{ floors + island }

yahtzee! Philip finished the floors and island late last Friday. We were so excited to finally have a little bit of the kitchen in working order again. We are now shopping for a countertop and are planning on looking for butcher block. We still don't have quarter-round on the edges, but its' on its way!

christmas to do list

...our front window decorations...

Only a week until Christmas! I love this time of year, but it always seems to come faster than I expected. I decided to make a list of things I hope to do. Is that bad? I mean I know its a break, but I always wish I had got certain things done.

• Start exercising over break {I have been meaning to get back into it & maybe having free time will help!}
• Sleep in {this will be easier for me than for Philip}
• Finish Christmas shopping before the 23rd...
• Find a new tv series to watch {Philip + I watched Grey's Anatomy from season 1 this fall and we are all caught up}
• Enjoy being with our friends & families
• Start some traditions 
• Find a refrigerator on sale so we can put it in when break is done
• Watch at least one Christmas movie
• Find some good music we both like {we have $15 to itunes...any suggestions??}

...so I realize some of them are not specific or measurable, but oh well.

Christmas Card Wreath

I got this idea from an old Martha Stewart magazine this season. It is a Christmas card wreath. It was super easy - I just wish we would get more Christmas cards so I can fill it up! 

Here's how you do it...

Need: 

• Embroidery Circle
• Clothes pins
• Strong glue (I used Aileen's Craft Glue)
• Ribbon

Directions: 

1. Spread out your clothespins facing alternating directions evenly around the circle
2. Glue them into place & let dry for however long it requires
3. Tie up nicely with a fun ribbon

I feel like I didn't need to type that out it was so easy. Seriously. I don't normally have it sitting in the window, but my house is a mess with renovations & I wanted it in the sunlight...So there is it. 

wood floors { in progress }

Here are a few pictures of the floors in progress. Philip tore out the old flooring & put down felt paper which is pictured on the left. He has already put the new cabinets in for the island. On the right he is nailing in the new hardwood floors. We got a steal of a deal at Floor Traders - I think that is what it is called. We were originally going to put in unfinished and he would finish the floors, but it was going to be incredibly disruptive & time consuming. We found this oak floor on sale & it was exactly the amount of square footage we needed. I'll be posting pictures later of the rest of the floors if we finish today! 

We are going to blog.

I have decided that with all of Philip's do-it-yourself home stuff + all my do-it-yourself craftiness + the cuteness of Lucy + other things that I can't think of right now, that we should really blog. I know - the crowds go wild! (insert rooaarrrr...) So here we go. Philip is currently nailing in hardwood floors to our kitchen and putting in an island with a dishwasher. Just a refresher, this is what our kitchen most recently has looked like...

Painted cabinets, new hardware, subway tile backsplash + tile countertop, yellow walls....yet that terrible linoleum has continued to haunt us. By tomorrow I should have some updated pictures, woo hoo!

Few More Updates...

Philip relaxing on a Sunday afternoon...

Sorry we've been slow to update pictures! As the school year has picked up we have not had much time to work on the house. We have a few projects in mind for the holidays. Here are a few pictures of the house...
The old library table works perfectly in our dining room!

A shot from above...with our new sisal rug

Mmm we made pasta we some leaders this fall...Ready for thanksgiving!


A few shots of my dressing room. Its hard to really see it with my camera. Philip and I got the dresser below at my favorite antique store in Norfolk!

dining room & kitchen

we celebrated our one year anniversary on august 30!

dining room - before refinishing

philip did a coat of stain and 3 coats of polyurathane.

here are the stairs - we also stained them
kitchen - with new hardware!