These Are the Cabinets that Mindy Built

Way back in February, I went to a friend's house and instantly fell in love with the built-in cabinets she had surrounding her fireplace.

In March, when my visiting teachers came I mentioned to my friend, Quinae (who deserves a post all to herself about all of the amazing talents she has, one of which being woodworking)  that I wanted to build some cabinets to surround my fireplace.  From there the idea sprang to life.  We (well, mostly she) drew up the plans, calculated the amount of wood that we would need to purchase, figured out a budget, and then did the hard part...convincing Darren that a.) we could do it and b.) that it would be worth the time and money spent.

After a trip (or seven) to Home Depot we purchased supplies we got to work.  We would work at her house during the day while our children ran wild on her "farm" or late at night when the kiddos were sleeping.  It took us nearly 6 months to complete, but it was an empowering project that has given me the confidence to try other woodworking projects.  I have even added "table saw", "air compressor" and "nail gun" to my Christmas Wish List.  (Are you reading this Santa??)

Well.  Enough talking.  Here is what you have been waiting for: the pictures, intermingled with some quotes from my 2nd favorite talk by Dieter F. Uchtdorf.

Original color of the fireplace when we bought the house.  Yuck!

I painted the fireplace black and the wall a beautiful shade of yellow.

“Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty.”  -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"What you create doesn’t have to be perfect…  Don’t let fear of failure discourage you. Don’t let the voice of critics paralyze you—whether that voice comes from the outside or the inside."  -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“To me it appears that our splendid sisters sometimes undervalue their abilities—they focus on what is lacking or imperfect rather than what has been accomplished and who they really are.”  -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Completed cabinets!

 Here is what I learned about myself throughout this project:

• Building and creating is uplifting to my spirit.
• Things hardly ever go as planned, but twhen they do it is a cause for celebration.
• There is always a solution to every problem.
• Things don't have to be perfect in order to be beautiful (myself included.)
• Doing things with friends is more fun.
• I really enjoy woodworking.

It might sounds silly, but each time I look at my cabinets I feel better about my ability to do hard things. 

Before & After: New Windows, Part 2

It's been about 5 weeks since I posted part 1 of this blog.  I knew replacing our windows was going to be a big project, but it was bigger than I thought it was going to be.  Darren and Darin have been working nearly every Friday and Saturday, all day.  I also spent many nap times outside caulking and painting.  The good news??  We're D-O-N-E, done!!

Here are some before and after pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Our House Before:

And After:

Our Master Bedroom Window Before:

And After:

Back of the House Before:

And Now...

 

See my new garden window!!

Bay Window in the Living Room Before:

And After:

We love our new windows.  They are clean and quiet and keep our house so warm.  Our next big house project is possibly new exterior paint in the spring.  Stay tuned, I'll let you help me pick the color.

Before & After: New Windows, Part 1

In order to take advantage of the energy tax credits, Darren and I bought all new, energy efficient windows for our house.  They were delivered last Friday and so far we have installed two of them.

Here is a before of the garage window.  (Don't mind the spider webs)

And after...

I forgot to take a before picture of this side kitchen window, but here it what it looks like now!!

Installing each window is a lot of work, so I am glad that we have Darin to help us.  My favorite part is caulking; I love to caulk.

Two windows down, 16 more plus a sliding door to go.

Before & After: The Boy's Bathroom

I have been meaning to re-do the boy's bathroom for a long time and with Trevor potty training now seemed like the perfect time to do it. After all, a big boy deserves an awesome room to go potty in, right?

Here is a before picture of the upstairs bathroom.

 And now, the after!!

The shower curtain came from Target and that adorable wave shelf I found as a set of two at a garage sale for $10.  The shelves were too long so I had to shorten and then re-paint them to match.  It was time consuming, but so worth it.

I made the wall art by tracing the soap pump and toothbrush holder and then coloring them with watercolor pencils.

The soap pump, tooth brush holder and soap dish were the inspiration for the bathroom and they came from Target.

 

I took down the towel rack and in it's place added this so that we have room to hang a towel for each boy.  Also, it is low enough to the ground that Trevor can hang up his own towel.

The bathroom looks great and Trevor loves it.

Before & After: The Kitchen

We now return to a series I like to call "Before & After".  Today's episode is called "The Kitchen".  For a long time I have wanted to re-do the kitchen, meaning I want a color scheme and cute curtains.  So about a month go I saw this tutorial on on of my favorite blogs, Crap I've Made.  After a quick trip to Joann's and a couple nap times spent sewing and crafting, here's is what I came up with.

Before:

After:

I just covered the picture with scrapbook paper and glued a flower in the center.  Total Cost: $1.50


Before:

After:

The teal fabric is actually a book cover that I found in the clearance section of Joann's for $1 each.  The silverware is plastic that I spray painted.  Total cost: $3.50

Years ago I purchased some hair mousse and it came in a cool pump bottle and once it ran out we started using it for dish soap.  It used to be all blue with writing all over and people would always wonder why it said mousse on the bottle, but not any more!

I put stickers on the solid blue spots that had no writing, spray painted in red, removed the stickers, and ta-da!!  Total cost: $.25

And last but not least here are the curtains I made to match it all.  I had no pattern.  I just made it up as I went along and I think they turned out great!!

They are even cuter in person.  Total cost: $15 in supplies and two naps (which are priceless, so it's a good thing I love the curtains!!!)

Stay tuned for more posts about the 4th, Darren's 2nd place finish, Austin's blessing & cake and our family reunion.

Before & After: Front Porch

Our front porch badly needed to be repainted, so last night after we put Trevor to bed we got to work and it now looks much better. Here are the pictures.

Before:
And After:
It is much improved! Now all I need is a cute something to put in the corner in front of the tall, skinny window.

Before & After: The Garden!

Here we go again with another installment of Before and After!

Here is what the terraced corner of our yard looked like when we bought our house.
Now the lower level is home to our very own strawberry patch!
The corner of our yard that had existing garden boxes was the ugliest part of the yard. It was overgrown with blackberry bushes, littered with junk, falling apart, and the raspberry bushes were fighting for light and space. It wasn't until I saw these pictures again that I realized what a miracle we have pulled off in such a short period of time. Here is the before...
And now...the after!!!
This garden box was rebuilt by Darren and we are growing lettuce, carrots, broccoli, green onions, and potatoes.
This side of the garden has just been cleaned up and instead of growing blackberry bushes we are now growing bell peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, and pumpkins. Next to the raspberries are the tomato plants and along the fence are snap peas and green beans.
I am so proud of our little garden. I love to be outside working in the yard and so does Trevor. He is happiest when he is outside digging in the dirt and making a mess. We are so happy to have our little house and for all the hard work we have put into it. Our first raspberry ripened last night and we feel so excited about our forthcoming harvest! Come visit soon and snitch a berry or two!!!

Newest Additions

We have some new additions to our family that I'd like you to meet...

Bluecrop and Jersery are our new blueberry bushes and we are so happy to have them. We hope that we can provide the right kind on environment that will enable them to reach their full potential and be fruitful for many years to come. Welcome to the family!

Before & After: Bathrooms

The upstairs main bathroom was painted a funny yellow color with palm trees stenciled all over. It definitely clashed with my intended sunflower motif. So the walls got a fresh coat of paint and I spray painted the fixtures silver. It looks much better now.

Before:After:

Downstairs we have the bathroom with a sink and toilet only and I grew to like the leaves stenciled on the walls in there, but as I was trying to hang some shelves I put black marks on the wall that would not come off and there was no matchng paint in the garage to fix it with, so I was forced to re-paint. I think overall it turned out OK.

Before:

After:

New Additions

Here are two recent additions to our home...

First, a new (used) oven off craigslist. The one that came with the house has been practically dead since we moved in. This one works great and looks nicer than the one we had before.


The second addition is a 1930s Henderson Cabinet Grand piano. It is a beautiful piano and I am excited to plunk away on it because plunking is all I can do.