Before and After...It Was Worth It All...

Doing home daycare...it seems when it rains, it pours.

We go through dry spells...when the number of clients drops dramatically.

And then, all of a sudden we have phonecalls coming in like crazy!

This was the case during the month of March.

Our daycare grew dramatically...which is good.

And so, we needed more space.

We decided to move our FAMILY'S space/living area downstairs to the family room.

It's a bit smaller, but big enough for us.

The living room upstairs is much larger, which will accomodate our growing number of children in the daycare.

We decided we would paint our family's living area and start afresh before we moved our good furniture down there.

So last weekend was a horrendous weekend of painting and moving furniture.

But...the hubs and I prevailed and made it, LOL!

The first two pictures are the "BEFORE" pictures.

The walls were a "burnt orange"/"brick red" type of color.

VERY OUT.

For our new color in our family room, we went with a color called "RAFFIA".

It's in between a tan and a gold.

Very neutral.

I really like the way it coordinates with the toss pillows on our couch/love-seat and also our chair.

We didn't have any major "incidences".

A few touch-ups have to be done.

But things are in living/working order now and we and the boys are really enjoying our new space.

This area is for OUR FAMILY ONLY.

No daycare children.

This chair is what Nate refers to as "the reading chair".

It got this name because it's not angled correctly to see the tv.

So the only thing he thought proper was "the reading chair".

We do have a valance up on the window (you can't see it).

But we are still looking for some longer sheers to go along with it for a little more privacy.

I feel like the whole world is staring in at me, especially at night.

I'm silly that way.

It was a LOT of work...and we were VERY sore the next day...but it was well worth it.

We love our new family room!

Two down, two to go...

So, first our frig bit the dust.
We'd had the previous one for nearly 13 years...I guess it was inevitable at some point. We decided to search for a deal on a stainless steal one and gradually start replacing all the appliances in stainless steal as they "went". We ended up getting "brushed steal" on the frig...something the salesman showed us that we had never seen. It actually repels fingerprints...which is VERY nice with kids in the house.

Then...

Yesterday, the microwave went kapoot.

We'd had the previous one for 10 years...so once again, I guess it's time was coming. Jam found a good deal on one and we replaced it the very day it went out. You should've seen us "trying" to function without a microwave for less than 24 hours. We were pathetic, LOL! Never realized how "dependant" we were on ours! When we put the first one in when we moved in, Dave came up and installed it for us. But I'm proud to say, Jamie tackled this job all by himself and he did it! Hurray! Jam and I are NOT DIY-ers...but he has come A LONG way in the nearly 17 years we've been married! He tackles more and more household jobs every year! Yay hunny!

Better late than never...

Normally we have our flowers all planted and the mulch "refreshed" by garage sale time (mid-May)...but not this year. Seems we had so much going on with the boys, school, trips, etc. that we got a late start. Just wanted to post a few pics of what we did. Here's just a glance of quite a few things going on in the front yard. The ornamental grass, rose bushes (which need pruning), some hostas, brown eyed susans (about to bloom), and some other things.

I always do petunias (ya can't kill a petunia!) in the front window box. They're still kinda sparse. The weather hasn't been all that "summery" yet...still cloudy and cool. Not too many hot, sunny days. They'll start filling in and "climbing" as soon as it warms up a bit.

I have two of these pots (one on either side of the garage door). Just did a mixture of different kinds of flowers and vines. I think it's pretty.

Here's the side of the yard...our day lillies and spirea. The day lillies are taking their time blooming too. Only two of the eight plants have bloomed yet. But they're getting there...slowly but surely!

And here's just the front of the house. All our landscaping...and the nice green grass...Jamie's "baby"...LOL!