making a house a home...

after a few weeks of not really working on any of our big home projects, evan and i decided to really buckle down this weekend and get some things done!

a couple of days ago we noticed that some flowers were starting to pop up right next to a large pile of wood we had sitting in the backyard that was waiting to be broken down and carted away. this little guy here made us realize that there were probably lots more little blooms struggling underneath the pile to reach the light of day. i was saddened by the thought, but the pile of wood was so large, and we really didn't have anywhere better to move it, so i came to terms with the fact that this year they just weren't going to make it.

i think perhaps evan knew i was sadder then i let on about this, because while i was taking a shower one day he surprised me by moving the entire pile to another location. to my amazement, this is what was found underneath...

they are about the same size as the ones that were not covered, but they are totally yellow from the lack of sunlight. they are also so very soft and fragile. i'm pretty sure they're daffodils, but if anyone knows otherwise feel free to let me know.

i cleaned out all of the leaves that had gathered, and recovered in soil some of the bulbs that were just sitting on the surface. i don't know if they'll make it, but i've taken them on as my new pet project. i know it's not the ideal way for a garden to look, but i do so love the way they have a perfect gradient from pale yellow to deep green.

i also found a few of these larger bulbs just sitting on the surface. i've replanted them and am pretty excited to see if anything comes of it. ahhh, the mystery!

we then took our motivation inside to continue our never ending kitchen renovation. it's really only never ending because we don't often have entire days to spend working on it. to see the steps that it took to get us to this point feel free to read up HERE.

evan finished putting up all the drywall and also mudded and sanded every nook and cranny.

evans mom stopped by for a little visit and helped us prime the walls. we rope as many people as we possibly can into helping us out with this kitchen.

paint time! we decided to go with a really pale grey. we want to keep the kitchen feeling very bright, clean, and airy. with the cabinets being white and the floor a deep brown wood, i think we've made the perfect choice.

this is me in my painting attire. thanks evan for capturing this!

there will soon be tall built in cabinets in this empty space below. oh, how i love me some storage space!

the washer and dryer are in the kitchen, so evan built this little room to keep them all tucked away. he's quite a handy guy to have around. i do believe i'll keep him :)

you can also spot barkley here in one of his favorite spots in the house. he loves to curl up in front of the heat vent and nuzzle his nose right on in there. crazy pup!

i was on such a renovation roll yesterday that i even decided to refinish our back door. the door is as old as the house and was in desperate need of a face lift. we will eventually get a new door, and a little doggy door for barkley, but this will hold us over until that day.

the repainting of the door was such a spur of the moment thing that i didn't even get a "before" picture. it was the same color combo as our front door, so this should give you an idea of what it looked like...

it has such an old feel to it already that i thought i would just go with it and really bring out it's shabby side. i hand sanded the panels to pull some of the blue color through the fresh new coat of paint.

it came out really well and i now know that i can confidently do the front door without fear of ruining it. here's to experimenting!

we still have quite a bit more to do as far as the kitchen goes, but it really feels like it's starting to move along now. i guess having actual finished walls will do that to a room. it's so very gratifying to be doing this all ourselves. it's taking longer (ok, much longer) then expected but evan and i really enjoy working together to make this little home our own. we're shooting for having it done by my birthday which is march 28th. stay tuned to see if we make our deadline...