple base (Joe's old drafting table). We took this base and put an old door on it (which was Joe's desk in college)- this "table" became our work table. We set it up in the breakfast nook- lots of work was completed here!And...finished! Sorry it is kind of dark- you can't see the green color very well. It's about the same color as my old bug (which I miss!) and is one of our favorite "rooms" in the house!

Finally- the laundry/half bath: Yes- it was also the "lovely" pink color! I don't have many pics- so no "in between" stages. The washer and dryer will go behind the half wall.

After... (the blue actually looks a little darker in real life)

You can see the new floor...And our craigslist washer and dryer- working great so far!

Kitchen- before and after!

Hello everyone! I'm once again avoiding studying...I have a test in the morning, but instead I've decided to add another round of pictures! Besides that- my mom, dad and Abbey made a visit to KC last weekend. It was lots of fun to have more guests and spend time with them. We are looking forward to going to Manhattan this weekend for graduation.

Anyway, tonight I thought I would do the kitchen...

Here is the only good "before" picture that I have (don'tmiss the lovely border that would NOT come off AND the gross ceilings stained from the vents)- yuck!!

I don't have any pics of us actually scraping the ceilings in the kitchen, so I thought I would just include one of what we looked like during the weeks we were scraping and sanding all the ceilings! It was such a messy job!!! I'm so glad we are done with that and LOVE our new flat ceilings (with no stains) :)
Here is an "in-between" picture! The cabinets are off and have gotten their first sanding. The floors are all pulled up (it left hundreds of 1 1/2" staples in the floor that we had to hammer in by hand before we couldn't scrape them out- another "not-so-fun" job!) The border is also finally down- I had to eventually give in and buy a steamer! There is still lots of dust in the air - you can see the reflections of the specks of dust!
Here is the kitchen....almost done!! no floors or backsplash and the countertops aren't done. Notice the pile of paint cans- I think we ended up with about double that! (you can also get a sneak peak of the dining room and breakfast nook- more pics coming soon :)

And...the final product! Yeah! My mom says she like the cabinets now- even though she cringed when she found out we were painting the oak :) We think the kitchen is much brighter now! We loving have a spot for all of our kitchen gadgets that we got for our wedding! Now...if I can just find time to cook more often!

My kitchen desk area!

Haircuts!

Fiona and Finlee were getting really shaggy and finally got haircuts! They always look like completely different dogs after their salon visits! Here are some pics!

House Work!

Hello again! It's definitely not as easy as I thought it would be to update this regularly...oh well! I'll keep trying. Our weeks have been the same lately...just work and school. I'm still doing pediatrics. I love the kids, but really can't see myself doing this for the rest of my life :( The only rotation I have left is OB-Gyn, which I start a week from Monday. I really hope this is the career for me. I have a feeling I'm going to like it. (i hope...cross your fingers!) Joe has been working hard at work. They are doing the "Henderson Olympics" this month. Joe's bowling team got first place, and right now his floor (floor #2) is in first place also. We have also had some fun weekends. Last weekend, we had our housewarming party! We had 4 other couples over. Joe smoked pork and brisket. There was lots of good food and lots of beer! It was so great to see all of our friends. We had so much fun and still can't believe our house is ready for guests! We look forward to doing it again soon.

Now, I'll start putting up some before and after pics of the house...room by room!

Today...The Living Room!

Here is the fireplace before...

During... (notice the reflections from all the dust while we were scraping the ceiling!- gross!!)

Nearing the end... (everything primed- notice some of the kitchen cabinets on the floor, getting their "make-over" :)

And....the finished product!! (the girls wanted to be in the pictures!) Notice my contractor's (that would be Joe!!) awesome work with the built-ins!! He made them look just like the picture I drew for him. Joe and I did all the work, except installing the carpet. We spend a lot of time in the living room now- especially enjoying Joe's new TV that he dreamed about for many months!

We hope you all have a great weekend. Hopefully I can update again soon! (it is a great way to avoid studying :)