Back at it!

Hey guys, I am back at it! I know I took a little break, but I have definitely not been resting…

Just wanted to share this is my reality for the last couple of months. Not much “pretty” home decor to share at the moment. I mean, my home is still decorated in the bedrooms, living room, dining room and small family room. I still decorated my front porch and love the idea of decorating in general. Crafting is still my favorite hobby and I drive slowly when I see any furniture on the side of the road, considering if it is a good candidate for my next furniture upcycle. However, lately my time has been taken up with this beast that is a kitchen remodel. No, this is not a new industrial chic style I am going for. This is the cold, hard truths of DIYing your kitchen.

The last time I checked in there was a lot going on around here. I had just shared the bathroom reveal, it is lovely and everything I had hoped it would be. I will be finally sharing the DIY projects featured within this bathroom renovation. There was a lot of tiling, painting, a little shiplap addition and repairing of some water damage. It was a mess but so worth the work in the end.

The other huge home decor change was my kitchen remodel getting underway! Oh guys, let me just say that I grossly underestimated this timeline, by A LOT. We started this remodel back in March and it is almost September… here we sit… with a kitchen that still looks like a construction site. The Home improvement shows make this all look so easy. I am on what they show as week 2 of the kitchen remodels. Real life takes just a smidge longer!

My goal had been to have this done and wrapped in a pretty bow before summer started. I knew once summer hit my kids would be home all day, baseball season for one of my kids would be in full swing along with other various summer activities and the kitchen would have to be put on the back burner. I was right about one thing, the kitchen has to be put on pause to get us through summer.

Don’t get me wrong, there was a lot still happening. I demoed the wall, laid new flooring, removed cabinets, moved the sink and dishwasher, closed up one doorway into the kitchen, got new appliances, and installed counter tops. Whew, writing it all out like that makes me realize how much we actually did accomplish.

I am currently slaving away making custom smaller upper cabinets to sit on top of our current ones, making the cabinets appear to reach to the ceiling and building the island cabinet. The next steps will be to make the cabinet doors, paint the cabinets, add back splash, framing in the window with pretty trim, move and add new ceiling lighting, add under cabinet lighting and add the finishing touches of crown molding, encasing the transom window to the now wider entrance to the kitchen… etc…

I wish I could say we are almost there, but there is a ton of custom cabinets and cabinet doors standing in the way of checking off those other previously listed items.

I would be lying if I said this summer was spent DIYing and kitchen renovating my days away. I also spent a lot of time with my kids, they started school yesterday, 6th, 4th and 3rd grade. Be still my heart! Watching them grow up is the most bittersweet thing I have ever experienced. I have been in this parenting game long enough to know that these years will speed by, so I try to soak in those moments with them every chance I can get.

We have spent the summer biking, swimming, going to parks, getting together with friends in the neighborhood, BBQing. having movie nights, bonfires, swim lessons, so many baseball games for my one child, horse riding lessons, golf lessons, and way too many trips to get ice cream. There has also been a few getaways crammed in to slow down and enjoy the summer months.

I am also the newly appointed school PTO president and that is a whole other beast that has taken up soooo much of my time. I love being involved in my kid’s school, helping the school and their teachers, planning events and meeting fellow Mom’s.

In the beginning of summer I broke my finger, the middle-right one to be exact. I was at a baseball tournament for my son Gavin (notice the theme of baseball? It has become a huge part of our lives). There was a storm that came fast and a popup canopy started to blow away. We all grabbed it and closed it, my finger was also closed into the canopy. I am lucky it was not snapped completely off. The fun part if that weeks after it is “fully recovered” I have no feeling around the tip to the first little bend in the finger, it is completely numb. So, long term nerve damage it is for me. Do you know how hard it is to type when you cannot feel your finger hitting the keys? Lots of typos happening right now, let me tell you! One upside to this is that I now have an answer to those fun questions of “share something interesting about yourself.” I always said I had three kids, have a blog… now I can say that I can literally hammer the tip of my right middle finger and would not feel anything. Good story!

Luckily I am left handed so most writing and DIY projects I can still do as I typically did before. With the kids in school all day again one side to my life that I am eager to jump back into is this blog. I have missed decorating, taking pictures, editing pictures, writing, getting my kitchen prettied up and dust free, connecting with the wonderful blogging community and most importantly all of you lovelies! I have had sweet emails and messages from many asking how I am doing. Thank you for sticking it out!

So I wanted to check in, let you know I am back 100% and so excited to be all-in again. I am back at it! There is so much to share, within the next few weeks. I will be rolling out all of those wonderful bathroom DIY projects I did next week. Sharing a detailed progress report on the kitchen, a fall home tour (eeek, fall is almost here!), a few small crafts and even a room refresh I am working on for my boys’ bedroom. I am antsy to get this kitchen finally done! It has been functional all of this time but I need a light and bright polished and done kitchen. How has summer been treating you? Are you ready for back to school season? Or more importantly, are you ready for fall and sweater weather!!!