Odds and End Tables

As we anxiously await the arrival of Baby Rogers (only 5 weeks left!!), we are getting the house ready for a baby shower at our house. It seemed only logical to have the shower at our house since I have friends coming from Mattawan, Battle Creek, Grand Rapids, Muskegon, Howell, and other areas on the east side of the state. Of course I will miss my out-of-state friends, you know who you are :)

So with that, we are doing many odds and ends throughout the house to get it ready to show off to the many friends, some of whom I haven't seen in years!

We are trying to de-clutter the house a tad, so one of the projects Jason decided to get to, was painting and adding a door to these tables we have in the sunroom. I found many items to shove in these open tables like books and scrapbooking boxes, but here is at least a before pic.

So Jason sanded it down, and painted with a gloss black paint. Then he added a front door that comes down forward, with a nice long handle.  Now I can hide many items without everyone having to see them! Plus it makes the space look A LOT less cluttered. This makes things much easier on me since I have trouble finding "homes" for items when our basement is floor to ceiling full!

With the cold weather fastly approaching, Jason is trying to get all the siding up that he had to take down in order to do the closet addition. So with today being nice and sunny, even though a chilly 55 degrees, he is trying to at least get this side of the house done since guests will be coming in thru the back porch.

On top of all that, the back porch has needed some TLC since it was somewhat destroyed while working just above it for the addition. Jason has drywalled the ceiling (much needed) and given the walls some mudding and sanding as well. Since I am getting too big to help with much else, at least I can paint! So I painted the walls, which still need some touch up, and helped Jason put up the crown molding. Jason is still caulking the gaps and then I can give the trim a coat of white paint.

Jason has placed the mud room like built-in back on the porch, which will be nice for the shower since we can at least hang some coats and put shoes back here. I am still amazed that he made this.....such a talented hubby!!

So with that, we will continue to get ready for the shower which is in just 1 week!! Thankfully my rents are coming to help give the inside a good cleaning! I can't wait to have the house full of friends!

The Infamous Closet Addition

Knowing that Baby Rogers is on his way, we decided to add on to our house in order to make room for him.

Jason got started with the foundation.

He sure does know how to Demo!

Here it is all framed up like new construction.

Jason had to make a doorway from the baby's room into the new closet.

Next up is the drywall.....which always means tons of muding and sanding...which equals tons of dust!! Jason also took the carpet that was in the baby's room to put it in the closet.

I left for a girls weekend, and when I came home.....Jason had all the shelving built! So the next step was priming, and of course we called for reinforcements....the rents!

Lots and lots of painting!!

The shelves are all painted. Jason also started adding drawers to the bottom of the shelves, which he adds beautiful beadboard faces to later! We found a big beautiful mirror just in case you want to have a fashion runway in the closet. We were also testing out the shoe rack!

Lots of space to hang clothes and more shelving for some bins!

The shoe rack is finished, although there seems to be some spots for some more shoes! Also there are drawers beneath with custom built faces out of beadboard, my favorite!

I was able to pull out my purses from the basement so I can stop digging for them in bins. I started hanging Austin's clothes! I love being able to see all my pants hanging!

Oh how I love that I have space for more clothes!! We found these bins at Lowe's after looking at just about everywhere.

Ahhh the closet is over 95% finished! Still a few things to touch up later!

We can't forget Jason's hard work on the built-in. We decided back in the beginning not to have a door into the closet. So Jason built a wall and rather than look directly into the closet and all of it's items, you can see a built-in with it's own light. Knowing Jason and I, we more than likely will change out these items for some modern decorations like a vase.

All We're Missing is the Lil' Man Himself

There's nothing but relief that this room is mostly put together and in place for Baby Roger's arrival. With 8 weeks left, I was starting to get anxious when just a week ago, the walls, the room, and the floor was bare!

The bedding by Lambs & Ivy is just adorable! A beautiful sage color with hints of chocolate! Neutral enough that we can easily use again for the next babe....but let's focus on this one first!

If you ever go house shopping with me, I will probably say at least once..."I love signs!" It's so true! I love any sign with words or phrases or quotes of some sort! So when my Mom and I saw this one at a cute store in Holland, it didn't take but two seconds for me to say yes!

So happy to have a beautiful and comfortable glider since I know I'll be spending LOTS of time in it. Jason bought me a sage colored blanket for the chair. I also got my Boppy all ready since I know how much more comfortable things can be with this nice little pillow! We have a little end table that I bought at a second-hand furniture store in Grand Rapids. We sanded it down and painted it the off-white color of the trim in the room. You can see the Laundry hamper my mom bought me next to the little table. Also, there is a little polka dot tote next to the chair with toys in it for now. My mom bought me two of them which she thought would be great for bringing things up and downstairs since we'll spend a lot of time on the main level.

We hung a cute frame with a pug picture in it for now, but we are planning on adding a cute newborn photo! To the right of the frame, is a Carol Roeda magnet display board. I love these magnets. You can put scrapbook paper behind the photos and magnets and easily change out photos frequently. It's like having a scrapbook  page on the wall!

Above the dresser is a painting that I did back when we first painted this room. I like to add my own photography to rooms but this time I tried to add my own little painting. Inspired by David Bromstad from Colorsplash to do it but he is just way too talented!! We just added the dresser in last night after debating changing table vs. dresser, buy a new one vs. re-do an old one, long or short, etc. It fits the space quite perfect since this is in the walkway to the new walk-in closet. Of course you gotta have your diaper genie!!

This is a close-up of the burp cloths my talented Mom made!

Not that I want little Austin to get here any sooner than when he is due, but at least we are more prepared in case he does happen to arrive early.

From Kitchen... to Office... to Baby's Room

When we moved into this house, the upstairs was a 2nd apartment or mother-in-law's suite. The color was a very awful teal/green color! Jason had a good time demo-ing this wall. Oh, and don't forget to look at that weird rounded door to the left...

The wall colors were changed to a light grey. Jason placed a peice of artwork on the wall as he often does. We had to add a dresser, as we have very little closet space in this house, which later leads to Jason adding on a large walk-in closet right off this very room!

Now the room is a sage color  to match some drapes that my parents passed onto us when they got new ones. It just so happened to make a perfect color for a baby's room since we bought this paint before we even knew we were having a baby. I'll probably add something on the wall and this will more than likley have a dresser/changing table on this wall.

This view is walking into the room and looking to the right. The two toned closet door is open, so you don't see the built in cabinets behind it.

Kept the set-up with the desk in the corner

And now the crib replaces the desk! It is still a work-in-progress but once it's done, I'll be sure to blog the nursery in detail!

The cabinets sure were able to hold many things, but it's time to make room for my new glider! Little did I know that Jason was also anxious to get rid of this tiny closet as well, so this also disappeared from the room.

Poof, they are gone! Well Jason will tell you it wasn't that easy....

The wall has been drywalled and primed. Next step is painting this wall back to the color it has been, which is a sage/blue color. Jason also tore out the carpet to put into the closet addition and we will add new carpet to this room.

Now it is painted and has much more space that is well needed in this tiny room.

Now the space can handle my glider without those bulky cabinets and closet door. Some furniture rearranging still needs to happen so I can have my little table next to me without it being awkward, but overall, this has been fun watching this room transform over the past 5 years.

  

Love this Crib

After waiting over 14 weeks for it to arrive, we were finally able to put the crib together in the room! When I say we..... I mean that I watched while Jason put it together in what seemed like two seconds.

 My favorite part about the next picture is that Lily is so excited that someone is finally down to her level. She couldn't stay away from the crib while we were on the floor putting it together. Maybe she thinks it's for her...

 Ahhh, the beautiful Baby's Dream Furniture Legendary Curve Expresso Crib!! I can't wait to add some beautiful bedding, mobile, and of course the name above the crib!

Tornado = New Garage

It was always a running joke ever since we moved into our house, that secretly something would cause harm to our leaning one-car garage. In June of 2008, our prayers were answered! A tornado came tearing through the neighborhood. I happened to be in Grand Rapids working my weekend at the Butterworth ER and Jason was at National Guard in Greenville. We came home to the disaster you see below....

Our neighbors tree shed a branch during the tornado, which helps you imagine that it is similiar in size to the tree planted in our yard. Since our neighbors did not want to pay their deductible to have the tree removed, we had to take matters into our own hands.

We were happy to give away free firewood to those that would come and get it! Notice how tiny the little garage is behind the guys....it's a huge difference when you see the pictures below.

So down came the old garage and in came new cement. However, in order to keep the old building codes, we had to leave one wall of the old garage up.

We just had to place our mark!

Thanks to some help from friends, the garage went up a little faster!

You can remind yourself of the itty bitty one car garage from my first blog. Now this, is a much needed improvement!