Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Easter Parade!

Today we got to go to Sophie's school to watch their annual Easter Parade. All of the classes choose a theme & dress up to celebrate Easter & bring glory to our Risen King! 
Here are some of photos of the fun...
Sophie's class leading the parade!
They all dressed up in their Sunday best for Jesus!

Sophie carried a little purse & her Bible.

Drew really enjoyed watching the parade & several times tried to join right in!

Cute little eggs!
And chicks!
Celebrating the King of Kings!
Shining for Jesus!
"Stained glass" crosses
Fishers of men
More fisherman, they were SO cute!

This was Sophie in the parade last year...
the year when there was a fire drill in the middle of the parade in the rain!
Happy Easter everyone!

Monday, March 29, 2010

Before & Afters...

Y'all Ready for THIS! Da Da Da!

Okay, I dug back through all of the files of our house to find the best before photos to show you just how amazing the transformation has been! Once the carpet was torn out & the renovation was underway, it was easy to forget exactly where we started...Jeff & I were pretty surprised to look back at these photos & fully remember how bad things were before we began! Did I ever tell you guys that we actually closed on this house before I had ever been inside of it?!! I had seen the outside in person & Jeff showed me some photos of the inside, but he said it could be a great house...so I trusted that! And when I did see inside, I agreed with him, there was so much hidden potential here...and so here is what we have done so far to unearth that potential...hope that you enjoy this little commemorative tour!
(Please Note: We still have a LONG way to go in getting settled, so forgive us that the artwork has not yet been hung on the walls...and we are still tweaking furniture placement, etc...)
Kitchen BEFORE:
Brace yourselves, I think of course the most dramatic transformations have been in the kitchen...
How about that narrow pass-through between the upper cabinets & counter top...I hated to lose that upper storage, but that space HAD to be opened up. I told Jeff that otherwise I would feel like a short order cook in a restaurant!
Pass-through from the living room side. (Note the cool track lighting!)
Sorry that the pictures are dark, but the house was very dark before with all of the dark paneling.
And here is our NEW KITCHEN!!
MUCH brighter & more open, don't ya think?
I am really loving the way the tile turned out, it adds just the right amount of punch!

Breakfast room BEFORE:
Breakfast Room AFTER!
Okay, I know these walls are screaming for some artwork...we still have to move it over from our other house!

Laundry Room BEFORE:
Complete with yellow daisy print wall paper!
Laundry Room AFTER!
I love how painting the wall above the cabinets gives it a much more custom feel. It also makes it look like we have the taller 42 inch cabinet doors, but we don't!
We still need to hang some shelving above the washer & dryer & add a bar to hang laundry. 
Here it is in the unpacking stage...


Living Room BEFORE:
Living Room AFTER!

Dining Room BEFORE:
This room was originally the "formal" living room. 
Dining Room AFTER!
Opening up this section of wall was one of the only structural changes we made. That one little change made a huge impact on the feel and flow of the house! The house is now flooded with natural light!

Office BEFORE:
This room was the original dining room, but was not large enough for us.


Office AFTER:
This room still needs a fair amount of unpacking/arranging still & a nice pretty armoire for storage since we lost the huge office closet we had before. I'm hoping to find a wood armoire/entertainment center at a yard sale that I can paint up real purty!

Foyer BEFORE:
Foyer AFTER!

Nursery BEFORE:
Nursery AFTER!

Girls Room BEFORE:
Girls Room AFTER!

Stairway BEFORE:
Stairway AFTER!
(I know this isn't the most exciting shot!! I do look forward to putting our family photos up on the walls of the stairway to jazz things up!)

Hall Bath BEFORE:

Hall Bath AFTER!
Bye-bye sea of blue tile, I do not miss you!

Master Bedroom BEFORE:
:
(I have to say the woman who lived here did love her shelving & organizational units, but I can't argue with that!!!)

Master Bedroom AFTER!
Sammy feels very comfortable here!
Master Bath BEFORE:
They must have really LOVED this wallpaper because they even put it on the ceiling!

Master Bath AFTER!
(We are still looking for the right mirror!)

Family Room BEFORE:
This was actually one of the better spaces in the house, I'm not saying I wanted to keep it like this, but I'm just sayin' it wasn't awful (like most of the rest of the house!)

Family Room AFTER!
(Please excuse the bare mantle, I'm still thinking about exactly what I want to put up there!)

Jack's Room BEFORE:


Jack's Room AFTER!

Jack's Bath BEFORE:
This was the best original bathroom and the only one where we kept the original tile.


Jack's Bath AFTER!
It's truly amazing what just a few coats of paint can do!

I hope that you have enjoyed a little tour of our new home! We are so thankful to finally be in our house & we look forward to many wonderful years here!


But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.
Joshua 24:15