Home Tour {kitchen progress}

I'm going to share changes we have made in the kitchen, mostly with the magic of paint.... a lot of paint.  We actually completed what we have done several months ago when I was still pregnant, but with third trimester and new baby, little gets done {including blog posts}.  Better late than never though...

You can see a lot of "before" house pictures here to see what the entire house looked like before we did anything to it.  I'll re-post some "before" kitchen photos though to show you where all the paint had to come in...

The two pictures above are even after we switched out the light fixtures over the island... I didn't get a great picture of the two HUGE chandeliers that used to be there except for this pic I snapped with my phone as Caleb and his dad were taking them down...

They hung right in your sight line when you were looking at someone on the other side of the island, plus they are just really not my style.

And the small eat-in area...

Soooo pumpkin orange and brownish/purple really weren't doing it for me... here's the now...

I choose black for the cabinets because I wasn't about to do four coats of white to try and cover the previous colors.  Two coats of black did the trick! I also choose a flat black paint to get a matte look... maybe that wasn't very smart of me since semi gloss is traditionally used for cabinets.  Only time will tell... right now my Norwex cloth wipes little marks off just fine.

I'm still a little unsure about the floors, I really don't like the color.  Too reminiscent of the previous colors I guess.  It's not in the budget to replace them, but maybe a heavy duty deck/porch paint? Some people think I'm crazy when I throw out that idea... again, time will tell.

I've constantly been on the hunt for a small antique table to put in this corner with two or three chairs. Hoping to hit that jackpot soon.

We had to do some cabinetry changes to get started... the previous owner had the dishwasher raised up so that you didn't have to bend over as far when loading and unloading.  I wasn't a fan because it took away from useable counter space that I already don't have a ton of.  So we lowered it down to normal height, which meant we needed to get a new counter top because the granite stopped and there was just a stainless steel counter over the dishwasher.  Fine with me... I didn't really like the granite anyway.  A local company made us a new cabinet for the opposite side of the dishwasher that matched the cabinets for about $150.

The new counters are birch butcher block from Ikea.  I finished them with a coating called Waterlox that lots of other bloggers with Ikea counter's had used.  I'm not sure I'd use it again... I would be interested to see what someone who just used the tung oil that Ikea sells thought about their finish and durability.  The Waterlox is just a lot of work to apply and it does bring out a very warm tone in the wood {which I don't necessarily dislike}.  But maybe since I have butcher block next to my sink it's necessary to use a Waterlox-like product, I don't know.  It does cause liquid to "bead up" when it gets on the counter, which is good.


This picture really shows some of quirks of the cabinets, they definitely aren't perfect.  There are also two styles of cabinetry in the kitchen.  It has a very cottage-like, mismatch quality to it. This "reno" is all about embracing that and making it look as good as possible without replacing much. :)  The drawer pulls and knobs are brass... duh. Who doesn't love brass right now?!

The pendants, also brassy, I bought long ago when we first moved in.  Love them.

The sink is new, and no it's not under mount... obvi.  An under mount sink would have meant really perfect cuts made in the butcher block {by us, we installed it ourselves, with help}, plus sanding the cut edges with a tool we don't have, and extra treatment of the Waterlox stuff... like 6 layers of it... so I read.  No thanks, I think the over mount looks fine and putting it in with the counters was much easier!

The wall behind the sink desperately needs tile and open shelving... that's on the to-do list, maybe this summer!  Once I have open shelving I can clear my counters off! Plus my everyday dishes are plain white, so they can go up there too!

the writing on my glass containers is a product of a long nap by Reid and a new chalk marker for myself :)

I do love how some of my dishes stand out against the black...

One thing I desperately need to do is put fabric or something under the screen that is the top half of our pantry door.  I mean...why? Why would a person make their pantry door see through...? Also, too bad I didn't organize my pantry before I took this picture.  Real life people.

Well that's the progress folks...

Sources:
Wall paint color: BM Classic Gray {mixed in SW paint}
Trim paint color: SW Simply White
Cabinet pain color: BM Black Panther {mixed in SW paint}
Counters: Ikea birch butcher block
Brass hardware: Martha Stewart line at Home Depot {online}
Recipe box: Rifle Paper Co.
Brass Pineapple: antique
Stools in kitchen: antiques
White cast iron sink: Home Depot
Glass containers: Target & Hobby Lobby
Colored bowls: Anthropologie
Island pendants: Etsy

Home Tour {Reid's nursery}

My baby is two months old! What an exhausting, amazing, crazy, wonderful two months its been! Needless to say I've been busy.  It's been hard to adjust being busy with things that don't involve crossing things off of a to-do list.  On my to-do list for a while now has been sharing Reid's nursery... so I'm finally getting to that!
I shared my ideas for a nursery here {before we knew the gender} and here {after we knew the gender}.  I stuck with most of the ideas from the second mood board.  The vintage paint by number picture seen in that post inspired the colors for the nursery.  First we should see the hideous before picture of this room...

After we scraped some terrible wall decals off the of walls we started adding wainscoting.  I wanted horizontal wood paneling, so we used pine tongue and grove paneling.  We topped the paneling with a 1x4 pine board to trim it out.  The only difficult part of this was in a 100 year old house, nothing is level.  Leveling the bottom board is necessary to not make the rest of the paneling look wonky, so if you look closely there is a range of gaps between the floor trim and the first panel on top of it. After that we gave everything a nice thick coat of primer! 

The wall color for the room is Benjamin Moore Harbor Gray and the trim color is Sherwin Williams Simply White {as is in the rest of the house}.  Here are the after photos...

The paint by number ship print that started it all is the center of the gallery wall...

We added a wardrobe to the room because this room didn't have a closet.

Antique store finds sit upon the shelf...

Originally I had wanted this crib in a gray color, but after many attempts to order it, it was unavailable everywhere.  I'm actually glad because I ended up really loving the black!

The anchor print crib sheet is one of my absolute favorite things in the entire nursery! It adds to the nautical theme without being overwhelming.

Over the crib, I went with a garland rather than a mobile, which I was able to make myself with yarn I already had.

I used the lined basket as a hamper, while the other baskets in the room hold toys, stuffed animals, and extra blankets.

Source list:
Crib - DaVinci Jenny Lind crib in black via overstock.com
Rug - Jute Chenille Herringbone rug in Ivory {8x10} via West Elm {got on sale and saved shipping costs by ordering it and picking it up from the store}
Sheepskin rug - Ikea
Crib sheet - Anchor Print crib sheet via RH Baby & Child {gifted}
Dresser - antique store {gifted}
Rocker - already owned, it was Caleb's grandmothers! Bought my own fabric and had it reupholstered
Pouf ottoman - clearance from Target
Baskets - all three found at Tuesday Morning
Mirror - Tuesday Morning
Tongue and grove paneling - Lowe's
Black and gold accent table - Target
Striped Throw - Ikea
Blue Turkish Cotton Throw - clearance from Anthropolgie
Black & White pillow - Ikea {already owned}
Pom-pom garland - DIY
Picture Ledges {holding books} - Ikea {already owned}
Large shelf and brackets - Ikea
Picture frames - Target, Ikea, and vintage finds
Vintage paint by number - Etsy
Hand drawn Bible Verse - DIY
"The World is Your Oyster print" - via Rifle Paper Co.
"Rise and Shine" print - via Minted

Diaper pad changing cover - Etsy {gifted}
Lamp - Ikea {then spray painted gold}
Wardrobe - Ikea {handles were spray painted gold}
Curtains - Fresh Linen Curtain Panels in blue via Land of Nod
"R" initial - Zinc Letters via Anthropologie {got on sale!}
Mini pendant - Retro KU pendant via Rally House

Paint colors - walls are BM Harbor Gray, trim is SW Simply White

first mom post... {reid's arrival}

Well, he's here! Three and a half weeks ago we welcomed Reid Thomas Champ into the world! His birth stats are as follows: born @ 10:21pm on Friday, January 2nd @ 38 weeks // 7 pounds 13 ounces {praise the Lord for being born at 38 weeks, right?!} // 21.5 inches long {very possible that an inch of that was purely from his cone head} // cutest baby ever... :)

Here's a {long} run-down of how it all happened... my pregnancy was rough, very rough.  I always felt some guilt complaining because I knew I should be incredibly grateful to get the gift of having children, but I think I sometimes let that guilt of "I need to be thankful and not complaining," overpower my need for support.  The truth was that pregnancy was incredibly hard for me, I had a lot of symptoms and when I had them I felt like they were pretty extreme.  From nausea that lasted 20 weeks, to headaches and migraines, to heartburn, to nerve pain, and at the end I had some pretty insane swelling {up to my thighs!}. It was just hard and at times really miserable.  My empathy is deep and wide for all those who experience similar pregnancies!

At 36 weeks I went in for my first of my weekly appointments and I was told I was dilated to a 4 and I was 90% effaced.  At this time I sorta freaked out because I wasn't expecting that at all! My doctor said I'd probably have the baby in December versus my original due date of January 15th.  Then I started feeling like a ticking time bomb.  It was around this time my swelling went from "yeah I have some" to "whoa, kankles!"

The next week at my appointment I was dilated and effaced at the exact same as I had been the week before.  Also during that week I had learned of ladies who walked around dilated to a 4 for a month and had their baby past their due date... ugh.  Major deflate for me.  Sleeping was not good and swelling was increasing to calf level.  I believe it was around this time I only started wearing sweats {yes, Caleb's sweats} and for work I had completely given up on dressing nice and was wearing my "maternity scrubs" aka - my maternity yoga pants.  I was really just hoping my employer wouldn't ask so I wouldn't be forced to lie...

Week 38 appointment was on Wednesday the 31st of December... I was MIS-ER-A-BLE! Almost in tears at my appointment.  I assumed that everyone who said "You look great!" was paid off by my husband.  I was swollen up to my thighs... it was unreal.  My lower legs had pitting edema {for all you medical people out there... I'd give it a solid 3+ pitting... gross, I know}.  I was not sleeping much at all, I had horrible hip pain at night, and I almost just felt like I was sick without having the "sick" symptoms.  At this appointment she said I was dilated to a 5 and she "couldn't believe I hadn't had the baby yet." She could see my misery... it was written all over my face... and my thighs.  The scale that I stepped on to get weighed spelled out "Eww, Gary!" instead of a number... jk... It actually said "Here's an extra 10 lbs of water weight, go ahead and cry now."

Fast forward to Friday, the 2nd... that morning I called in to work because I couldn't fathom making it to work... and then actually working once I got there.  I felt like I got hit by a semi rather than just slept 7 hours.  And I also think an elf had come through the night and pumped me full of just a little more water... because the first 10 lbs just wasn't enough.  Caleb was gone for some of the morning at basketball practice, I was at home barely moving.  When I did decide to get up and move to the toilet, I had a suspicion that more than just #1 was coming out {to put it into nice toddler terms for you}.  I went and grabbed some pH paper that we had "borrowed" from the OB's office and tested it... it turned blue, blue = amniotic fluid! I tested one more time just to be sure and got blue again! I called Caleb who was on his way home, and we packed up our things, made a necessary stop at Taco Bell, and then headed to the hospital!

We got to the hospital around 12:30 and a after getting checked in and settled and all hooked up to monitors, they decided to test me to see if they could detect any more amniotic fluid.  I definitely was not having gushes of fluid coming out, but rather just a slow leak of sorts.  Regardless of amount, as long as they can detect it too, it's go time.  Test results came back and.... IT WAS NEGATIVE! "Noooooooooooo!" was what was screamed inside my head.  Luckily, my doctor had been on the maternity unit when my nurse got this news, and my doctor must have had the flash back to my misery and thighs, because she told the nurse "Check her, and if she's anything more than a 5, keep her anyway!" So my nurse checked me, and boom! I was a 5.5 and luckily my gracious nurse rounds up so we called it a 6!

In the meantime my doctor had gone back to her office, but the plan was to break my water for realsies.  So we sat and waited until she returned at 5:30 and broke my water.  Pretty quickly I started feeling my contractions, previously I really hadn't felt much.  At 7ish I was dilated to a 7 and asked for the epidural.  The very nice doctor who put it in, informed me that even my back was swollen... awesome. At that point I didn't really care, I was just elated to be in labor.  The epidural was awesome... I could still feel just enough to know when I was having contractions, and honestly, the procedure of getting it put in didn't bother me at all.

By around 9pm I was fully dilated and I started pushing and I had him at 10:21!  My first comment about him was something about his massive cone head... :) Everything about the labor was so perfect though, it went pretty fast, I was elated to be in labor, my husband was awesome throughout it all... it was just really good. 

Now after labor the pains came back, in different ways... eh.  But, luckily a week or so makes a world of difference there. And in about 7 or 8 days I got my ankles back! I couldn't believe how skinny my ankles and feet looked!

Caleb and Reid... my loves!

Growing like a Champ... pun intended.

Caleb and I are just so in love with him!