Makin' Changes

So something I've learned in the past few months is that as a homeowner there are always about 127 things that need to be updated or fixed or something. This might sound like a bad thing, but as a person who isn't so great at laying around and relaxing, this just means that I always have some project to work on. And something to try and convince Arsen to assist with...he loves it.

I have a list a mile long of things I want to do around here, but I thought I would share a few of the things that I (we) have accomplished so far. 

One of the first major things that I wanted to deal with was the fireplace. This picture is one that I took before the last guy moved out....I'm not sure that it's a great idea to post a picture with his stuff in it, but he had it in the online listing so....we're good.

I seriously HATED the gold fireplace screen. And the pink and white brick. Ugh. Our house is the same brick on the outside, but somehow it is just so much more hideous with that brassy gold accenting it. I decided to rip out the screen first, which Arsen did before we put too much though into it, so it just sat there not-connected for awhile. After a bit we decided to paint the brick, and we got a really pretty screen at Target. I'm still working on deciding exactly what to with it all, but I'm pretty pleased with how it's looking so far.

We also decided to pain the half bath downstairs. It was just so plain and white. We're still planning on having tile floors installed, but that may be a bit down the road. Here's what we were working with: 

Gross. So all we've done so far is paint the walls, change out the light fixture, and add a few decorations. But I think it's a pretty major improvement.

It's so amazing how much paint can change a room. I'm kind of obsessed with painting everything I can get my hands on now. I feel like Lowe's is my home away from home. We've also painted the front and back doors, but I'm waiting on a few more little adjustments before the big reveal...

 

Love & Marriage

We're coming up on six months of wedded bliss in a few weeks, and it's kind of unbelievable that it's been that long. Things have been wonderful/stressful/interesting/challenging/amazing....and more. Arsen and I had been together for three years by the time we were married, so I figured marriage wouldn't really change things all that much. But it kind of has. I think our first big challenge was dealing with the holidays. 

Thanksgiving wasn't too bad, but Christmas was an absolute nightmare. I seriously considered calling everything off completely and not seeing a single family member because it was so stressful. Not only do we have Arsen's parents, sister's family and brother's family here in Dallas, we have alllllll of my family in Oklahoma. My parents are divorced, so that equals two Christmases, but there are also my Grandparents, my mom's new husbands family, my dad's brother.....sigh. I believe all together we had seven Christmases in about four days.Yeah....so next year we're going to have to work on that in advance. We had a great time, and everything worked out perfectly, but goodness....

Addie LOVES Presents!

New Boots! Arsen is a wonderful gift giver :)

He's Just So Thoughtful

Dallas Cowboys Christmas Ornament.....Anything Cowboys is a Winner

Other than that, things have been pretty great! The main thing we have going on right now is working on the house. We've decided we want to stay in this house for several years, so now we're excited about all the things we want to fix up. Luckily the kitchen is completely upgraded, so that HUGE expense is something we won't have to worry about. We've got the stainless steel appliances, granite counters, nice floor, all that jazz. But in just about every other room in the house I can probably list at least five things I want to change. But honestly, I loooooove it. We had a three day weekend last week for President's Day, and I literally spent the entire three days pulling everything out of every closet we have, organizing it, getting rid of things, and re-organizing it in the closets. Pretty much the most relaxing/enjoyable weekend I've had in a long time. When did I turn into such a housewife? Unbelievable.

So, my goal is to start taking before and after photos of all of the things we work on. My problem is that I'm a bit scattered, and I get excited easily, so I've usually got about four projects going on at once, and when I come up with a good idea I start working on it immediately....usually about halfway through I realize I forgot to take my before picture. Hopefully I get better at that! 

Another goal....make a blog post more often than once every four or five months....