Before & After

In the last few months we have done more with the house than we ever expected.  I liked it ( for the most part) when we moved in but now I love it and it really feels like our home.  The kids even consider rit their house finally after being in so may paces in the last year.  Zack said, "Our home is beautiful.  It's not flooded anymore."

It is so hard to believe that 4 months ago this is what our kitchen looked like.  I never loved it but also knew there was not much that I could do about it until... the flood!  Just to recap, in early February a pipe burst under the sink and flooded the entire downstairs.  After a month in the hotel, and a lot of uncertainty, we found out that the insurance had deemed that our cabinets, floors, and baseboards needed to be replaced.  YAY!

As soon as we moved back home from tour month in the hotel we realized we needed to demo the kitchen.

So, we lived like this for 2 months.  Although it was not ideal I think we handled it pretty well and made the best of it.

First we got the tile in.

Then, the cabinets.

And appliances...

And finally granite and after 2 months...a SINK!!!  Oh how I missed the sink. I think I was more excited about that than the new cabinets and granite.

The backsplash was the final touch and we are so happy how it turned out.  I LOVE the big island and I feel like the kitchen is the way it should have been from the beginning.

We have already christened the new kitchen with a few gatherings and are hosting Matt's staff tomorrow.  Wish us luck!

  Since we were already in complete chaos without a kitchen and the backyard was basically unusable because of the thick clay that made it hard for grass to grow and created lots of mud, we opted to put in a turf grass.  I was a little skeptical but I could not be happier with the results.

They dug out the grass and put down gravel... I think.

When I came home from work we had grass (and cabinets).  It was a big day!

The backyard is so much nicer now and we can roll around with the kids (in my white jeans) and not worry about getting muddy or grass stains.

The floors and baseboards were actually the first thing that got done.  Matt and Josh did the floors and baseboards and I am really happy how they tuned out.  

And, on a whim, we redid the bathroom last weekend.  It needed some touch up paint and we decide to change the color so I suggested that while Matt was picking up paint maybe he could check out new lights and mirrors:).  Once he got those he decided a new sink and other bathroom accessories were also needed.  So, it turned into a complete bathroom makeover.  Luckily, it is a small half bath.