First Look

So, we ARE still alive! Sorry its been so long. We've had just a bit going on, with packing up and moving out of our townhouse, taking a week-long trek (with stops in DC, Buena Vista, Nashville, and Little Rock), painting, cleaning, and unpacking, all while still having three kids to handle (HUGE thanks to my mom and dad for taking them to San Antonio for FOUR days while we painted and unpacked stuff) and just getting used to this whole owning-a-house thing.

So far, we are liking Oklahoma City. I have never in my life seen so many neighborhoods all over the place. They are EVERYWHERE. And there isn't much land to the homes. But, after living in Chelsea Square for the last four years, we are loving the bit of backyard that we do have! Its been incredibly hot, but without NEARLY as much humidity as Richmond. The first two weeks here, I am pretty sure there were severe storm warnings and tornado watches every night. It was crazy. And their severe storms always include at least golf ball sized hail all the way up to baseball sized. And, just so you know, what they sing in the song is true "When the WIND comes sweeping down the plains." It is SO windy here all of the time, which works out well for me because now I actually have a reason to keep my hair up!

Alright, so enough of an update about here. Let me show you a tiny sneak peek of before and afters on our house:

The entryway. It is a bit long, dark, and awkward to decorate.
I did my best. I am still not quite finished with it, but here ya go:


This is the fireplace and their drapes when we moved it. Notice how the wall behind the fireplace is a different color than the other two walls. And there was a fourth wall that is an even different color. None matched well and NONE were painted well. They most definitely did not use tape.


The after mantle! It took lots of primer and paint and patience, but we LOVE how it turned out. The plan is to paint the kitchen cupboards as well (they are the same nasty brown color as the before mantle), but that is a longer project. I hope to complete it before the baby comes.

The whole front room before.
With walls that are all actually the same color, the white mantle, and our own furniture, the front room seems much brighter and much more clean. We love the space.
The kitchen not only has nasty-colored cabinets, but also dark walls. It made everything look really dark.
Obviously this is before we moved our stuff in, but I love the color we picked and how much brighter it makes it.
This was the fourth wall in the front room. I forgot to take a picture before Nate started painting. See that ugly green at the top that totally clashed with any other color they had in the house? Yeah, the whole wall (and parts of the ceiling) was that color.

I decided to make this my portrait wall after it was all matched up. I cannot even tell you how much difference the painting made!
Oh, and I thought it would be fun to wrap it around to the entryway. I am not finished with this portion, but I like it so far.
And this used to be my mom's dresser when she was little. It has since been painted blue, red, and yellow when Trey was a baby. Then changed to green to accommodate Trey and Jayci, then I decided I wanted it teal to match their room in Chelsea. I had this vision to make it our TV console, so we could just put all of our movies inside of it, out of sight. Nate was trusting (even though he thought it would bomb), but he actually loves how it turned out. I had the idea to leave the top drawers out and have Nate build a shelf to put our DVD players and game stuff on, so it wouldn't have to sit on top. I absolutely LOVE it!

While my parents took Treyton and Jayci to SA, we kept Griffin at home, thinking he would completely easy. And while he is a really great baby, he has recently found a mischievous streak, evidenced by the picture below. I was playing ball-popper with him in the toy room when one of the balls rolled out of the room. He went to go get it and didn't come back. I followed him out only a FEW seconds behind and he had already created a complete mess! Got to love that kid, though. He is just the cutest thing.

Anyways, that is it for our mega post right now. I'll post some more soon about our last few days in VA, as well as what we have been up to in OKC!