Christmas is Coming

So our house is a complete mess right now. We spent most of the weekend getting all of Christmas décor down from the attic. I also started the first of many trees…probably one of seven this year. That doesn’t include my trees at work. Needless to say, I am super busy! I am literally up to my head in Christmas. Yippee!!

There’s nothing like sorting through Christmas décor with a hot cocoa in hand and holiday music playing the background. It really is the most wonderful time of the year. We even had snow flurries on Sunday, which is huge in Georgia. I hope to have pictures for you all next week of at least one fully decorated tree. Until then, here is a little sneak peek of what I’ve been working on.

I’m obsessed with this ribbon! I got it from Trendy Tree, and if you haven’t taken a look at their site, you should make time to do so today. Not only did we work on transforming our home for the holidays, we also knocked out a couple of other projects. Ryan installed the lights over our bed, replaced a ceiling fan, and changed out trim.

We are slowly changing the trim around our windows from the standard style to a farmhouse look. It’s more decorative, but still very simple in my opinion. Here are a couple of pictures highlighting the farmhouse trim downstairs and in our living room. Ryan replaced the trim in our guest room yesterday, but I didn’t have an opportunity to grab a picture. Doesn’t it look good?

I’ll have to share specifics on the farmhouse trim next year. It really makes a huge difference. Stay tuned for lots of exciting projects, décor, and more.

 

 

Checking the List

Where did the year go? I realized last night that we only have six days left between now and Thanksgiving to complete our projects. November and December are always super busy for us. I don’t even try to complete projects in December anymore. That was a difficult lesson to learn. Ryan and I developed a plan last night for completing our projects and transforming our home for the holidays. The transformation begins on Halloween. It’s all about Christmas at our house! While I’m transforming our home for the holiday season, I’ve also got to complete a few more projects.

Before I mention what I hope to complete, I think it’s important to mention the progress we’ve made this year. I was really ambitious going into 2017, which was good from an accomplishment standpoint. I overworked us and spread us too thin though. Not so good. I am really proud of what we accomplished even though some of it isn’t 100% complete. If you live in a fixer upper, that’s just life.

• Converted the garage into additional living space (that was a massive project)
• Installed flooring downstairs
• Widened our closet doors and installed a new organization system
• Refreshed and reorganized our pantry
• Moved the dining room light
• Installed new window treatments
• Installed shiplap in the downstairs hallway
• Framed artwork
• Bought furniture for the den and cat room
• Installed organizational system in the downstairs closet
• Installed trim downstairs
• Tore down and rebuilt the front porch
• Built a coffee table for the living room
• Completed the dining room
• Finished craft room trim

 

 

As I mentioned above, we have some tasks I’d like to complete before Thanksgiving.

• Paint trim downstairs
• Paint the front porch
• Replace window trim in the guest room
• Install new lights and fan in the master bedroom
• Replace the old window in the cat room
• Build the bar for Ryan’s den

There are some tasks that we didn’t get to this year that I will conquer next year along with other projects.

• Install subway tile in the laundry room
• Replace the back door
• Install crown molding in the laundry room
• Finish Ryan’s office

I think we did really well! Converting the garage was the largest project, and it took months to do. It was most certainly worth the time and money. Our home has come a long way since we purchased it, and I think we are getting closer to the finish line. In a few more years, the house might actually be done! I can’t even imagine.

Starting next week, I’ll have lots of Christmas related posts for you all. From our holiday transformation to family activities, we will cover it all. Stay tuned!

 

 

 

Project Progress

Most weeks I’m super excited to share something with you, but there are weeks I have no idea what to share. This typically occurs when a project takes longer than expected or life simply gets in the way, good or bad.

Ryan and I visited Bryson City, North Carolina over the weekend. It’s a small railroad town nestled in the Great Smokey Mountains. Over the years, this little town has grown quite popular due to the Polar Express. We ride the Polar Express annually, and we’ve enjoyed other train rides here as well. Ryan has been wanting to ride the Peanuts Pumpkin Patch Express for years now, and we finally made it happen. If you have children, this is the perfect fall activity. You take a train ride to an area they’ve staged for some fall fun, which includes meeting Charlie Brown, Lucy, & Snoopy. From marshmallows to trick-or-treating, they’ve got it all. I was originally going to take a bunch of photos to share with you all, but I got caught up in the moment. That’s a good thing though. I know I tend to forget to enjoy the moments, and I’m glad I just had fun.

We also picked out our pumpkins for carving. We are going to attempt to carve some Peanuts designs that Hallmark shared via Facebook.

You’re probably looking at our pumpkins and wondering what’s going on with the railing.  We are in the process of replacing our front porch. We have made tremendous progress on this project, but the stair rails put us behind. We also had a weekend of rain, so that didn’t help matters. In a perfect world, the balusters would be on and the wood would be painted. The world is certainly not perfect, so I just decided to not worry about it. I hope we finish the porch next weekend.

Unfinished projects irritate me, and I’ve got a dozen right now. One of the projects Ryan started several weeks ago was building a coffee table for our living room. I couldn’t find what I wanted, so I decided he could build one for me. Sorry Ryan. He did a great job! I started the finishing process yesterday. After the first coat of stain, I wasn’t too happy with the way it was looking. I was trying to recreate the look of my Magnolia pieces, and the stain just wasn’t doing the job. We got in the car and visited one of my favorite shops for some dark wax. I started waxing the table last night, and I was much happier with the finish. I still have a couple of spots to finish before I seal it. Ryan is also going to add some thin trim to the edges to cover the raw boards.

I’ll have a table tutorial for you all soon. I guess I had something to share after all, progress. I’d love to hear about your projects. Have a great week!