Monday, September 30, 2019

Painting Our Kitchen Cabinets

Good morning friends! We have officially been in our house for over a week and are loving every minute! We also added a new family member.... say hi to Sophie:


Sophie our goldendoodle came into our lives last Tuesday and is the best impulse purchase we've ever made! She is the sweetest girl and we have had the most fun this past week getting to know her. 

Anyways, back to the point of this post! We decided our first project in the new house was going to be to paint the kitchen cabinets. I really had my heart set on having white cabinets and Tim was more than game to get rid of the ugly wood color.

Here are some before pictures:





There was no hardware on the cabinets or drawers so no holes to fill which was great but we still had a ton of work to do!


We started by removing all the cabinet and drawer fronts. We created a label for each one to alphabetically connect it to the area where it needed to be reattached. This was great in concept but that system fell apart while painting. It wasn't hard to figure out where everything got reattached because our kitchen isn't huge, but if yours is you may want to work harder then we did to keep a system like this. 





Once everything was down we set up two painting stations; one on the kitchen island and one on a table in the living room. We both got to work priming all the doors, drawers and shelves, there were a LOT!


I think Tim wanted to kill me when I mentioned that I wanted to paint the inside of the cabinets as well. Once we started and I realized what a huge project it was, I decided to stop and not do the cabinets above the the microwave and fridge or the lower ones. The ones we will open all the time (plates, bowls, pantry, cups, etc) will be white but the rest will be unfinished inside.



I was mostly in charge of sanding, cleaning, priming and doing the first coat of paint. I left Tim take the lead on all final coats and putting the hardware on. Anyone else not as patient as your SO? Tim is so much more patient than I am and his painting always looks so much cleaner than mine. 







We spent a whole week getting this project done! It took us several nights after work and two full weekend days in order to get everything looking perfect.




It was truly a bigger job than we originally thought. We are certainly learning as we go around here!


We also took SO many trips to Home Depot to keep getting more supplies. Some of the things we found useful during this project were:

Plastic Drop Cloths  I would've preferred to get a more environmentally friendly drop cloth but we needed several of them since we were working in so many different areas while waiting for things to try. Having several of these plastic drop cloths that we could use and then toss was helpful for us.

Blue Painters Tape This came in handy for keeping our walls and appliances paint free!

Painters Tripods  These were a pain in the butt but helpful at the same time. We used them to hold up all the cabinets doors and shelves as we were painting so they wouldn't stick to the surface and we would be able to paint all the sides.


We also took down the microwave (I mean, Tim took down the microwave) so we would be able to get in and paint a little more closely. 



The night before we moved in when we left it looked like this! Everything was done and painted but just needed to be reattached. Tim was leaving work early on the day we moved so he could meet the Verizon Internet guy to connect our Wifi so he planned on attaching all the hardware and reattaching all the doors where they belonged. 

Ready for some afters??




I love it!!!

Lets do some side by side before and afters....

                        



  




                    

This is just the beginning!! We got our new appliances in this past Saturday and we plan on doing the counters at some point as well. So many projects, so little time!

I will share all about our new appliances soon!

Monday, September 23, 2019

Officially Home

Guys. We are officially home. 

This weekend was a total whirlwind! On Friday Tim left work early to meet the internet hookup guy at our new house so we wouldn't spend time without wifi. While he waited he finished cleaning up from our kitchen cabinet painting project (coming soon I promise!), and reattached all the doors and drawers. Once I was out of work I hurried back to the apartment to meet him so we could pick up our 16 foot Penske rental truck.


We took the truck back to our apartment and started loading it up! Derek arrived to help us pretty much right away and we were so thankful to have his help. Shawn arrived shortly after and we got the entire truck plus three cars full of stuff and decided just to bring everything down to the house and get it unloaded.


While we were unloading Brit, Stephen and their girls stopped by to visit! By the time we unloaded everything it was super late but Derek and Shawn hung out for awhile and had some beers and pizza before they headed home and we crashed!

Since we got most of the boxes moved and quite a bit of the furniture on Friday night, Saturday was a lot more manageable. With the help of Derek, Ally, and Fred we loaded up the truck once more and four cars! I seriously have NO idea where we accumulated so much stuff. I really thought we were pretty minimalistic but OH MY GOD there was so much stuff. I have some serious decluttering to do.


We said goodbye to our apartment which honestly was a little sad. We lived here for almost 3.5 years. Some of you might have been following along that entire time. Remember when we moved in?


We have a lot of memories here but I am so happy to be in our new home and to start a brand new chapter!


Goodbye lucky #13! We loved this little apartment and will always remember it :)

After leaving our keys behind we headed down to the house and got everything else unloaded. My brother Dan stopped by to help and Tim's sister Brit came by to see the house. We also had Fred's girlfriend Marissa join us later in the night. We had a fire with the desk that had fallen apart from my childhood and all of the cardboard boxes that had accumulated.


It was so nice to hang out with everyone and we are so thankful for all of their help.

On Sunday I did a ton of unpacking but honestly it was such an exhausting weekend I may have also laid down for a bit!

We have a million projects to do and I will be sharing everything with you guys! Just please be patient with me while I get settled :)

Monday, September 16, 2019

We Bought A House!

Happy Monday Friends!

This week is particularly exciting because it's the week we will move into our first house!


We officially closed on our first home last Thursday September 12th! I can't even begin to describe how excited we are to finally be in a home of our own. After living in an apartment for 3.5 years, searching for a home for two years, and then impatiently waiting through the whole loan process we are more than ready to finally move in.


We received our keys at the closing on Thursday and immediately headed over to the house to walk through it. We basked in our home ownership and found all the cute presents the former owners had left behind for us.


This cute sign...


a plant...


and a door knocker!


How sweet are they?! 

We ended up both going back to work for a few hours in the afternoon and then met back up at the house later on. We had visits from both my parents, and our new neighbors who happen to be my best friend Rachel's parents. 


Mums from my parents.


A gift Rachel's parents brought by for us from her! Some Tupperware, bandaids, and a face mask!


The pumpkin and marigolds are from Rachel's parents.


We are definitely feeling the love from everyone around us!

Our plan for this week is to finish up a project we started in the kitchen, and then move in Friday/Saturday! Next week at this time I will be sitting on this couch in a whole new location!

Monday, September 9, 2019

Packing Up Our Apartment

Hey everyone! Today I wanted to share how the packing of our apartment is going....


Despite the look of our guest bedroom in this picture, it's going well! I'm trying to stay organized and get as much done as possible before we officially close. Our closing is set for this Thursday and we gave notice at our apartment for the 30th. So we have to be out by the end of the month and have a little bit of time but I really want to get in much sooner. Once we close I will start packing even more stuff but for now at least I have a ton of decor packed away and all the items we don't use daily.

I wanted to share how I'm staying organized during this move and how I can tell you exactly what is in each box!


As you can see, I've given each box a number and labeled it with the room it will be put in at the new house. The room labels so far are: Master Bedroom, Guest Room, Living Room, Kitchen, and Office.  On moving day it will be easy for anyone carrying a box to know exactly what room it should go in. I've written it on the top and side of the box.


I've put all the boxes in the guest room and along walls so they don't get too in the way since we are still trying to live here. 

Now, the biggest thing I'm doing is keeping track what's inside each box. In Google Sheets I mark the box, the location of where the items were in our current apartment, where it should be unpacked and then the general contents. 

Here is a screenshot of my spreadsheet:





In addition to my spreadsheet I also have a Google Doc with each box and exactly every item that is inside. This way if I'm looking for something in particular I can find it quickly. I'm hoping this will help make unpacking in the new house quick and easy!

I realize this is being insanely organized but I can't help it! I just want to make this process as easy as possible and organizing is the number one way I know how to help. I will keep you all updated on the progress but hopefully next weekend we will be in the house getting it ready for move in!!!

Have a great day!