Our House Wish List

Ok, I've caught the bug to work on our house again...bad! I've been reading so many house design DIY blogs and I can't wait to start working on our house. We will have to go in stages for budget reasons but there are so many things that I want to do that are DIY that I think I can really do some stuff for super cheap. So below is my "wish list" and we will see how many we can cross off the list!

1. Guest Bedroom- We haven't done ANYTHING to this room yet but are actually starting it tonight by painting it yellow! I have an idea of what I want to do with this room so it is the first project to tackle. Some of the big projects include painting, refinishing an old dresser we already own and paint it white, and hanging curtains. I will also need to accessorize the room but I hope to do that pretty cheap. We already have the bedding luckily. I will sure to post before and after pictures when finished.

2. Guest Bathroom- We haven't done anything to this room either. All we really need to do is paint, get a new shower curtain and rod and add a few accessories. Should be an easy, quick, and cheap room to fix up.

3. Repaint our Master Bedroom- Colin never liked how we painted it the first week we moved in so we found a color in a Crate and Barrel catalog that we both like and hope that Lowe's can match the color. I have a few other things I want to accessorize our bedroom with but it is pretty much done. This should also be a pretty cheap fix.

4. Hire a painter- We need to have our living room, entry way, wall going upstairs and our upstairs hallway painted. We have vaulted ceilings and so we can't do it ourselves. We want to paint it very neutral. So hopefully we can find some money somewhere to get this done.

5. Entry nook- We have a nook right by our master bedroom and the door from the garage. I really want to get a bench to put there with baskets underneath for shoes and put coat hangers above.

6. Laundry Closet- I want to add some things to make it easier to organize. I also saw a great idea on a blog to paint plywood and put it over the washer and dryer to make it a bigger, even surface. This should be super easy and cheap to do in a night.

7. Headboards- We need headboards for both the guest bedroom and master bedroom. I think I want to do a cheap DIY fabric headboard for upstairs I just have to find fabric. We still can't decide what kind of headboard we want for the master.

8. Handle Hardware- I want to change the hardware on ALL of our cabinets in the whole house. Just waiting for the ones I want on Anthropology to go on sale!

9. 1/2 Bath artwork- We have finished the 1/2 bath except for a piece of artwork on the big bare wall. We have been looking for awhile and have had no luck. This will be easy once I find something I like.

10. Kitchen- This is the biggest room we want to tackle and will probably be the last thing due to budget. My wish is to paint the cabinets white, get new counter tops and a new sink. We also want to find a cool backsplash that will match the new counter tops. To top it off we still need to paint this room too. I REALLY want to update the kitchen but know it is going to cost a lot so it will be on the back burner until we can save enough money.

There you have it, my wish list for my house. Hopefully throughout the next year we can refer back to this blog and cross off some of the things on this list! Be sure to hold us accountable. We tend to get lazy/busy and don't end up doing all the home improvements that we have big dreams for!

Well I am off to get the walls ready to paint in the guest bedroom (at least we are starting on our list right away). Wish us luck!

New Design and a Summer Update

So I have been MIA from the blogging world....AGAIN! So I thought to refresh my blog with a new layout to hopefully inspire myself to blog more. Below is is a quick update of what has been going on in the Leonard house so far this summer...it could be long because of pictures so stick with me :0)

1. Jevin graduated from Purdue with his undergrad! I went home for the weekend to spend with my whole family to celebrate Jevin's graduation. I am so proud of how well he did in his undergrad but even more proud that he is going straight on to get his PhD at Purdue (smarty pants). Below is a picture of my family after Jevin's graduation. Can I mention how much I loved being back on Purdue's campus while there, ahhh Boilermaker country!

2. Two weekends later Colin and I flew home for Justin and Allison's wedding. We had such a great with with our family and friends from high school. The wedding was beautiful and we wish Justin and Allison years of happiness! Below are a few pictures from after the wedding at Jakes.

3. The morning I got back to work from the wedding weekend, I accidently passed out at a work presentation at an outdoor memorial on campus (not to mention in front of the WHOLE athletic department) and cracked 3 of my front teeth really bad and cut open my chin. This has been a summer long ordeal. I went to the ER that morning and got a stitch in my chin then the next day my dental work started. Because of my fainting episode I ended up getting 1 root canal and have had a temporary piece to "resemble" teeth for over a month now. It will finally come to a finish on Thursday when I get my three crowns for my teeth. Cross your fingers they will look like my old teeth, because I have really been missing them! Oh, I also just found out this week that it was all getting covered by workmen's comp (a wonderful day in my house). Below is a picture that Colin took the day it happened, Ha!

4. Colin went on a week fishing trip to Grassy Narrows, Canada with his brother, step-brother and step-father. They had a great time and caught a ton of fish. I would like to add in there that this happened to fall the week after my accident and the week I got all my dental work (root canal) done and they didn't have cell phone reception. I was laid out on the couch all week while Colin was living it up in Canada, ha! He still owes me :0) Below is a picture of Colin with the biggest fish he caught while he was there.

5. Colin and I went to Columbia a few Sundays ago so that I could go to Kate's baby shower and Colin could hang out with the daddy-to-be Wes. Wes was one of Colin's roommates during his freshman and sophomore years at Clemson. I'm so thankful they are still friends because that means that Kate and I get to see each other. Kate is Wes's sweet wife so I'm so glad that I have become friends with her. They are expecting their first baby in August, a little girl. We couldn't be more thrilled for them and can't wait to meet little Ellie! I'm so mad that I didn't make the boys take our picture, ugh!

Speaking of friends having babies, I have never had as many friends as I do now who have either already had a baby or are expecting. It is a very exciting time in so many of our wonderful friends lives!

6. Besides all the exciting events above Colin and I have just been busy working this summer. I've spent a couple days at the pool and a day on the lake. We have been trying to sell all of our stuff in the garage on Craigslist and only have been successful selling our old riding lawnmower. People need to buy my stuff so someday I can park in our garage! We are driving back home on Indiana on Saturday and taking all the animals. The ride home could be a blog in itself being that it is 10 hours long and we will have 3 cats and a dog....wish us luck! Hopefully I can blog from home to recap all our of days events while we spend time with family and friends!