Quick Post: Firsts!

Linking up with Corinna from Track 8, for Keepin' It Real Mondays!

Little Emmett has had a few firsts this week! I'm so proud of him- he's such a little boy now and growing up all the time!

First first- He started preschool (daycare, at a local preschool) on Monday! He LOVES it loves it. We walk in the door and he runs around the room from toy to toy, excited about every one, and loves all of the other kids. It's so much fun. I've cried each day when I leave but so far he hasn't even noticed that we're gone. He just plays all morning. I pick him up at noon and he's just sitting in a tiny chair at a tiny little lunch table pointing at all of the other kids and finishing his lunch. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen! 

I haven't taken any great pics yet but I did manage one outside the school that includes him and his little lunchbox, which he's just kicked over in the dirt:

Second first- Tonight, Lucia gave Emmett his first hair cut! He has almost no hair on top, but he's got a thick ring going around the back. We call it a cul-de-sac. The hairs in the back have grown super long, which makes for really adorable bed-head and don't even get me started on how they look blowing in the wind. It's crazy cute. We really wanted Lucia to give him his first haircut, and since she leaves for Georgia on Friday, tonight we decided it was time. We gave him a sink bath, and Ray went outside to make faces in the window to distract Emmett and keep him still while Cia cut his little hairs. Oh my gosh it was cute!

All of these firsts are great- I'm so proud of him and everything he's doing is so cute and fun! But oh my gosh it's hard at the same time. I wish he'd just stay a tiny baby boy forever. Oh, the life of a mama is so full of ups and downs! Pride and joy and sadness and pain, all mixed together spells parenting. I wouldn't change it for the world. 

DIY Painted Twine Garland

I'm not crafty y'all. Not at all.

But Emmett's first birthday party is coming up (my baby boy will be ONE in 11 days!), and I'm trying to plan a Pin-worthy party for like no money, so I decided to craft.

I've been eyeing Confetti System's gorgeous tassel garlands for years now, so when I found these babies on Pinterest the other day, I decided it was time to make my own.

Inspiration garland taken from theminimalist.com.au

I invited my friend (and super-crafter) Rachel over on Saturday to help me, and I love how they turned out! Here's how we did it:

We made the tassels out of regular (and cheap!) garden twine from Ace Hardware by cutting tons of twine into similar lengths, bunching them together, and wrapping the top bits in more twine. We left one piece of twine in a loop over the top to hang them.

I had some leftover sea blue/turqoise paint from our kitchen remodel, so we used that rather than trying to dye the twine. We painted each strand, leaving a few inches at the top just like the yellow inspiration garland. I left the tassels outside over night to dry, and then pulled them apart and reshaped them in the morning.

To hang them, I strung them on a long piece of twine, tying a knot around each tassel so they don't slide around, and hung them in the playroom/dining room/hallway/living room under our Happy Birthday banner!

Before re-shaping the twine. Ignore the mess on the floor. This room is multipurpose.

And a couple of close-ups of the finished garland:

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with them (and myself for being so creative!). I might even hang them somewhere in the house permanently after the birthday party is over. 

I still can't believe my baby boy is about to be a year old. I remember the day we brought him home from the hospital like it was just yesterday. I sure do love that little guy!

Kitchen!

First, here are a couple pics of me at 38 weeks. When I look at these, I wonder who that person is. Kinda looks like me, but jeeeez look at that belly!

(Not sure why these came out so neon-y..)

Kinda hard to believe that's my baby in there, super close to coming out to play!

And now, for the kitchen! My husband bought our townhouse a couple years before we met, and with the market being the way it is, the house just isn't worth what he paid for it. So we really didn't want to put much money into renovating our kitchen. But it was in SERIOUS need of work, so we got creative and made some updates that we are really happy with. First, the befores:

This has been the state of our kitchen since I moved in. BORING, cheap, and just not done.

Notice the bulkhead on the ceiling. The worst.

Oh, also there were holes in it...

We have an entire wall of windows, which is nice for the light they bring in, but they're not very pretty.

Super cheap laminate countertops, with a cook top that only half works. That had to go.

This is the kitchen after the first day of demo- no more bulkhead!

And now, the afters!:

So, to keep within our tiny budget, we decided to refinish the existing cabinets. We painted them and installed bead board into the centers of the cabinet faces. We planned on painting the cabinets white, but in the end chose a nice brown-y grey. We love how they turned out!

We also put bead board up in place of a more expensive tile backsplash. We may change this later (when budget permits), but for now, we really like it! It cost almost nothing but made a really big difference.

I may have slightly over-decorated this little corner, but I really love finally being able to display some of my cute little things.

Close up of the backsplash, counter tops, and paint color.

The pic above gives you a good view of the lower cabinets, as well as the tile flooring that my husband put in when he first moved in. He made really good flooring choices, thank God! We also decided to keep the white appliances. We didn't want to spend a lot on new appliances, and we actually like the way the white ones look in the room. Who would've thought?

Please ignore that trash can. I don't know what I was thinking leaving that in the pictures. 

Eventually we will figure out some sort of functional/pretty window coverings, and maybe add a shelf above the windows. But for now, Ray and his dad built white frames to cover the cheap and ugly metal window frames.

Here's a close up of the bead board backsplash underneath the windows.

View from the entryway.

I love the island now that that awful cooktop is gone. There's so much space to work and entertain! For the counter tops, we decided it was appropriate to stick with a laminate, since again, we really didn't want to put too much money into the kitchen. I wasn't super excited about it, but we actually found a laminate that we really love. I think it looks the most like a natural stone, the colors are great, and I love the little bit of sparkle in the sunlight!

Close up of the counter top. Notice the little hint of a shimmer.

Above is the view from the kitchen into our entryway. This room seems to always be in transition, as we try to figure out the best way to use the space. For now, Ray's mom refinished this antique bar for us in the same color as the kitchen cabinets. We also just added the mirror, which really opens up the room and makes the kitchen look bigger.

This space is purely functional at the moment. I love having a place to hang my things, but it definitely needs something. Maybe a bench that doubles as seating and storage?

And then here are a few little details:

I LOVE peonies! 

I collect salt and pepper shakers, and have quite a few in the shape of little birds. These are my favorite.

My very clever husband mounted our spice rack above the stove to save space. Since the kitchen is pretty small, little things like this make all the difference.

And that's it! We are really happy with the way everything turned out. We put a lot of work in to it, and did almost everything ourselves to save money. In all, we spent about $2500, and we think we got major impact on a minor budget. 

Ray's parents were a HUGE help. They were here every weekend for what feels like months, painting, calking, framing, and just doing anything and everything we needed to get the job done. Thank you so much Ray and Laura!

My mom will be here on Wednesday to help prepare for the baby's arrival. (He is due in just 8 days, and there is still so much to do!) So, that means Ray have just 2 nights left in our house alone together, before we become parents. Wow! We're almost parents! Ray just made me brownies, without my even asking for them, so I'd say it's time for me to sign off and spend some time with my man. 

I'll leave you with this:

Our sweet little dog Bagel, who requires all of our attention at the moment. Isn't he cute?? Poor little dog. He has no idea what's coming!