I Heart Baby Photography :)

This past weekend I had my first "official" photo shoot since I decided to go forward with photography. I had done several last summer just to find out whether or not it was something I really wanted to do, and the end result was: I definitely want to do this! I love it! And I love babies! (I better, since I've got 2 of them, right?? haha) So Saturday's newborn photo shoot with baby Fallon was a load of fun. :) Here are a few of my favorites:

The second one is definitely my favorite! Sweet little baby yawn. :) I am so excited to send Fallon's momma the rest of them!

Since we are on the topic of baby photography, yesterday was the 14th, which is picture day at our house.. It's so convenient that both of my girls were born on the 14th! Yesterday, Sadie turned 14 months and Lacie turned 4 months. :) Growing girls.. Here are a few of their unbirthday shots:

 

MY FAVORITE!!! :)

I am now REALLY excited to get that last one printed on canvas and hang it somewhere in the house. :) I love how much Sadie loves her baby sister! So thankful that jealousy isn't an issue - hope it stays that way!!

Goodbye, paneling.. Hello, work

Well, last night was the kick-off of our whole-home reno. Let me first explain our reasons for this huge undertaking..


Our house was previously my grandparents' house. They lived here for many, many years, and had done lots of work to the house themselves. I'd LOVE to see pictures of what it was like when they bought it (for only $10,000! which was big bucks back then) but I don't know that any exist. So this house has a lot of sentimental value to me... but the paneling and broken tiles don't. :) There are a lot of things that just need updated. Josh also is not too keen on the thoughts of mowing this hill for the rest of his days..

...especially since this picture is only maybe 1/4 of the hill, and doesn't include the bottom tier below.

So we know that at some point down the road we'll be moving somewhere with a flatter yard and more bedroom space for kids yet to come. We have decided to redo all of the things we most dislike about the house, making it something that we love, and something that the next owner will love, too. :)

So here's where we started: the 'multipurpose' room... In 3 years, this room has been a spare bedroom, an office, a craft room, a bedroom again, a junk room, a bedroom again (only this time with a crib - talk about cramped), and now a playroom. Our goal is to make this not only a fun place for the girls to play, but also a room that can easily go back to whatever else we may need it to be (keeping my fingers crossed that it will one day revisit 'craft room'). Here's the paint color:

It's Valspar and the paint chip was taken from their website - which, until now, I had no idea you could do. We also picked up some black chalkboard paint to make the girls some built-in framed chalkboards. I'm hoping to tie in the black with some giant charcoal-colored flower silhouettes.. Something like these:

That is if I can paint them to look reasonably similar.. We'll see. :) All the trim will be painted white - a decision I'm totally thrilled about! After months of considering what to do with the trim, Jenny at Anything Pretty has totally convinced me to tackle it with a paintbrush and Ace Cabinet and Trim Paint.  Cant wait to show you the 'afters'! Until then, here are the 'befores':

Here's what is now the playroom.. fully equipped with a Sadie to enjoy it :)

And here is the paneled hallway just outside the playroom:

The light that we totally hate..

The doorbell that will be getting a facelift

So there's what we've got to work with over the weekend! Here's hoping our afters will look fantastic in comparison. :D

The List

It's official - we have started our massive remodel project.. And when I say massive, what I really mean is titanic. Here's our list of to-do's - in no particular order:

• Tear out every last stitch of paneling & replace it with drywall (in the spare bedroom, 2 hallways, the stairway, the pantry, and the laundry room)
• Get & paint new baseboards
• Paint all doors, trim, and window casings
• Paint for all rooms (except the girls' room)
• Total kitchen reno
• Major bathroom overhaul
• New flooring everywhere except the girls' room
• Lots of new light fixtures (yay!)
• Build and install a banister for the stairway (which really should be at the top of the list, now that Sadie finds amusement in climbing the stairs as fast as she can)
• Give the front porch a big facelift
• Box in exposed beams in the living room
• Create a built-in hutch around a wall that will eventually come down
• Lots of furniture painting/refinishing
• Possibly some furniture reupholstering (though I'm hoping to avoid this daunting task)
• Cover our brick porch with stone facade
• Paint the foundation & shutters
• Work our some nicer year-around landscaping
• And just because Josh loves it so much - bleaching the fence. ;) Haha..

Yeah. That's a huge list.. Which feels even longer when I stop to realize that we have 2 babies to take care of.. And the puniest of budgets. But, DIYing is something we both love (not that we are all too skilled at it - yet) and we are lucky to have a couple great home improvement surplus stores within reasonable driving distance. :) Plus, this will provide plenty of blog posts with tons of before & afters! And even if nobody on earth cares enough to read this, it'll be fun for us to look back on. So, mark it down - March 7, 2012 - DIY renovation start date... Let's see how long this takes.. haha. :)