Kitchen Renovation Part 6 ~ Counter Tops

Welcome back to our kitchen renovation! We hope you had a great weekend! Although we still have lots and lots and lots of snow, the temperature warmed up a little bit. So maybe spring will be here soon! If you missed our previous posts about our kitchen, you may like to read Kitchen Renovation Part 1, Kitchen Renovation Part 2, Kitchen Renovation Part 3 ~ Putting Up The Walls, Kitchen Renovation Part 4 ~ Our DIY Customized Microwave Cabinet Out Of A Stock Cabinet , and Kitchen Renovation Part 5 ~ Our DIY Furniture Style Cabinets Out Of Stock Cabinets. You will have a much better idea as to where we started and how far we have come with our kitchen renovation. When we had first started planning our kitchen, we were going to purchase beautiful granite counter tops. However, when it came time to actually move forward with our kitchen the granite I had picked out was not really a feasible option. Therefore, we decided to go in another direction. I had seen many great kitchens with butcher block counter tops and loved the contrast between light and dark (I had already planned to use white cabinets with a dark wood floor.), so we decided to make our own wood counter tops. We weren't sure how well they would work out, but thought we would give them a try. There are many tutorials to follow, but we used a combination of these two: The Shabby Creek Cottage  and  Breakfast For Dinner By Loraine. They were really quite easy to follow.

Kitchen Renovation Part 3 ~ Putting Up The Walls

We hope everyone is having a great week! We are, finally, starting to see the end of our kitchen renovation! It's coming along nicely and we can't wait for it to be finished. As I mentioned in Kitchen Renovation Part 1 and Kitchen Renovation Part 2, we renovated our kitchen in sections as we worked our way around the room. However, the drywalling we tried to complete, as much as possible, at one time.

We used the T's Chris made

(to aid us in drywalling our Dining Room)

to hang our drywall in the kitchen.

Brice helped score and cut drywall.

And, of course, Hailey wanted to learn

how to score and cut drywall, too.

 Derek helped tape and mud.

 Nathan helped sand.

  

And then, Chris primed the walls.

  

Our rockstar, Super Drywall Girl, celebrated

with a little dance. 

We will be back next week to share what we did next!

Thanks for visiting Our Family Inspired Home!

We would love for you to follow us!

Facebook

Google +

Twitter

Pinterest

StumbleUpon

Hometalk

Bloglovin

Kitchen Renovation Part 2

Today we are sharing the demolition of our kitchen renovation. If you missed how our kitchen looked when we purchase our home and when we moved in, you may like to read: Our Home, Moving Days, and Kitchen Renovation Part 1.We needed to do our kitchen in stages because we needed to make our home functional and work within our financial budget. So, we started on one side of the room and worked around the room as we were able. Yes, in most cases it would be better to just demo and put the room back together all at one time. However, that was not true in our case. We were trying to make our home livable and functional. Then, proceed with what we wanted. Need won out against want. Since we needed to be able to use the kitchen, while trying to do all of the other work in the kitchen, we were concerned that the new flooring would be damaged. So we also, needed to work around the old flooring as long as possible.

Chris and Brice got to work taking out the old cabinets.

Then, Chris started gutting the walls and

ceiling.

We found a few interesting things in the ceiling.....

Hailey wanted to help.

And then, we cleaned up.

We saved the nails we pulled out of the lath.

We will be back soon to share what we did next!

Thanks for visiting Our Family Inspired Home!

We would love for you to follow us:

Bloglovin

Facebook

Google +

Twitter

Pinterest

StumbleUpon

Hometalk

Nacho Bar Fiesta!

Here it is, our nacho bar fiesta! In our last post we shared Brice's birthday party we hosted for him and his friends on Saturday, Pizza Parlor/Movie Night Party. Today we are sharing the family birthday party we hosted for Lexie and Brice, on Sunday. We needed a party theme that would work for both boys and girls, and, also, would work for all ages. We also needed to keep it simple, as we are still working on our kitchen. Since Lexie and Brice love Mexican style food, a nacho bar fiesta party fit perfectly for our theme! Just in case you missed it (in our last post we shared Brice's Pizza Parlor Movie Night birthday party) I mentioned how we were able to reuse the tablecloths from Hailey's Strawberry Shortcake Party 2 and Strawberry Shortcake Party 3. Here, you can see how the green tablecloths coordinate perfectly with the fiesta theme. So.....although most party items are meant to be disposable, don't be so quick to throw them out! Many items are reusable, if you clean them up. I don't like to have to constantly purchase items when entertaining. So, to keep our expenses to a minimum, I look for items that can be reused or can serve more than one purpose.

We purchased sombreros to serve chips and salsa
which added a fiesta touch to our decor.

We already had the plastic plates which we had purchased

several years ago for our sons' graduation parties (school colors).

They coordinated perfectly with the fiesta napkins we purchased.

Yes, a soup tureen can be used for more than just soup.

Here, we used it to serve the taco meat.

We used glass sundae cups we already had

for guacamole, sourcream,

shredded lettuce, and shredded cheese.

We, also, used the metal buckets from our

Christmas Side Porch and Hot Chocolate Bar

to serve jalapeno peppers, onions, and tomatoes.

And we ordered this fun festive multi-colored cake.

The party was awesome,
we had a great day with family and friends,
and everyone had a wonderful time!

Exciting things are happening here at Our Family Inspired Home!
We would love for you to follow us!
Facebook
Pinterest
Google+
Twitter
Hometalk
Bloglovin

Thanks for visiting Our Family Inspired Home!
Our Parties

Pizza Parlor Party!

Holy cow, love that we have had another beautiful weekend! Love the warm weather and the bright sunshine! We have been so busy with birthday parties, Easter, bridal showers, weddings, end of school year activities, and, of course, now summer activities that we are just now sharing Lexie and Brice's birthday party festivities. Today, we are sharing Brice's party we had with his friends and in our next post we will share the family party for Lexie and Brice. We hosted Brice's birthday party with his friends on a Saturday night and Lexie and Brice's birthday party with family on Sunday. We did two completely different themes. The party with Brice's friends was a pizza parlor movie night and the family party was a nacho bar fiesta. Since there would be both boys and girls at both parties and, also, since Brice is a teenager and Lexie is a college student, we needed both parties to be gender neutral and great for any age. Brice and his friends get together on weekends and have movie nights. And Lexie and Brice love Mexican style food. Therefore, both party themes fit perfectly! Both parties were kept simple, as we are still working on our kitchen. All of the dishes, serving ware and baskets we used we already had and even reused the tablecloths from Hailey's Strawberry Shortcake Party 1, Strawberry Shortcake Party 2 and Strawberry Shortcake Party 3. So, the decor we did purchase was minimal.

The plates and tablecloth are plastic.

We purchased them a few of years ago

for a summer bbq and used them again

for Lexie's graduation party (perfect school colors).

The mason jars we used for Hailey's

Strawberry Shortcake Party Part 1,

Strawberry Shortcake Party Part 2,

and Strawberry Shortcake Party Part 3.

We brought our drink buckets in from outside.

We purchased the pizza circle serving trays
and popcorn boxes
from Hobby Lobby and Party City.

We baked chicken wings.

And baked pizzas. We placed the cardboard that came
with the pizzas under the pizzas to protect the silver trays,
so we could reuse them again at a later time.

The kids ate lots and had a great time!

We would love for you to follow us:
Facebook
Google+
Pinterest
Twitter
Hometalk
Bloglovin

Thanks for visiting Our Family Inspired Home!
Parties

Dining Room ~ Putting Up The Walls

Goodness, it has been a very long winter! We are sooooo ready for spring. And as soon as spring is here, we will start working outside. Our plan is to work as much as we are able outside during spring, summer, and fall, as the weather allows. And, work on the inside of our home in the fall, winter, and spring when the weather is not so great. Our goal has been to make our home livable and then later get to the fun stuff. So, this means that many of the projects we started in our home will not be fully completed until later. Today, we are sharing our dining room. Although we, usually, eat together in our sunroom which is off our family room, we have already used our dining room for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthday parties. I love having a formal dining room!

This is how our dining room looked

on the day we purchased our new home.

Chris got to work drywalling and mudding.

Then, Brice helped sand.

Chris primed the walls and ceiling.

Chris and I puttied the windows.

And then, we started painting the windows.

And here's a tip. Chris built 2 T's out of 2x4's

to help hold the drywall up against the ceiling.

Or, you can use it as a balance beam to 

entertain the little ones.....

Here's a sneak peek of our dining room.

And just in case you missed it, you can see how
our dining room looked for Hailey's birthday in our posts:
(Hailey's Birthday Strawberry Shortcake Part 2
and
Hailey's Birthday Strawberry Shortcake Part 3)

We still need to replace the floor and lighting,
add crown molding, baseboards, and wainscoting.
So, it will be a while before we show
our dining room reveal.
But, for now, it's done.

We would love for you to follow us!
Facebook
Google +
Twitter
Pinterest
Hometalk

Thanks for visiting Our Family Inspired Home!

Brice's Room: The Cleanup

Welcome to Maintenance Monday! Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to read, comment, and follow our blog. We, truly, appreciate all of you! Today we are sharing Brice's room. As you know, we purchased a foreclosure (it sat empty for a few years) and we have spent most of our time trying to make our new home livable. So, our focus has been on what we and our home need. Many hours and hard work have been spent on cleanup. If you are new to our blog, you may like to read: Our New Home ~ The Downstairs Before, Our New Home ~ The Upstairs Before and Our New Home ~ The Outside Before. So far, we have: cleaned up the outside, scrubbed the inside, made the bathrooms functional, repaired the front stairway, added what we needed so we could hook up our stove/oven, washer and dryer, new water heater, gutted the kitchen, added a half-wall, had a new furnace, central air, and all new duct work put in, and so many other projects that are way too many to list. With the exception of the furnace, central air and duct work, we did and do all of the work ourselves.

This was Brice's room when we purchased our home.

We pulled up the carpet.

And, under the carpet we found this.

We cleaned up the dirt.

Then, I scrubbed EVERYTHING in Brice's room.

We still need to drywall, paint,

replace the windows,

decide what to do about the floor,

(it's painted wood)

add a rug, and a few other items.

But he is able to use his room.

So, for now, his room is done.

And, here's a sneak peek of the decor for Brice's room.

Currently, we are working on our kitchen.

Hopefully, we can get to the fun stuff

(decorating/landscaping) soon!

Don't forget to follow us on Facebook, Google +, Twitter, Pinterest, and Hometalk!

Thanks for visiting Our Family Inspired Home!

Maintenance Monday