Home Improvements

Now I know why we waited so long to do our landscaping after moving in.  It took us two years to finally get around to it.  We mulched and planted some shrubs and flowers.  We also had two oak trees, two evergreens, a few shrubs and a rose bush removed from our property.  We edged and planted and then I went out and bought a couple of planters for each side of the garage.  Phew!  I am so glad it's over so we can sit back and enjoy our hard work.  We are spent!  Here are some photos.

We also updated our playset.  It was in dire need of some TLC.  Here is a before and after.

This is the front before and after shots (kind of).

And then we added some new patio furniture to tie it all together.  More stuff will come down the road.

We knew that the boys' rooms needed to be done; making them a little more personalized to their interests.  This took awhile as well.  We were trying to figure out what colors for the walls and what themes they wanted.  Liam's room started off as a mural (it was already like that when we moved in).  He loved it at first and then we hit a turning point in his "I'm growing up" stage.  He said he didn't like anymore because it seemed "too girly" and it was time for another color (for the most part it was gender neutral, but there were some butterflies, flowers and a few pinks and purples).  We asked him if a light gray would be okay and he agreed.  Landon's was Barney purple with butterfly stickers from the previous owner's little girl.  Although Landon likes purple, he didn't care to have a purple room.  We went with tan.

Liam is and has been into geography, buildings, structures, exploring, etc.  He was obsessed with the world and our country.  We thought an adventurer/explorer/wanderlust room would suit him best.  Landon wanted a gamer's room and his color request was red, gray, white, and black.  I was happy that they both found something they were happy with.  So, the shopping began!

Here is Liam's wall before:

During:

After (sort of).  We added a new TV, bedding, a rug and more decor.

Landon's room:

Since my mom has moved in with us, there has been more accumulation, in turn, has left us with little to no room for anything else in our unfinished storage areas in our basement.  How we did this before moving, I'll never know.  She also has items in a storage unit that we will be taking out and storing in our home (I'm so happy we moved to a bigger place!).  Our original attic opening is about 2'x2.5' (roughly) and it's located in our walk-in closet.  The bad thing there is that we have a closet system (shelves, doors, drawers, etc.) that comes out from the wall and is partially under the attic opening.  This means insulation gets all over our clothes.  So, the moral is, it's too small and inconvenient.

A light bulb went off!  We did some research and made plans to make another attic opening in our garage - a much bigger opening!  Then, we contemplated putting in an attic ladder or use the ones we have.  After giving it much thought, we went with the attic ladder for a few very important reasons.  Once we got the attic opening, we laid down plywood for safety and security when storing heavier/bulkier items up there.  So far, it seems to be one of the best decisions we've made!

Our bedroom furniture:

Aaron and I have always had our own pieces of furniture from when we were younger.  I had my/my mom's pine dresser since the late 90s.  Aaron has had his chest of drawers since he was a kid.  We finally decided it was time for matching bedroom furniture - two apartments, a marriage, a dog, two kids, and two homes later.  We started with the one I had because we found the matching chest of drawers in my grandma's basement when we were clearing things out.  It wasn't quite finished.  I guess my mom didn't get around to finishing her project.  Aaron and I took care of that for her.  We sanded, painted, added new hardware, and stained all the pieces, including the two round end tables I also found.  At this point, our bedroom "set" was complete.  We love how everything turned out!