Making Gingerbread Houses

Well, we had some extra materials left-over from our bathroom project. Since I had been wanting to do something to spruce up our entryway I decided to just get it done.

Before:

Sorry this picture is very blurry but this is before we touched anything. Still has carpet on stairs, linoleum on floor and unpainted trim and door.

A little progress with painted trim and door.

 After:

Here is the bench I made. Those baskets I got from Target and made the tags to attach to each one. These have been great for hats and gloves. I want to paint the bench yellow. But since gray is what we had on hand that is what it will be for now.

We had such a wonderful Fall. Our first real snow fall was December 1st. I thought it was the perfect time to get snow. Fortunately we got Eric his new winter toy just before the storm. My apprehension for this winter has eased a bit since we bought it so, let it snow.

Sarah insists on wearing Ryan's fur-lined hat because it's so nice and soft

Ryan helping Dad shovel with his mini shovel

I know there really wasn't that much snow from this storm to warrant a snow blower. But since we have it we might as well use it.  Side note: our neighbors have warned us that because of the wind here, the snow drifts often get higher than that sign next to Eric.

Lots to be thankful for...

This Thanksgiving we were so lucky to have family come to see us. Eric's parents came out on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and left the next Monday. We had so much fun with them, and the kids just loved having them here.

Sarah is so hot and cold with showing her affection. However, with Papa and Baba she certainly didn't hold back. They got lots of hugs and kisses from her.

I feel bad that I didn't get any Thanksgiving Day pictures. We were just so busy cooking and enjoying each others' company that I completely forgot. We had lots of turkey, black Friday ads and football...lots and lots of football.

 The day after Thanksgiving we set up our beautiful tree. Mom and Dad bought it for us for Christmas. What a great gift!

Grandma was so good playing with the kids downstairs. They were in heaven.

We love you Papa and Baba!! Come see us again soon!!

Our little Fox and the Hound. Happy Halloween!

It seems the older Sarah gets the more Ryan likes to tease and make her scream which really drives me crazy. However, because of that it makes their happy noises a lot more enjoyable. We were making orange julius and they were in charge of blending. They clearly had a great time.

Here is Sarah's room. It is basically finished. Almost everything in her room was from Goodwill, rummage sales, or made with love:).

I found this bed at a rummage sale. It was dark and ugly but the shape of it was lovely. Thanks to my dear friend, Jana who let me use her car to get it home :) I know she was wondering why in the world I spent $20 on such an ugly piece of furniture. Two of the legs were badly dinged so I used wood putty to patch it, then carved out the detail to match the other legs. I then finished it with a nice coat of paint.

 I found that mirror at Goodwill and painted it a champagne color. I also painted those canvases almost two years ago.

 I found the nightstand at goodwill it was a green-stained mess. Then matched the hardware to the mirror. The lamp was also a find from Goodwill. Although the lampshade is from Target and yes, I have yet to take off the plastic.

 

I also bought the large frame from Goodwill, painted it to match the nightstand and painted a board with magnetic paint and chalk paint. I made the little banner hanging above it.

 The room is a bit strange because it has that little cut-out section in the corner. Since Sarah loves books and drawing so much, I decided to make a couple of pallet bookshelves (left over from when we had our wood floor material delivered) and use the corner for a little reading/art area.

 She loves it. I often find her in this area drawing and looking at her books.

I have been working on getting the kids' rooms put together, and Sarah's room is just about there. I'm in the middle of finishing a couple more projects, and then I will post some pictures of her room. In the meantime I also finished this dresser that I bought from Goodwill in Milwaukee. I miss that Goodwill so much!! I found so many great finds there. So those of you still in Milwaukee take advantage of it! This dresser was $14.99. But I had a 20% off coupon making it even cheaper. I really was going to take a "before" picture but as usual it was a spur-of-the-moment project. I started priming and then remembered I hadn't taken a picture. So just imagine a dark, beat-up dresser. Anyway, I've been dying to try something like this so I'm very happy that it all came together like I had hoped. The paint is a light gray. We had some left-over paint from our wall painting project upstairs. (Yes, we've repainted the living room/kitchen/entryway. I'll post more updated pictures later). I used the same stain on the drawers as I used on Ryan's bed. The dresser came with silver knobs, but I really wanted to add some texture so I tied knots over the existing knobs with twine. Prior to refinishing this dresser Ryan wasn't happy that I had swapped dressers with Sarah (this one was initially supposed to go in Sarah's room but in the end it just didn't work). But now that I refinished it, he loves it.

I did get a before and after picture of my kitchen chairs.

Since we moved into our house we've been very busy with various projects. We've been asked to take some pictures of our house so far. Again, I'm not very good at taking "before" shots. But that said, our projects aren't completely finished so hopefully we'll have some better "after" pictures to show soon.

Here is the exterior. Our shutters are now black, and we painted our door a very dark blue to replace the maroon. I'm excited to find a cute Fall wreath to put on the door. We are hoping to do more with the yard next year. But until then this will have to do.

Here are the stairs that go to the living room/kitchen. This project took quite a bit of time. We ripped up carpet, installed new wood stair treads and risers, sanded and stained the handrail to match the stairs and painted the trim and spindles white.

 Here is a view from above of our entryway. I still need to paint the doors, and the walls are going to get painted a new color. We'd also like to build a small bench to put against the right wall and I'd like to add some wainscoting as well. 

When we moved in, the carpet was in rough shape and the kitchen had vinyl flooring. So we replaced it with this new flooring.

 

Here is another view of our living room. We also built the TV stand that you seen in the right corner. (I'll get more pictures later.) Also I'd like to paint in here. There are some paint samples on the wall; not sure why I haven't taken them down.

Here is our dining area. Those are chairs I painted and reupholstered. I'm just waiting to get a table that I really like. I want a farmhouse table similar to this one: http://www.restorationhardware.com/catalog/product/product.jsp?productId=prod370026&categoryId=cat500016.  Also, you see that mirror? Well my friends, that is the only thing hanging on our walls (besides curtains) so far. So that may be why you hadn't seen many pictures of our house yet.
Anyway, that's all for today even though I know you're all dying for more hahaha.

Sarah is one tough cookie. I tried again and this was as good as I got. I think I need to break down and hire a professional! Anyway, we sure love this little girl. Can't believe my baby is two!