Finally Settling In

We've been in this house almost two years and I finally have finished decorating the kitchen!

It all started two days (yes, 2) before the boys were coming for their visit. See our kitchen had wallpaper (ick) and we had picked out a color, oh about 6 months earlier. (We like to stretch projects out around here). Well, the problem was that I had painted a small section of the wallpaper to see if the color would 1) look good and 2) cover the wallpaper so I wouldn't have to remove it. So, now I had 3 problems: 1) I didn't like the color (it was coral), 2) it didn't cover the wallpaper, 3) the boys caseworker was dropping them off and we didn't want her seeing our kitchen with part of it painted.

So for the next 12 hours, I patiently peeled wallpaper off our kitchen walls. Yes, I did realize the irony that I have the patience to peel wallpaper but don't have the patience to wait for the boys paperwork.

Would it surprise you if I said I had before pics? Yeah, it'd surprise me too! Here's a pic from before the house was ours:

It doesn't look like wallpaper but see the "tan-colored" wall, yeah, that's super tacky wallpaper:

Now here's the wall after 12 hours of wallpaper removal:

And after it was painted:

You can't see very well, but it's a blue-gray more blue than gray.

We got all that done before the boys vist (phew!) but it was just a blank wall. It took me another 2 months to figure out how to decorate it but I JUST finished!

Starting left to right:

These cute canvas prints I painted:

More canvas art by me:

Love this for the kitchen also by me:

And our family rules, which you can actually (if you have good eyesight) read from the front door! And done by me!

Finally, the words over each window:

Yes, I taped and painted each individual letter. Yes, it was time consuming. Yes, it was a lot of work. Yes, WE LOVE IT!

Oops, almost forgot:

The clock over the fireplace that CLIFF MADE!! We know now what time it is when we're sitting in the living room!

So the kitchen is FINALLY finished being decorated! I love living in a house with color and decor on the wall, especially decor I made!

The living room is in progress but currently has one wall done:

I loved the cute idea I found here: http://www.itsoverflowing.com/2013/04/diy-frame/

We tweaked it a little bit because I order 4x6's EVERY TIME Shutterfly has their 101 free prints and I wanted somewhere to hang them that was easy to change out. 

There you have it! Besides work, this has been keeping me busy but I'm thankful we got it all done before the boys get here! 13 MORE DAYS!!!

xoxo

nikki