One thing we don’t have much of around the house (yet) is wall art. Actually, come to think of it, there are only TWO pieces of art hanging on the walls in the entire house (the Rare Prints sign in the living room and the Richmond Destination print in the hall bathroom). That’s it. I think it’s because our “vision” is just starting to come together. In my head, art is kind of like the “icing on the cake” to a room. So, it will all come together in due time.

A while back, we mentioned that we moved the antique green dresser from the foyer to the laundry room. Right now, it’s pretty much empty and the drawers don’t slide out very well (we’ve got a solution to that though). But once it’s organized and functional, it’s going to be our “central hub” for outgoing mail, keys, Bentley’s leash, etc. We’re planning on using the lower drawers for things like extra batteries, light bulbs, small tools, etc. Organization = awesome, so I’m pretty excited about it.

Over the “hub”, we want to do a small gallery wall made up of things that are special to us and tell the story of our little family. Things like our marriage certificate, a few wedding and honeymoon photos, Bentley (of course!) and maybe a baby photo or two. After reading this, my cousin texted me asking if she needed to start planning a baby shower. Um, noooo! To clarify, I meant baby photos of me and Greg, haha! Whoa. Okay, moving on… I used Photoshop to show Greg was I was envisioning, and this is what I came up with…

We’ve mentioned it a few times, but the very first thing we did once the house was ours (besides gutting the hall and master bathrooms) was paint every single nook and cranny. The other day, I came across my and Greg’s paint shirts. Now that the house is completely painted, they’ve just been sitting in the closet. Even if we were to do some major painting again soon, these shirts are worn out and and ready to retire.

Over our many weekends of painting, we had a lot of fun, and the shirts kind of tell the story…. Like when we painted the front door, for some reason the song, “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic was going through my head and I couldn’t stop singing it. So Greg drew a heart on my shirt with the red door paint. And when we spilled oil-based primer all over the floor in the foyer, I was trying to clean it up and had it all over my hands. So naturally, I planted a handprint right in the middle of Greg’s stomach. The back of my shirt has my little brother’s initials as well as handprint on it – and a huge roller mark that he thought was hilarious. The stories go on and on… like Rose’s heart… on the Titanic.

I actually got a little teary because I felt like they were a big piece of “us” and our first steps into the world of home-ownership. Is that weird? I wasn’t about to get rid of them, but I didn’t want to have them stashed in the closet forever either. So, I decided to get a little crafty.

I cut out a section of each shirt and taped the pieces taught into a 2-opening Pottery Barn fame (that we originally had on our photo ledge in the bedroom of our first place). A few minutes later, we had the first piece for our gallery wall…

Cute, right? I really like the way it turned out, and it makes me happy every time I walk by it. It looks almost like abstract art!

Oh, yeah… the little owl. I’m constantly fishing change out of the washing machine because Greg leaves it (and guitar picks) in his pockets. So I got this little owl bank (here from ZGallerie) to have a place for Greg to put his loose change when he comes in the door. The next things on the list are a dish for keys, a hook for Bentley’s leash, and, of course, more frames and fun things to put in them.

With everything going on at casa de Brown, it’s hard to pick a place to start to fill you all in on what’s been happening. To make things a little easier, we’ve compiled a list of things we’ve done in the kitchen over the past week. Hopefully this will shed light on the 411 without being too confusing.

So, this week we…

• Patiently waited for the new, massively huge farmhouse sink
• Installed a new vanity in the half bath (more on that later!)
• Had the cabinet installers come back to install the new sink
• Installed dishwasher
• Installed the dishwasher cabinet panel & hardware
• Ran low-voltage wiring for the future under cabinet lighting
• Had our plumber install a recessed water line for the fridge
• Went counter top and backsplash shopping (more on that later!)
• Had the countertop company come out and measure (ya to the hoo!)
• Took Bentley to the groomer – he wanted me to be sure to add that event
• Began making sense of what’s in the kitchen boxes that have been hanging out in the dining room

It doesn’t seem like a very long list, but we’ve been playing the waiting game because of the damaged sink. For a few days, it seemed like everything was ready to go… everything but the kitchen sink! Having one little problem hold up progress feels completely terrible, especially when you’re trying to get everything done during the holidays. The sink being damaged held up the plumbing being hooked up and the measuring session for the new countertops. In turn, that put the the backsplash tile on hold. Etc, etc, etc. But now the sink is HERE and we’re on a roll.

Here’s a few photos I took with my iPhone last night…

The box in the middle of the kitchen is the new range hood – holla! My dad (who, lucky for us, is a licensed electrician), with Greg’s assistance, is going to be putting that in for us. Maybe Greg will learn a few electrician tips/tricks along the way, too!

As for the laundry room, we’re just now getting used to the fact that there are hardwood floors in there, and we’re loving it! It makes the room feel so much larger.

You may have noticed we moved the antique dresser from the foyer into the laundry room. It just fit too well not to put it there. We’re planning to store umbrellas, batteries, bug spray, extra light bulbs etc. And we’re kind of digging the quirky blue and green color combo.

Oh, and just for good measure, and in case you’re getting bored of all of the kitchen photos, here’s a photo of our cute little mascot sitting on my lap as I type…

Yeah, he’s between me and the keyboard. He likes to be in the middle of things. Oh, come on, you know he’s the cutest dog ever. ; )

There’s a lot more in store for next week – it’s going to be one big whirlwind of kitchen reno fun! Where’s the vitamins? 

We’re back with another laundry room update! During the fall/winter, the laundry room is normally the coldest room in the house. This isn’t good when you’ve got stain on the floors that’s trying to dry. Unfortunately, with it being so cold outside over the past few days, this delayed the process a bit. So we cranked up the heat and played the waiting game. Finally, yesterday the first coat of polyurethane was able to be put down. As of this morning, it was pretty dry so the stain guy installed the shoe molding. Even with the current mess in the room, it’s already looking so much better…

The dust on the floors is because they just finished the shoe molding… literally 5 seconds ago. Later today, after the “construction dust” is cleaned up, the second coat of polly will be put down, followed by some more waiting time, and then the third and final coat (we asked for three coats – just as in the rest of the house – to make the floors more durable).

The suspense is killing me! I can’t wait to start planning the shelving for the closet. But before we even think about getting to that, there’s a few more things on short yet relatively hefty to-do list:

• Paint the half bathroom
• Re-install the toilet
• Touchup walls and trim in laundry room
• Hang new closet doors
• Install the new trim around the closet doors
• Paint the new trim and closet doors

Whew! 

As for the rest of the house… Remember a few weeks ago when we pulled out the fall decorations? Well, we managed to join the rest of our neighborhood and decorate the front door with a wreath, a few pumpkins, and some yellow mums. Then came the not-so-spur-of-the-moment urge to get the kitchen done in time for Christmas. Is that crazy? Then, if that wasn’t enough on our plate, we set out to do the laundry room too. Forget two front teeth, all we want for Christmas is a big ‘ole plate of satisfaction. With all of the hustle and bustle, the fall decorations went unnoticed and are already back in the attic. Bentley will miss Mr. & Mrs. Pilgrim…

But that doesn’t mean we’re not in the decorating mood. While in the attic, we decided to bring down the Christmas tree and all of the Christmas decoration boxes. Cue the Christmas music! 

It may seem a little early to be decking the halls, but we’re keeping our eyes on the prize. The prize = our first Christmas Eve in the house with the smell of cookies baking in the oven in our brand new kitchen. Pure bliss! With everything going on around here, we’re going to pace ourselves and our goal is to be completely decked out by Thanksgiving. Fingers crossed!

How about you guys? When do you start decorating for Christmas? And how early is too early?