The Guesthouse

This post is only partially for me. 

It is about 60% for my friend Erica. 

She has followed along on our blog ever since we purchased this home and I have failed all of you!!

I have NEVER shared the guesthouse. 

Its that place in my home I thought was "cool" when we offered on the house then I realized.... its a huge huge thorn in my side.

Have we had a tennant? 

Yes we did! A sweet girl I worked with at J Crew lived out here for about a year. 

(wish I had photographed it with all her cute decor and not it's current barron ugliness)

Alas...

Here she is.

Only recently did we paint the front door and replace the exterior lights.

When we purchased the room was grey and had only the foundation for flooring.

See this left over sticker?? I don't know why but I can bring myself to remove it. 

This was the bank's winterization sticker they had on the door. 

To me it is sooo much more. It's the very final reminder of how misloved and broken this home was and how my husband and I were able to pour blood sweat and tears into the whole property and make her pretty again. Make her desireable to another family so they could also call it home.

Door open looking into the "living" space.

new wall color and new carpet. 

Sooo thankful for a father in law who so graciously offers to help us. We have soo much home improvement wise to learn from him. 

Just another angle.

Standing in the kitchen looking back out towards the back of our home. 

To the left is the closet, right the bathroom and if you went through the door straight ahead you would go into the garage.

door into the bathroom

The bathroom and another uncomplete project of beginning to put hardwood in this bathroom.

Lovely wallpaper wall.

Notice the bass fish border? haha

Here is the suprisingly large walk in closet in the space.

Again another unfinished hardwood flooring project.

See this crumpled paper? That WAS the flooring to the closet. This is what I like to call the scary side of buying a foreclosure.

in the "living" space and looking into the kitchen/dining area.

Another view

We took all the cabinets down out here to paint and never got around to it. 

how cute would this place be with a fresh cabinet paint?

And the nasty view into the back yard. 

Remember how this place looked 5 weeks ago??

Let me refresh your memory.

Ughhh believe it or not the only thing that kills all this kudzu is a chainsaw and pouring bleach on it. 

Apparently kerosene works but that stuff is expensive when you need 3 or so barrells.

Well it looks like that's the "full" disclosure of pictures of this home. 

I will probably do a "selling our house" post. Lets just say it has been a LONG drawn out process.

Screened in Porch sort of "Reveal"

This was hands down the biggest undertaking in this house. 

We removed a coy pond, a hot tub, 5 trees, a deck, installed a ceiling, rewired the electrical, installed new stairs, did some landscaping, and finally styled the space.

Whew!!

It was tiring back breaking work and sadly we have never finished the painting part. 

Super sad, but glad to finally be doing a round up of the project.

Here are the links to the before:

Here, here, here, and here.
Before:

During:

(after removing and filling in the pond with 4 loads of dirt)

And the Almost Completed After:

Here is a picture during the process, we were swinging the baby after finishing filling in the floor.

Here you can see here how we back up to the interstate.

And this is the walkway around the side of the guesthouse to the "very" back yard.
And the "very" back yard. A double cement wall to buffer the sound of I-240.
Really, the sound of rush hour traffic isn't bad at all. Promise.

And the whole "guesthouse"

Here is the door to the guest house.

painted BM antigua

Here is the exterior of the porch.

No, the painting of the ceiling or the exterior trim was not completed. 

That was supposed to happen last summer when I was very very sick in my early pregnancy.

Trust me I tried to paint on a slanted ladder but my husband wouldn't allow me to. haha

Here is my crafting/painting table live in action. haha

This table was so graciously given to me by a friend of a friend. 

My sweet friend ashlea got this for me (from Nikki, thanks again!!) while a local Bath and Bodyworks was being remodeled. They had placed several of these tables in the DUMPSTER!!! can you believe that????

Last look, before.

And After.

May not be perfect but it is a Heck of alot better than the before!!

I would say after "completing" this project the screening was the easiest, followed by replacing the floor.

And the rewiring the electrical was the hardest/most frustrating!

Thanks for staying with me through this 3 year renovation!

If it weren't so hot I would spend some more time out here under these awesome fans! 

Sitting Up

The other day we were over at my parents house. 

We started talking about how much the baby is changing and I jokingly propped him up on the ground as if he could sit up on his own. 

To my amazement he could!!

Just a little wobbly but boy oh boy he was sitting up!! 

Yesterday morning we snagged a few quick minutes before school to get some pictures of him!

of course we had to let sister sneak in for a few!

And I just had to throw this one in there of how sweet the hand embroidery on his top is. Just adore it!

New Logo and Potential new design

A few weeks ago I posted a poll on the blog to see what yall thought about changing the name of the blog when we move.

I think it only makes sense for me to begin to start streamlining a few things.

So what do you think?

Alot is left to be determined design and blog wise but wanted to give you guys a sneak peek!!

My current clothing obsessions!

Ann Taylor Loft, Target, Old Navy, and J Crew are my favorite staple stores.

And the obvious... Lilly. haha

Here are some summer threads I seem to be drooling over.

Where do you usually shop?

The Good, the Bad, The Ugly. Grouting our Shower

Soo... every home has at least one UGLY side. 

Ours was the master bathroom's shower.

For some reason it did not occur to us to try and regrout the bathroom before putting our house on the market. 

Well, here is the shameful start people.

and no, not until we took this photo did we realize some of the floor tiles had been replaced throughout the years. Oh well...

SOOO much better!!!

The wall tiles basically look brand new now!!

Barn Electric Giveaway

I am sure all of you know about barn light electric! 

Their lighting is incredible. 

Actualy some of the lights I have drooled over for quite some time now.

When we move we will put this light in C man's room.

(actually already have this!)

click on the picture to go to their website.

how cool would this guy be over a laundry room wash tub??

And imagine three of him over a huge kitchen island! Be still my heart!

I would just be besides myself to win some free lighting for a new home!

Here is how:

How to Enter:

1. Look around online at Barn Light Electric and pick lights you’d love to own
2. Feature your lighting picks on your personal blog, and link to the lights if you can!
3. Copy/Paste these rules at the bottom of your blog article so others can enter
4. Once your personal article is up, you must email your blog link to:marketing@barnlightelectric.com to be qualified to win. The contest ends Monday, July 2nd, 2012
5. Don’t have a blog? Find out how you can enter by reading the Official Rules

Best of luck!