House before and after

We bought the house back in March of last year.  I think my in-laws took a bunch of pictures that I need to grab off of their computer, because we had already done some work at this point.

Some charming features that the house came with:  

~ a green water pump decoration

~ rocks for landscaping

~ a small wooden bridge as part of the front walk, which was slippery when icy and after we removed it, left an indent in the walk that became a mudslide every time it rained.  Fun!

~ Puke green paint color

~ half rotted through shed on right side

 Most of the changes we did this spring-
~ tore down the shed.  James did that single-handedly, when I was gone at Sams.  I swear I wasn't gone that long, but when I came back- the shed was down!
~ painted the house grey, after testing six different color samples.  Did you know that grey is actually a really tricky color?  They kept looking too brown or purpley.  But I finally settled on one that I liked.
~ hauled back countless amount of landscaping rocks, their decoration of choice.  Really?!?  Why the rocks?!
~ painted the shutters black, though I'd like to do something less traditional that has a punch more color.  I also want to paint the front door red.  We'll see if I get to that before it gets too cold.
~ replaced the light by the front door.  You can't see them, but the old ones had moose on them.  Had to go.
~ the missionaries tore up the old walkway, and James poured a new one, with a little help from some friends.  No more mud!
~ extended the landscaping pavers out, creating a curve more pleasing to the eye.  Some of these I layed and relayed and relayed, making sure that they were level.  I'd do it one day, and the next day have to do it again because they had settled weirdly.  A professional, I am not. :)
~ planted a whole bunch of shrubs and flowers and one small weeping cherry.  This was really fun for me to plan out, finding the plants and colors that I like, and making sure that they would all look good together.  I enjoyed it.

We had a hot summer, and a few of the small plants didn't survive, but most of them did really well!  We're both really pleased with how it turned out, and think it adds a lot of curb appeal.

Next step, the side yard.  The left side has raspberry bushed all along the side (awesome!) but the right side where the shed was is an eyesore.  We're trying to level it out, move some landscaping rocks - because of course the previous owners put some over there as well- and get ready to plant grass seed.  The flowers/landscaping can wait until next spring.    We love our home~  and most of the time we love the projects that come with it! :)                  

Before and After

I haven't posted very much about my house, which has been a work in progress.  But it's our first, and we still love it!!  This is showing the changes we made to the fireplace.  The "before" picture isn't very good, because we had already taken down the black curtain hanging over the TV area, and I wallpapered over the black behind the bookshelves.  

Before:  

yucky 70's wood shelves

black behind bookcases

huge black mantel

painted black doors to cabinets

After:

bookshelves painted white

beautiful mantel made by my hubbie

wallpaper behind shelves

counters and cupboards stripped and stained

decorated with the help of pinterest (decorating is hard!  I need inspiration! :))

We're about done with this room, and I'm so glad that it's not the dark cave it was before!  I want to paint it a slightly lighter tan, and paint the brass accents of the fireplace insert to be silver.  I'll have to get a picture of the whole room, but we swapped out the plaid couch for another brown one, switched up the arrangement of the room, and painted the bow window white.  

James and I are a good team, and we usually have some project in the works.  Right now we're taking a breather, but I'll try to keep posting about the changes we have made to our house in the last year and half we've lived here!

Oh Logan Logan

He needs more attention, obviously.  The girls and I were trying hard to look disapproving, but kept cracking up.  This was sooo bad!  :)  I just buzzed the whole thing, and then buzzed it a week later to get it evened up.  Wow.

The start of school

The girls really wanted to go to school this year.  To the actual school, with a teacher that's not me.

Honestly...   it's been really hard.  Part of me was relieved to not have the burden of teaching.  Home schooling is a LOT of work.  I felt like a failure, like we were giving up.  I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do.  I even felt rejected, like I wasn't good enough for them as a teacher.  Clearly, some therapy is needed. :)

They have loved it from day one.  They love the school supplies, the routine, the friends, the backpack, the planners, the teachers, the desks and the lockers.  I knew they would, and I am glad they are having this experience.  I miss having them home.  It's hard for me to let them go off and spend the bulk of their day with people I don't know.  It's hard for me to not know what they're doing.  I tell myself that this is the natural way of things, that they need to grow up and have these experiences.

But I'm grumpy about it.

I want to be teaching them!  I really enjoyed it, and I miss doing it.  I might just be romanticizing the experience, but I still really like the idea of home schooling.  I go into their classrooms once a week to help out, and I swear that SO much time is wasted because of class sizes, and the few disruptive kids.  Brighton gets frustrated because she is the model student and just wants to learn, but other people keep talking and interrupting the teacher.  They both LOVE having friends though.  :)  I catch them holding hands with their best buds on their way out to recess.  Brighton and Brooklyn have recess and lunch together, and usually choose to play with each other, along with a mash-up of their friends.

I don't think it's easier on me, having them at school.  I had to rearrange my morning schedule to get them out the door on time.  My two most helpful kids are gone for most of the day.  And I have this false sense of freedom because I only have 3 kids now, so I "should" be able to run errands!  And then I remember that I still have 3 kids.

I'm hoping that they will want to stay home after this year.  But for now, they are having fun and I'm adjusting.