making it pretty {staging a home}.

Two years ago, almost exactly, I was getting our previous house ready to sell. I put away all personal pictures, hung up some extra mirrors to reflect more light, and packed away "extra" stuff around the house. I didn't want it to look empty, but I also didn't want any clutter, I figured buyers wanted to be able to picture themselves in the house not see how cute my kids are (even though, I firmly believe they could help sell the place. Ha!) We ended up selling that house in less than two months and had 15 showings in a month and a half.

Here I am, doing it again, to our second home. Except this time I have two kids and a part-time job. Which makes things a whee bit more challenging, but we are doing it. Or at least attempting it [in a housing-market recession, no less].

We bought this house two years ago, knowing that in two years, we would put it on the market. It was like a long-term flip house for us. I absolutely love the style of this little 1930's bungalow we live in. It is charming, has a good yard (for being in the city), and about five-ten minutes to everything. If it wasn't an investment property, I could see ourselves here. But, we trust God has a different house for us. [In fact, we found one we love, so we are praying this one sells quickly so we can put an offer in on it.]

I thought it would be fun to share the pictures I have been taking, that the realtor will be using. I took down a lot of decor to simplify things, so this isn't exactly what my home looks like on a daily basis. [Especially this clean!] Keep in mind, this is two years into the making. It used to be dirty, gross, with practically no kitchen or bathroom. We have done so.so.so.very.much to this place.

And now, my very favorite room of the house-- the kitchen and dining area!

 So there it is, our sweet little home we are trying to sell. There has been a lot of love and hardwork poured into this place! Tomorrow I will share some outside pictures, as they saying goes, first impressions can make it or break it!

diy dining room table.

A couple of months ago I randomly decided I didn't like our dining room table anymore and I sold it on Craigslist that night. [I even made a little bit off of it-score.]

This is what our dining area used to look like. [Picture taken in fall 2010.]

I didn't have a real plan for the next table, I just knew I wanted something more modern. For about five weeks we didn't have a table to eat from. Our meals consisted of picnics on the floor and sitting at the two barstools we own. I didn't want to just settle on a table because we needed one. But I also didn't want to spend a lot because we don't plan on living here but for maybe another year.

Then I saw this table and was inspired. A DIY table. Sure!

source

Mother's Day weekend we made a trip to Ikea and bought the chairs I wanted. And that same weekend I just happened to find a frame on Craigslist (that was originally from Ikea)  for a table that was a perfect match in my eyes. [It actually came with a top, but it was lame-o, so we tossed it.] The handy-dandy husband bought some Birch wood from Lowe's for the top. He measured, cut, sanded, rounded the corners, stained with a really really light white-wash, and then polyurethaned a couple of times. [Happy Mother's Day to me.]

And now this is my new dining room table and chairs that I looooooove. [Along with new wall color, new windows, patched holes, and trim since the before picture above.]

One of my favorite parts about the table is the industrial-looking bolts. I should just throw a wrench on the top and call it a day.

Wanna see what our kitchen looked like before we got a hold of it? Check it out here, it was a doozy!

P.S. I love sharing home stuff and hopefully I will be doing that more often. I think it's fun to sneak a peek in other homes and get inspired, or be like oh good, they have a messy house like me. shew. And just for the record, I totally cleaned the dining room table off for you, it very rarely looks like that. Keeping it real.

get your cook on.

Yesterday I woke up for the day and one of the first things I did was pray for grace. [Along with starting coffee, opening the curtains, and making my bed. All part of the morning routine, yo.] I knew I wouldn't be able to function without it. I was going on day three of very, very little sleep. Also known as, Naomi going through a growth spurt and eating like her life depended on it. [Oh, wait it does.]

He answered my prayers, because, somehow I managed to have a good day, despite the {major} lack of sleep.

I mean, you know, it's a good day when your kitchen looks like this.

I was getting my cook on and bake on. What's that, you ask? Well, I don't share too many recipes here. But this is a good one, I tell you. It meets all my requirements. [Easy. Inexpensive. Good for you. Recognize all the ingredients.]

I made some delish Winter Squash and White Bean Stew.

You'll want to write this one down. And probably make it tonight too. Just sayin'.

[This is not an original recipe of mine, I took it from the crock-pot cookbook Fix-It and Forget-It.]

Ingredients: 1 c. chopped onion, 1 Tbsp. olive oil, 1/2 tsp. ground cumin, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1 garlic clove, minced, 3 cups peeled, butternut squash, cut into cubes, 1 1/2 c. chicken broth, 19oz. can cannellini beans, drained (I used Great Northern beans because that is what I had in stock), 14 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained, 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions: Combine all those lovely ingredients into your slow cooker. Cover. Cook on high 1 hour. Reduce heat to low and cook 2-3 hours.

We enjoyed it with a dollop of sour cream on top. (You didn't think I was that healthy, did you?) And my two-year old LOVED the squash.

EASY-PEASY I tell you. (Also, do you know the trick with the onion? Put it in the freezer for about 5 minutes before you cut it and you won't shed a tear. I do this every time and it works.)

Then for dessert. I went with the classic Nestle Toll House cookie recipe on the back of the chocolate chips. You can't go wrong with that recipe. The trick is, take the cookies out of the oven when they don't look quite done. They will finish baking on the cooling rack and then be oh, so soft.

Now go get your cook on. I would also love for you to share a recipe you tried recently and loved.

come on in. {the kitchen}.

It's here--another house post! And this one is a doozy. It's our kitchen/dining room area. I'm even shocked looking at these before and after pictures.

Since I have a lot of pictures to share, I figured the less words the better. So here it goes.

When we bought our 1930's bungalow in August 2009, this is what our lovely (using this term very loosely) kitchen looked like. [Brace yourself, folks. We really did take on this challenge all ourselves.]

So what type of remodeling did we actually do in the kitchen? Alright here's the list: remove cabinets, flooring (which had a couple of layers), appliances, remove washer/dryer hookup (who has this in their kitchen, in the open, for real?), all new electrical (done by my dad), remove drywall due to mold, redo plumbing, one new window installed (still need to replace four), new back door installed, install new cabinets and counter top (we had the counter top hired out because our house is so not square and it had to be custom made), installed new appliances, new sink with a garbage disposal, the ceiling fixed in spots, laid new floor, and painted (which isn't just painting, that means cleaning the walls and priming).

Did I mention for about two months of living here I did not have a working sink or counter tops? Imagine me carrying loads of dirty dishes in a box outside in the freezing cold to my dad's house to use his dishwasher, or don't think about it, because I am trying to forget that I actually did that.

After all that hard work, it did finally pay off. Here are the after pictures:

There you have it folks, my kitchen. Is it my dream kitchen? Nah. But I do enjoy being in it. I especially love all the natural light that comes in. And keep in mind, it's not finished yet. Notice there isn't trim up yet, and we have to figure what to do about a space that doesn't have room for a cabinet, and see those cute vintage aprons hanging up by the dining room table? Yeah, those are covering the old electrical box that still needs to be removed. We also need those really cool windows replaced--- I wanted to keep them because I love the originality of them, but they are so not efficient.

Our house is always a work in progress and never will be perfect, and that's okay with me.

Wanna see other parts of our remodel? Check it out here, here and here.

Real Life.

This is what an evening looks like in my (unfinished) kitchen.

I'm Here.

I'm here. But I'm not. This is the week. The week we have to move. The week Audrey turns one. It's kind of crazy around here. But definitely a good crazy. And just to throw things into the mixture I am taking all day tomorrow to go to a covered bridge festival. I mean, it makes total sense to take an entire day to go and have fun when I could be packing and moving and running errands and getting stuff ready for the big birthday bash. I thought it was a smart move, at least.

Anyway.

We are making so much progress on the house. It makes me giddy. Just look at the kitchen...

In the kitchen alone this is what we have done:

• removed old cabinets/countertops/nasty stove/multiple layers of flooring
• replaced drywall that was bad
• replaced all electrical with new wiring and boxes
• remudded the ceiling and painted
• primed and painted all trim and walls
• installed new cabinets

What we have left to do:

• refinish existing windows (there are 5 super cute original windows in the kitchen)
• replace one window
• replace back door
• install butcher block countertop
• add switches to eletrical boxes
• install floor and new trim

And that's just one room. I can't wait to share the progress on the other rooms!

Little Helper.

Audrey's at that age where she gets "bored" with her toys. She needs to know what I am doing and do it too. So when I am cooking this is what the kitchen ends up looking like...

Now how am I suppose to get anything done with a distraction as cute as her?