1 year.

  I can hardly believe we're coming up on 1 year of owning our home. It just doesn't seem real that we've actually lived here (in NM) more than a year! Its been a wonderful first year of home ownership, and we have enjoyed making it our special place, just the way we want it!! 

 We've done a few updates in the house.... but nothing of great proportions... Nat loved the wood cabinets and the "older" feel to our home... I, on the other hand.... well, it just wasn't my style. So he suggested we wait a year to do any major updates (i.e. painting the wood cabinets that he loved.) Other than the girls little house remodel that I never blogged about. (oops).... When we first moved in, we replaced the bathroom sinks and faucets and the toilet handles. We've replaced a few light fixtures here and there and thats about it.

cabinets

hardware....... 

I always call it castle hardware cuz it looks like it needs to be in an olden day castle.

AKA. Ugly. I hate it.

On Christmas day, our kitchen sink completely stopped draining. I knew the day was coming, as slowly but surely it was taking longer and longer for water to go down. 

*Note to self: Don't take apart the plumbing lines under the sink on a holiday when nothing is open* 

So without going into deep detail on the disgusting sludge that completely filled the pipes........ they HAD to be replaced. The next day, to Lowes we went.... long story short, we got a new dishwasher, new plumbing lines AND a garbage disposal (my ultimate dream in life!!!!!!!) so began our (my) little kitchen remodel. 

The kids stayed back in TX this past week so that Nat and I could tackle a few projects. I painted the living room, kitchen and the kitchen cabinets. Nat, with the help of a paint gun, (is still in the process of) painting the cabinet doors and drawers. 

Thats the easy version of that story. 

I wont tell you of the 5 gallons of wasted paint sitting in the shop after painting 2 different colors on the wall that I absolutely hated.... the frustration that comes along with driving to town to pick out a THIRD color, late at night. The frustration of painting primer after each *horrible* paint job. The hours and hours of sanding the cabinets/doors/drawers. The time took to take ALL the hardware off to replace it. The hours and hours I had a paint brush in my hurting, carpel tunnel stricken hand. The staying up till 2 AM and getting up at 7 AM so we can get finished before the kids come home. The disaster of a mess that comes with doing stuff like this. The fact that I was sick. Nat was getting over being sick and that If I ever have to paint again.... I might cry the whole time. Oh and in the midst of all this, we took Aussie to the vet to get spayed... so not only was I dealing with a DISASTER in my home, I was tending to a dopy dog recovering from surgery and vomiting everywhere because she got into some food late at night after she was supposed to NOT eat.... 

When it was all happening, you look around and think this is NEVER going to end, but after cleaning up and looking around at all you did to make your house just the way you want it.... it all just doesn't seem so bad.

Kinda like childbirth. You're in labor, or in my case, sitting in the OR fixing to get a needle jammed into your back and then proceed to be cut open and a wee little baby gets pulled out of its little cacoon home.... and you sit there and think I am NEVER gonna do this again. Then you hold that wee little baby in your arms and you think.... well, that wasn't so bad.... and I WILL have another one. Anyone know what I'm sayin?!?

Sorry, that was quite the analogy. 

Anyhoo.... the before and after:

The mess

You know someone loves you when they show you the innards of their cabinets. ;) 

*interruption* 

 Ya, we kept one. Meet our new pet, Harley.

To answer your question.... 

YES, we've had a dog named Harley in the past.

YES, its a no-no to rename a dog from a previous dog.

YES, it could come across a little hearltess.....

BUT, when your married to a man who doesn't like any name you throw out, and has no desire to think of a name.... and you take the dog to the vet and they need to know the dogs name, you tend to go with the 1 and only name you have agreed on. 

Primer.

 Nat painting the cabinet doors.

Which are not yet finished, so technically, I have no "after" photo of the cabinets completely done.

Nat had plans to come to Angelo this weekend to hunt so, against my will, we left the project unfinished.

Cabinets after paint. Its like a pearly white. I know, I'm not a risk taker and I was a-ok with just going white with the cabinets.

The living room. 

Here we have layer 2 over layer 1. It was simply not easy to pick up the real color that it turned out to be in a picture. My goal was a grayish/tan. Layer 1 looked too purple for me and layer 2 looked to blue for me. 

 It looks grey, and when painting I thought It was the perfect color... then after sleeping on it, and letting it completely dry, it was BLUE.

and here is the final color (thanks to my amazing SIL who was 4 hours away and still managed to guide me and help me pick out the color I was wanting)

Like I said, hard to pick up the actual color in a picture... but trust me, it looks better than purple or blue.