House Redesign - Part 2

I loved our dining room/entry redesign so much that I couldn’t wait to tackle the old office/second bedroom.  I have had a lot of extra expenditures lately so redesigning the space on a budget was key.  I wish I had a before picture but I hated the room so much before that I never took a single picture of it.  It was our catch all room.  If something didn’t fit nicely or look good in another room we put it in there even though it is the smallest room in our house.  I have been a little depressed by the housing market so I was thinking about my issues with our current setup.  The biggest problem besides the horrible market right now was that it lacked a true second bedroom.  As I have mentioned this is a pretty small space so I knew maximizing the limited space was key objective number 2.  

My goal was to use existing furniture and artwork but just cleverly reinvent the items.  I knew that our futon could be laid out flat and turned sideways to look like an actual bed frame and mattress.  In order for this to look polished I knew I needed new bedding.  So I headed down to IKEA and spent $65 on new bedding and throw pillows.  We had a large bulky desk before but it had two pieces, a bookshelf and an attached L shaped piece of wood that served as the desk/work space.  I disconnected the two items and we decided to turn the bookshelf with the cubes on it’s side to give it the look of a dresser.  The rest was simply organizing and shedding a lot of excess items. 

House Redesign

For those of you who know me well you know that I get bored easily so in an effort to stay in love with our living space we did an overhaul of the dining room and entry area.  We moved our china cabinet to the other wall and rotated our dining table.  Then we bought a console table that I absolutely adore to serve as our new desk.  Above the table is a Salvador Dali reprint that we had custom framed.  The custom framing was pricey, even with a 60% coupon, but I am in love with the finished product.  Next on the list is to revamp the office/second bedroom.

Stephanie’s Bachelorette

I was so excited for this night because Stephanie has been taking on so many things with her job and wedding planning as well as being a mom and a fiancé.  Brandi and I really wanted her to be able to have a great time and let loose.  We started with dinner at my house followed by a lingerie shower complete with a bachelorette themed cookie cake.  After the shower we headed off to polelateaz in Atlanta.  We had so much fun and I think it was exactly what she needed even if her stress level jumped right back up the next day, oh the joy of the last few weeks before the wedding.  Here are a few pictures from the first part of the evening; the others from the class will remain with those of who went and our husbands/fiancés.

I have not forgotten about my blog

So here is my sincere apology for being the worst blogger ever for the last month or so.  I have 6 entries almost ready to go and I’ll get those posted this week.  Once those are up I will get back to my normal schedule of posting a couple times a week.  Thanks for being patient with me and I love you guys!

The Ignition Room Reinvented

After BigStuf the leaders came back and decided that we needed to overhaul our youth group room.  We started by getting two TV’s donated and those were setup for video games near the entryway for the kids to play before and after service.  The middle school kids have gone nuts over it.  The next step was refinishing the stage to make it all one level and even the finish.  The last big step was building a custom cabinet/bookshelf for the stage to use for props for Matt’s talk and to have visual interest points up on the stage.  I designed the cabinet and I am thrilled with how it turned out, big thanks go out to David for his hard work building it.  My favorite feature is the lights in the bottom section.  Then I brought in items for the shelves which reflect the kids, our church, and the upcoming series we launched this week. 

Weight Loss Challenge

Life continues to make me aware that I am an all or nothing person.  The recent example is with my fitness and weight loss.  I am either super disciplined or incredibly lazy about diet and exercise.  In order to maneuver myself back into the first category and kiss the lazy category goodbye I decided to sign up for the weight loss challenge with my friend Joanna at our gym. The kickoff was yesterday and we had our first challenge exercise which was running outside at 1 PM in the afternoon.  I was able to finish my mile in 11:35 which is not great but not as terrible as I was expecting.  Joanna and I are really excited about it and I think it will be a great thing for us to do for ourselves plus it’s always easier when you have a friend and accountability partner.  My goal is to work out a minimum of 30 times in the next 8 weeks and really focus on healthier eating habits.  I created a Google documents spreadsheet so we can keep one another in the loop and plan our workout schedule.  I’ll keep you guys posted on the progress. 

Kyle's Graduation

I had the joy and honor of attending Kyle’s second college graduation.  He graduated with his master’s degree from the University of Georgia, go dawgs!  It was a long two years but he handled it so well.  He managed to balance teaching, piloting the new studio class, football, and graduate school with a grace and ease that honestly astounded me.  I am so proud of him and I know that he will continue to do great things in his teaching career.  Here are a few pictures from the ceremony and celebration afterwards.