…and make room for me!

I’ll be making a trip to Lowe’s later today. Unfortunately the flusher thingy on our toilet in the downstairs bathroom broke. At first it just broke where the rod attached to the flusher thingy. So in the meantime we could just pull up on the rod to make it flush.

Last night I was watching Modern Family while eating this:

And I hear Mr. Curly Fry yell for me to go into the bathroom. Umm, I’m eating ice cream! Please don’t disturb me! LOL! But he made me put it down (the nerve!) and go in there. Yeah, he broke the rod in half. Do not ask me HOW he managed to do that. So I had to tape it to something else so that it wouldn’t fall into the water. Gross! THIS is why I’m in charge of repairs, home projects, etc.

So yeah, that’s why I’m on my way to Lowe’s to pick up a new rod thingy. Hopefully that is all I need. But needless to say, this trip should be interesting seeing as I don’t use the actual part names. Instead, it’s a rod, flusher thingy, etc. I guarantee I won’t make it out of there without asking for assistance!

Wish me luck!

In an effort to get my kitchen more organized, I cleaned out the pantry. Oh what a task that was! As you can see, it was a disaster, and it needed cleaned out in the worst way. I had no idea what was in there, and I knew there were some items in there past their expiration date!

Here are the before pictures:

It was quite the mess, wasn’t it? Looking for something in there was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Seriously! So I put on some music and went to work.

Here’s what it looked like when I was done:

And here are a few close-up shots…

I threw out 3 trash bags full of expired food

Now let’s see how long it stays that clean & organized! Shall we place any bets?!

When we bought the house, it didn’t have any hardware on the kitchen cabinets. Over a year later, we finally got around to purchasing cabinet hardware and putting them on.

I’m not a fan of white cabinets, but they aren’t in bad shape so I figured I’d jazz them up a bit.

And I can’t wait to get new appliances – I’m hoping to do that at the beginning of the year! And next up (I hope!) is putting up a back splash! And painting. I can’t wait to get new counter tops, a new floor, and a center island. If money only grew on trees…

Here are a few pics of what the cabinets looked like when we bought it:

And here are a few pics after putting the hardware on:

So in honor of being in our house for a year, I figured I should post some pics since we’ve updated the joint. Today the spotlight is on the living room!

We got it painted (check out the new colors!), got new shades (my FAVE! They are the top down/bottom up), new lighting fixtures, etc. We still need to put up more pictures/wall decor. That will be coming soon!

First up: Shades. I ordered these online from Blinds Chalet. LOVE! They’ve got great prices. And let me tell you their customer service is superb. I had a bit of an issue with a few of the blinds…and they went above and beyond to fix it. I’d recommend them to anyone, and I’ll definitely be making a future purchase. Let’s take a peek…

These are just opened with the bottom up:

These are top down! I love having this option.

This is our sofa. Besides my bed, this is my favorite piece of furniture!

To the left:

To the right (sorry about the bad glare!)

TV, and other technology, lol!

My WINE CABINET! (That desperately needs to be filled!)

I’ll put the picture of the Foyer here, since it opens up to the living room. I love the way the color of the foyer and the color of the living room look next to each other.

I haven’t had a chance to blog lately because I’ve been wrapped up in the joys of Home Ownership. There’s nothing like waiting til the last minute to have the exterior of your house painted, to power wash and stain the deck, and trim the outside bushes. Everything had to be done by yesterday, and I think we got everything done.

My Dad and I also installed a storm door, which I absolutely love. You know you’re old when a storm door excites you! LOL. I don’t have a picture of the door, but I’ll have to post one to show you what a gem it is!

I can post a picture of the deck. I power washed it on Saturday, and then Carlos and I spent Sunday staining it. What a project that was. But we got it done, and it looks great! When we moved into the house, it was a red color, which is not permitted in my neighborhood (gotta love the HOA). So I chose a Chestnut Brown (although personally I don’t think it looks like a chestnut brown? But Behr says it is…) since I needed something that would cover the illegal red.

Here is a before picture (well, from a year ago – in the year I’ve owned the house it has definitely faded):

And this is what it looks like now…

Now it’s time to start getting ready for vacation!!! I can’t wait. This is definitely a much needed vaca.

I love this time of year – baseball, football, FALL, chilly weather, and lots more!

What do you like most about this time of year?