before and after

This page will be dedicated to some of the DIY projects we tackle along the way. I love "side by sides"... it makes you feel like you've really accomplished something. Check back for updates!

[ 9 ] crocheted pillow cover

When you have lots of old pillows and the means to recovering them, you have to come up with creative ideas to spruce them up. Check out my crocheted pillow cover tutorial HERE.

                                  BEFORE                                                                   AFTER

[ 8 ] pipe shelf entertainment center

When our old TV stand began to bow under the weight of our TV, it was time to mount it on the wall. From there, a new entertainment center was constructed to bring some balance into our room. You can read more about the project HERE.

                                  BEFORE                                                                   AFTER

[ 7 ] chair facelift

When this pallet showed up at work I was saddened by the state of these chairs. Living in a warehouse for who knows how long will do that to a white cushion. With a little bit of TLC and some fun fabric, I was able to give these chairs new life.

[ 6 ] closet organization

With a teensy bathroom and LOTS of stuff, we needed to make our hall closet as functional as possible. We needed it to accommodate a filing cabinet, cleaning supplies, extra toilet paper/paper towels, a wireless router, and overflow "bathroom goodies" for when we tackle our bathroom remodel. In it's current state, it was sad and dirty. Now it has a fresh coat of paint, extra racks and is functional for a number of uses.

Everything has it's place in this little closet, which makes life easy...

[ 5 ] dirty door
I thought I'd give you a close up of our front door since we paid a lot of attention to that dirty old thing while painting the house. Of course...I failed to get "before" pictures while the door was still green so I roughly photoshopped that lovely color back in (it pained me to do so - but it was important to be able to see the change).

It really is amazing what a little cleaning, a fresh coat of paint and a pretty new door mat can do for your house. We actually USE our front door now - which is a nice change.

[ 4 ] goodbye green
When we fell in love with our house...it wasn't because of it's hideous green paint or overgrown bushes... Yikes. 

listing picture

With a little a lot of work, we have transformed it into something that we're proud of. Check out how we chose our paint color. We still have some landscaping to do, but that'll come with time...

And if you can't quit get the full effect of what we were dealing with...check this out:

Much better :)

[ 3 ] side tree bob table

A few months ago, the large walnut tree in our backyard came crashing down on our house during a terrible wind storm (whomp whomp...). Fortunately, the house was fine...but the porch took a beating. It is now on our "list of things to fix" in the Spring.  I loved that walnut tree...

...So...to turn lemons into lemonade, we made this out of the tree that destroyed our porch:

We stripped the bark off when it had dried out, polyurethaned it, and added some Ikea legs. This table makes us laugh - because it's made from a tree that gave us such a headache. We love it, though! It has a lot of character.

[ 2 ] our family room





The red carpet didn't even last a few hours in the house after we signed the papers and got the keys. We refinished the hardwood floors, retiled the fireplace hearth, and painted the built in book shelves, mantle, walls and trim. We still need an area rug, but we're happy with the final outcome. A little "sweat equity" goes a long way.

*Check out what's now over our fireplace here*

*See what lives on our sofa table here*



[ 1 ] mom mom's bench

Adam has fond memories of this bench from when he was a kid. This bench was part of his grandparent's dining set and when we gained custody of it, we couldn't help but spruce it up a bit to use when we have guests over for dinner. We love how it looks with the painting of our engagement that  my parents got us as a wedding shower gift.