craigslist – emerald city diaries

my weekend in pictures.

{mocking up an in-the-works project for baby lower’s nursery.}

{we housesat & watched ben & sarah’s dogs this weekend. they all wanted to cuddle with us on friday night. yoshi is hiding behind aaron in this one.}

{joined amanda for pre-natal yoga on saturday afternoon & then noshed on a delicious lunch at gobble.}

{caught up with my ever-stylish – & soon to be new yorker – friend brenda & she came bearing gifts for baby lower. leave it to her to dress our baby in crewcuts!}

{trekked down to tacoma to pick up this craigslist find. I promise to share soon!}

{we had a sunny sunday & sadie enjoyed catching up on some open car window time.}

{my first unofficial mother’s day card from honest company!}

we enjoyed a fun {but quick!} weekend in the emerald city. it was a bit rainy to begin with, but we are starting into a much-needed warm weather streak. I can’t wait! we celebrated our first mother’s day which seemed a bit strange to be honest. I guess it is hard to imagine I will be part of such an amazing group of women in just a few months! the sun was shining today & I didn’t have to cook or do any dishes, so it seemed like a good celebration!

happy mother’s day to my mom, mother-in-law, sister, sisters-in-law, friends, & all of you mothers out there!

xo M

a year in review {house diys}.

it is hard to believe but we have been in our house for a year – can you believe it? while it doesn’t seem like yesterday that we were moving & packing & unpacking, it definitely doesn’t feel like its been an entire year. {where does the time go?}

i thought since so much of this blog is devoted to the work we have put into the house, it would be fun to do a review of all of our house projects over the last year. {also, this is making up for the fact that i have been horrible about keeping the house tour tab up-to-date.}

here we go! {are you ready for lots of pictures?}

{entryway} – chalkboard paint

{living room & dining room} – paint color, curtains, west elm light

{bathroom} – paint color, Ikea light, vanity

{kitchen} – paint color (walls), painted cabinets, painted countertops, painted tile, kitchen island, roman curtain

{office}

{bedroom} – paint color, roman curtains, closet doors

phew! it is hard to believe we did all of that in just one year. we still have lots of things on the to do list, including some bigger projects that we are saving up for! reviewing all of these projects makes me thankful that we have such a fun house to work on & enjoy. it was scary to make the decision to buy a house last year {it felt so grown-up!} but we have loved every minute of it & learned so much.

what sorts of projects have you completed in your living space? do you ever go back & review all of your hard work?

we bought an island {kitchen update}.

our kitchen has an “L” shaped{ish} counter so when we moved in last spring with two kitchen tables, one went in the dining room & one went in the kitchen. it was nice to have two big surfaces in the house as one typically acted as our eating area while the other acted as a crafting/project space. but, it did seem weird to have two kitchen tables in our small, little house, so we i have been on the hunt for a kitchen island for the past few months.

{the kitchen right after it was updated.}

i was randomly searching on craigslist a few weeks ago when i found a simple kitchen island that seemed to fit ~~our~~ my wishlist: butcher block top, counter height, and allows for stools. we called the seller to ask if it was still available & we were confident enough in it to borrow a friend’s truck {thanks colin!} & drive almost an hour north to look at it.

well, needless to say we ended up buying it & hauling it home. once aaron tightened up the legs, it was ready to go! we are really happy with the piece & while it is not perfect {yet} it is really nice to have extra counter space.

we are content with the island for now, but do have plans to remove the shelf {it is right at sadie-height so not much can be stored there}, sand the glossy finish off the top, paint the legs, & add stools. it shouldn’t be too big of a project after tackling all of the kitchen cabinets last spring, but i think we will wait until it is warm enough to just move it out to the deck to do the work – rather than move it down to the basement – so basically anytime after july 4th! {for those of you not familiar with the quirky seattle weather, we basically don’t get summer weather – read: hot – until after the 4th of july.}

do you have an island or an eating area in your kitchen or both?