Dining Room Update

We finally decided on a paint color and started painting. I won compromised on the paint color so now we have to come up with another color for the office. Here it is....

 Mark suited up to get started

A work in progress

Everything put back together and with new curtains

I LOVE the color and the curtains help tie in the rest of the house colors.... Now all we have left to do is the wainscoting on the bottom...it will bring it up another notch, but still looks very elegant in there! Crossing it off the list...WHOO HOO!!!

Fall Decorating

Here are a few pictures of some fall decorating I have done. I have a few more things I am working on. It only helps that our kitchen is orange and floors are brown...such fall colors!

Entryway



Close up of entryway, these are candle holders for tea lights..looks neat at night

My fall wreath, waiting to get pumpkins and finish a few other crafts to reveal the entire front porch

My sister sent me these FABULOUS vine pumpkins from Crate and Barrel...Now I just need to figure where to put them to show off their beauty

Got to love the Halloween Bailey..I really need to find her a pirate hat because this looks just like her



Breakfast Nook with fallish placemats and Jack O' Lantern



Here is what my dining room currently looks like...Can you tell we are still arguing about paint colors? Now yellow has been added in the mix and of course not this yellow, but another.

Had to add this, this is our door mat we got for a wedding present from Matt and Lauren..I love it and every time I notice it I smile because I love being a Franklin!





Ohhh What a Man What a Man What a Man What a Mighty Goooood Man

Remember that song? I do and I started singing it when I got home from work on Sunday night. My plans for my 2 days off were to paint the downstairs bathroom (I have been putting this off) and when I got home Mark goes " Hey can you go grab me a tissue" and so I did and when I walked in the bathroom TA DAAAAA...the bathroom was painted. Not only painted, cleaned up and everything returned to it's original position like nothing had ever happened. Minus a few touch up today it looks awesome! Husband of the week award! It looks awesome! It is a tad more yellow/gold then I imagined but I LOVE it. It is bright and rich and perfect for the small space. Thanks babe!

Ok so these are pictures taken on my IPhone (thanks Brooke)...the first shows a good contrast of the color..isn't it pretty? The second piece of art doesn't show the color very well, but it looks great with what we had in there. Tough shot to get the entire bathroom! But it is done so I can cross it off my list!

Fall Cleaning

You know how sometimes you look around your house and you say " This place is disgusting!" or "This place needs a good scrub down?"  This is where I'm at! I am dreading this...so I decided since I love everything about Fall, that I will put Fall in front of it and maybe that will make it more fun! I do have a  small confession...We do have a cleaning lady....BUT she only comes once a month or when we have people coming over...it just makes my life easier and it is one less time that I have to do it...I am so spoiled loved by my husband. It is a tiny luxury that doesn't cost us too much! So here is my list of what needs to get done...

1. Clean out pantry and discard/donate the stuff we won't eat or is expired
2. Wash windows
3. Baseboards ( I might be asking the cleaning lady to do this)
4. Empty about 5 kitchen cabinets with our entertaining stuff and reorganize ( I'm really bad at putting things back where they belong)
5. Empty Hallway closet/donate old coats and get rid of mismatched gloves, hats and scarves
6. Clean out linen closet/ wash towels and sheets and reorganize
7. Go through my closet, donate clothes to goodwill
8. Clean out and wash refrigerator (maybe defrost freezer- this sounds like a lot of work)

I think this is a good starter list!  My sister in law Heather is going to be coming over and giving me some tips on organizing my closets (I lack in this) and she is starting a portfolio to maybe start doing this for some extra cash. I will post some pictures when she comes next week.

Any other FALL cleaning things to add to my list??

I think I am in love...

So we went looking for paint last night, trying to finally get started and tackle some of these projects hanging over my head....I fell in love with this paint color, so we got a sample and I fell even more in love with it when we tested it on the wall...only to look over at Mark someone with a huge smile on my face and all he had to say was " it is sooo boring!!!" I wanted to cry! Wait, it gets better...I come home from work tonight, look at the paint in the daylight and I am officially obsessed with this paint color, Mark tells me lets try a green color.( Did I mention our kitchen is a bright, burnt orange!) ..I wanted to vomit be open to his suggestions, but I love this color! I guess worse comes to worse, we can always paint the office this color, it will look good in our Ball State room...sooo we are stuck...going back to look for more colors, when all I really want to do is scream, shout, and pout until I get what I want...back to the drawing board I guess, but seriously what male really cares that much! MINE!!!

I know it is just a paint color, but I love it on my walls! AHH!!

On a brighter note we picked a yellow/gold color for the bathroom, I will be taping and painting next week... bring on the home improvements!

Backyard Transformation

So we mulched our entire yard this weekend, got rid of trees and shrubs. I finished spray painting the chairs, we got new cushions and patio furniture! It looks so good! I am so proud of Mark of all of his hard work...Also a special thanks to Mark's parents and my brother Matt for helping!

Lots of Mulch


Cutting Down Trees








I lucked out...these were my two little helpers inside

Lilly and Di who were supposed to be taking a nap...


Diana being so cute, I couldn't put her down!

And Now the After...

I thought I had way more pictures then this haha....

The after kitchen, we removed the island, painted orange, new appliances and new floors...LOVE IT



This is the room that had hot pink walls and red carpet aka Valentine's Day room


This was the room with bright blue paint and blue carpet




This is what you see when you first walk in...new pretty floors and no more pink paint


I painted this mantle the color of our trim.

Dining room with new table that I adore



View from entryway



A view from kitchen into family room


So I realized I really haven't taken very many pictures of our house with furniture in it. Even these ones I posted we have added more decorations and it looks different, but you get the idea! I would have never imagined that I would love this house as much as I do. It is our little home, our first home together and it has been so fun decorating, making it our own and realizing how much work a house can be. We have a lot of hand me down furniture from Marks parent's or what we had from college and a few new things, but surprisingly it all works so well together. We still have one completely empty room, no idea what we are going to do with it. Mark wants to put a pool table up there, I think I might get a craft table from Marks mom and put it in that room for my cricut and stuff. All I know is we are blessed to have this home and I feel like the only people to really thank are our parents because they never lived in a home like this when they were both first married, but they always wanted to make sure we were in situations where we could. They made it possible through providing school, guidance, financial smarts and support. I can only hope we do the same for ours. I am so thankful!

One Year Ago Today.....

One Year ago today I was signing my life away! We closed on our house May 7, 2009. I was so nervous and excited. I couldn't believe Mark talked me into buying a foreclosure. It needed so much work, it need to be cleaned so bad...I was scared, but so excited that we would have a place to call home after we got married, excited that we found such a good deal, excited it was a good investment for us and excited I pretty much got to pick what I wanted for that house...





This is how the house looked day one, we had to fill that dumptster up TWICE!!
A year later, I can't believe how different our house looks on the insides. The outside looks pretty much the same, different landscpaing and new siding. So thankful we have such a beautiful home and enough room for when family comes to stay!

Here are some pics of the inside of the house when we bought it...
The walls were either a baby pink color, bright pink or bright blue. The carpet was blue in some rooms, the other carpet was white, but looked black and it was DIRTY!







I will post how it looks now tomorrow...

House Updates

We have been busy planning on what we are going to d with our landscaping next spring and summer. Well Mark got a head start. HIs parents found some great rose bushes so they cam over last weekend help Mark re landscpae the front and side of our house. The side looks so good with all those plants that will grow bigger. That is the side of the house when people turn on the street they see...it will be gorgeous!

House Updates

Our house has come a long way...it is starting to feel like home! Mark's parents bought new furniture for their house so we got some of their old furniture. Here are some updates! We added the two chairs in the family room. We got a sofa table for the entry way. Also, two hutches so we could put away our china and barware from sterling cut glass. It looks so pretty! Now we just need a dining room table!