Kitchen Renovation

Since we have had so many projects going on in our new home, I thought I'd write about a few of them.  This was the first big project we tackled.... (Joe and family mainly--but I provided a lot of additional prego support!)

As you can see we started out with some very lovely wall paper, curtains and an array of flooring types for one room.  The eating area of our kitchen was industrial carpeting where the rest was vinyl.  We figured with little nugget on the way, the carpet/flooring needed to go!  So we took on our first ever tiling project with a lot of help from the dads :)

We also stripped quite a bit of wallpaper along the way!  It was vinyl, so the actual wallpaper came off easily...the glue was another story!!  We scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed!!

We also decided to forgo the lovely window treatments seen below.  This is my dad helping out :o)

Mom pitched in as well for some wallpaper stripping fun!!

We finally got the wallpaper down (glue was still another story) and floor laid.  Here is just before we grouted the floor.

This is just after the grout was done and we painted our walls a new lovely sea foam green.  I love it.  We used Clark and Kensington paints through out our new house so far.  It got amazing reviews on consumer reports and went on very easily!  Very reasonable too!!  We decided to take off all the lovely brass hardware that was in the middle of the cupboards and filled in the holes.  The previous owner was a painter so he saved paint to match every surface of the house, so luckily we had the exact color we needed to touch up our cupboards.  Thanks to my Uncle, we also installed new lighting in almost every room of the house.  Really updated things!!

Here is our kitchen "nook" area.  We hung this industrial pendent light we got at Home Depot and got some new curtains a la Target :o)  I still am looking for some new chairs for this room--these chairs actually go with a different table, but they serve the purpose for now.  I would like to get thrifted chairs and paint them all a fun color to liven up the space.  Can't wait to hit up some flea markets this summer for that!!

We finally added some nice new silver knobs to our doors, but I don't have a picture of that quite yet.  But its finally all coming together!!  Onto many more projects!!

Whirlwind Year!!

So I realize I am not great about updating my blog...but I think I will try to start this up again!  I have so many things going on that would be lovely to blog about...and yet I do not make the time.  So here it goes.

I was recently talking to my dearest friend about the craziness of my life over this past year and was amazed with all that has happened...therefore I will do a little recap.

One year ago, I just got back from Arizona on a "spring break trip" with my parents and their foreign exchange student--Minsu.  We had a great time.  At that time, Joe was student teaching in Stillman Valley, coaching baseball, and we were living in an apartment.

This is me and my parents in Sedona

Shortly after returning home, Joe and I decided we would move into a friend's home that they had decided to rent out.  We were so excited!  More space of our own and a fenced in yard for Elsie!!  We moved the end of April and week we moved, Joe was also offered two teaching jobs.  Joe accepted his first teaching job at Rockford Christian teaching HS Science.  The Lord provides and were were so grateful!!

Our charming little rental house on James Ave....swoon

We enjoyed summer in our new house, spent lots of great time with friends, went to Lake Geneva, etc. It was a great summer.  Joe played softball with friends and we even had a garden in our back yard.  I officially am great at growing zucchini!  School started for Joe in August and he is a great teacher!  Things got off to a great start.  Then we added some more excitement to our lives!

We are having a new addition to our home... expecting a baby May 25!!

So this got us really thinking about the future and start saving $$!!  Time to figure out where we want to live more long term.  So save we did. 

Then Joe's sister got married in December up in Michigan...we had a great time at the wedding...and I still fit into my bridesmaids dress (had to order a bigger size!)

When we got back from Michigan we had our 20 week ultrasound....

We are having a girl!

So we decided to start looking for a house.  This was next on our agenda.  So one weekend in January, we went with my parents and looked at 7 houses in one day...and fell in love with one particular house.  We put an offer in on the house the following day and it was accepted a few days later {after quite a stressful week!} Praise the Lord!!

The new Mullikin Home

We just closed on our new house on March 1st and have already done so many projects in our new house.  We painted 6 rooms and the hallways and put tile flooring in our kitchen and various other projects along the way.  This weekend I have a baby shower and Joe's family is coming to stay with us.  Its hard to believe in just a year so much has happened!  We are feeling very blessed and excited to welcome our new bundle of joy into this world!! 

Although it has been a crazy whirlwind of a year, it has made me so grateful for all I have.  We have so many wonderful friends and family that have supported us and cheered us on this past year through all these new adventures!!  Life is truly an adventure and I'm so grateful to share this adventure with my best friend, Joe.