- Went from stick-tile to real tile flooring (with grout!) in our master bathroom courtesy of professional installers
- Ripped out the terribly old, terribly dirty carpet in our master bedroom and replaced with light pine laminate flooring (it now matches with the rest of our home) courtesy of my wonderful husband, Kevin
- Painted the master bedroom a light pastel muted blue
- Painted the drab, dull brown exterior of our house a bright, beautiful colonial blue with creamy off-white trim and creamy off-white shutters couresy of both Kevin and little ol’ me (I love painting)
- Put up some detailed corner arches on the porch to achieve a quaint cottage’y look
- Installed matching wrought iron, coco lined window planters on all windows
- Installed 2 hanging baskets (one in front yard, one on porch) and 2 porch banister planters, all of which match the above mentioned window planters too.
- Purchased 18 little starter flowers to go in said planters and in containers on the porch as well.
- Divided tomato plants that I started from seeds into more pots. I have around 40 plants total and are currently between 3 inches and 18 inches tall.
- Laid out free flowing landscape edging in the front yard, preparing for a place to plant beautiful wildflowers, sunflowers, and yummy vegetables in various areas
- Put up some more of our wooden fence (we’re going all the way around the back yard a little at a time and plan to be finished by winter)
- Installed a wrought iron pole that holds a beautiful smelling cedar delux bird house feeder on top, and two smaller bird house feeders on the side.
- Purchased all of the treated lumber needed for an 8′x8′x10′ arbor, which will someday be covered by beautiful trailing vines and flowers
- Ordered a pine, country heart 5′ swing for the arbor (this one, right here)
- Contacted a local sunroom company for a consultation about adding a sunroom on the back of our home. They’ll be here Friday!
We’re far from done as we still have the far back side of the house to paint, our back screened in patio (which is located at the rear of our property), tons of planting to do, and the entire arbor to build. We also plan on getting a cute little wooden house mailbox to replace our $10 beat up one that my dad ran over the other week! For over three years we’ve lived in this house without doing anything to the outside. Sad to say, but it’s usually been the last thing on our minds, and it’s gone neglected far too often. It’s about time we took care of it, personalized it, and added some much needed cute-as-a-button curb appeal to our poor little 80′s style ranch house.
It’s been a fun past week but we’re a little tired. In lieu of working tonight, I surprised Kevin by having dinner done early so we could head out to the opening season game of our city’s local summer baseball league team at 7:00 pm. We go multiple times every summer, but Kevin didn’t realize the season was starting so soon – he thought they didn’t start until next week. After all the work he’s done the past week, it was a nice surprise and refreshing break for him, and it ended up being a really fun family night as well. 
Tomorrow, it’s back to work, work, work.
I have some great photos & video of the transformation we put our home through – even Jack-Evan got in on it and helped paint some. He’s had quite the blast during all of this work as he gets to play in his little toddler sprinkler pool the whole time. There’s nothing quite like the warm, homey feeling of hearing the laughter of your child in the background as you and your beloved husband work together to make something more beautiful.
