Aiden's Room Upgrade

When Jacob and I were discussing decorating for the baby's room, we decided (with a lot of convincing for me) to install hardwood floors in the bedroom. Once it was in, it looked so nice (photos to be posted soon!) that we wanted to do the rest of the bedrooms upstairs, eventually. Well, eventually turned out to be 2 months later. For Aiden's room at least. It made the most sense to install the floors now, before the baby came, so Aiden had somewhere to sleep while his room was under construction.

This is a very old picture of Aiden's room... from when we first moved in

Again, very very old

As the carpet was being taken out... 

So with the help of Jacob's parents, they were able to get them installed in one day, and what a difference! Aiden always had sneezing/coughing attacks in his room at night, and I wonder if the carpet was the culprit. While all the furniture was out, Jacob also painted the room Aiden's favorite color; blue!

Aiden was also able to tell us where he wanted all his pictures hung up, and furniture placed, so he really loves it in there now! Just look at that proud boy!

Entry Bench

Like us, you've probably seen a million pins on Pintrest where someone takes a headboard and turns it into a bench and think, that looks so easy! Well, I'm here to tell you... it is! At least according to Jacob (he's the one that did the following project). We've been on the lookout for headboard/foot-boards from estate sales for the past year or so and haven't been able to find any that we thought would work. But a few months ago, Jacob found once sale that had 3 possibilities... In the end, we finally settled on this one:

Not the nicest, but we knew it had potential. After cutting the foot boards down to size for the arms, he was able to fasten them to the headboard. He was also able to use the side support pieces from the bed frame for the front and center braces. Once he had the frame built, he used plywood as the seat, and spray painted the whole thing black.

I also bought a 2in foam piece from JoAnn's and was able to make a cushion using fabric I already had in my stash (you may remember it from this project). I did have to buy fabric for the coordinating pillows, but the pillows themselves were from around the house that we weren't using... We always seem to have extra throw pillows lying around the house.

We previously had a small bench in the entry for people to take their shoes off when they come over, but it just wasn't cutting it. It was too small and would tip if you sat on it... which pretty much defeated the whole purpose. Now this bench can support our family of 4 (for a +/- a few weeks at least) and then some. The kids like it, so I suppose that's all that matters!

What a Difference 3 Years Makes

When we first looked for a house in this area 3 years ago, there was one that popped up down the street that we really wanted (let me re-phrase that, Jacob wanted it, I thought he was crazy - this neighborhood was way too nice), but due to the bank/listing issues (it was a foreclosure), we couldn't get in to see it. Then another one became available on the same street shortly after... but because of the same issues, we couldn't see it. Then ours came on the market... Let me tell you, based on this picture, I think we were crazy....

All the work we had to put into it... what were we thinking? Maybe the fact that we were paying rent in our old house to the new owners until we found a place had something to do with it... Well it only took us 3 years (so far) to really get things the way we wanted. And the most recent major upgrade? New siding and windows in the back... Seeing the before and afters, maybe we weren't so crazy after all... What do you think?

Working on the backyard, putting the play-set in this past May

We've gotten so many compliments on how everything looks from neighbors walking by; we've even had a few people driving by who slow to almost a complete stop, looking at the changes. I'd call that a success!