Before and after pics of our bathroom.

We are almost finished renovating our bathroom. We just need to do some crown molding on the linen closet and some casings and baseboards, oh and the doors could use a paint job as well as some other touch up paint.
Remember the old vanity?

Ta-DA. I love all the drawer space we now have, and the mirror I got at sears for $40.

The old, cheap linen closet.

The new one (sorry the picture is kind of dark) And again I just love all the storage space.

The old moldy tub, with the drafty window and the ugly shower doors.

Nice new tub, no more window and a shower curtain with a curvy curtain rod.

Even though we aren't quite done, I love the results.

Still Under Construction

This summer the garage has been our project. Doug worked long and hard to get the old one tore down and as I'm typing, there is hammering going on to get the new one put up. It has taken a lot of time and effort but in the end it will all be worth it.

Cameron used to have a shirt the read, "Be patient with me I'm still under construction" (something like that anyway). I think that totally applies to my life right now. God is working to get rid of the old and build something new and better. It is not easy but in the end it will be worth it. I'm just so thankful that God cares enough about me to work in my life.

Two Weddings and a Funeral

June is wedding month for our family. Doug and I each have the last of our single siblings, getting married this month. Janelle's wedding will be pretty relaxing for us for the most part. Doug is an usher and I have to look after the punch table for in between ceremony and reception. Oh ya and we have to try to keep an eye on Brandon during the out door ceremony. Did I mention that it was going to be relaxing? Well let me change that to busy but still enjoyable. As for my sister's wedding, things will be great for me since I am flying out by myself. No boys to keep track of. My dress for the wedding is at the seamstress right now. I chose to do the dress with the v-neck, but I'm getting sleeves put on, since that is a requirement at the church she is getting married in. Now I just need to get some sandals for the weddings and decide whether or not to get a pedicure done. $40, is it worth it???



Don't worry, we don't have a funeral to go to in June, but I do feel that I death has occurred in my life. A death of a dream that is. I have had a certain dream/desire ever since I was a little girl and just recently I have come to realize that it wasn't in God's plan for my life. I did pray for God's will to be done in my life regarding that dream and that I would be OK with whatever the outcome was. Turns out that the outcome was different than I had hoped and of course that makes me sad, but I have to trust that God knows best. He can see the big picture, and besides sometimes life is not all about me.



Brandon has really been testing our patience lately. Ever since his ear infection he wants to sleep in bed with us and he can't seem to fall asleep without me laying beside him. Although he seems to go to sleep OK when I'm not around, so maybe he'll break that habit when I'm in Ontario. Brandon also is very ready to be potty trained. Anytime he has a wet diaper he takes it off. Hopefully we'll have our new toilet in soon so I can begin the task of potty training.



The other two boys only have a month of school left. Which includes activity day, swimming, and children's festival field trip for Cameron. Overall I think that the school year went quite well. Anytime I would ask Cameron how school was he would tell me that it was the best like always.
They both never complained about having to go to school and would always seem to look forward to it.



The bathroom renovations are slowly getting done. It turned out to be quite a big job. But the end is in sight. All we have left to do is plumbing for the sink and toilet and finishing up the vanity and linen closet. Hopefully I'll get to post pictures of the new bathroom soon.



I also starting work at the restaurant/boat rental store again. So far things are going pretty good. I don't mind the work. Last year I really didn't like the waitressing part, but this year I'm more comfortable doing it and actual enjoy it. I only work on evenings and weekends so Doug watches the boys when I'm gone. Which is a great bonding time for them all. I also see my job as a great ministry opportunity. I have already been able to share about my faith with one of the high school girls that I work with.

It it also anniversary month for Doug and I. On the 10Th we celebrate 9 years of marriage. The 9 years have gone by quickly and pretty much uneventful. We have moved once (from a two bedroom apartment to the house we now own), Doug has gone from working part time at the family business to full time, and I have worked on and off at the DQ and now this restaurant. Oh ya, the biggest change for us has been that we are now parents of three boys. When we were first married I read a stat about how much time the average married couple spent together talking and it was only a few minutes a day. Back then I just couldn't believe that would ever happen to us because we were spending two or more hours a day together. Well 9 years later I believed that it has happened. In between our jobs, rushing the boys off to soccer and meetings we only get a few precious minutes a day together to talk. Especially since Brandon joins us in our bed every night. I really think that we need to start a regular date night once a month.

Decorating Advice From Christine!

As most of you already know, we have been busy doing renovations to our house. Before we got started I had asked for advice from a professional decorator-who has a blog answering questions related to decorating. When she didn't answer my questions we just went ahead and did what we thought was best. Anyway about a month ago she emailed me wanting to know if I still had questions. I was surprised that she even remembered that I wrote in. I didn't reply to the email because we had already gone ahead and did the renovations. Anyway I was shocked this morning when I noticed that she answered my questions on her blog. She gave a lot of great advice that I wish we would have gotten before we started. But there was also some advice she gave that we can still do and that had to do with our dining set.

Also this morning I read a great post about how many children a person should have. In the Christian world you get so many different opinions on that topic. I thought that the article addressed the subject wonderfully.

Our Bathroom

Doug and I (OK, I'll admit that Doug did most of the work) worked really hard on Friday evening and Saturday morning to get our bathroom looking like this:

AFTER
BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

I realize that the before pictures look better that the after....at least I hope they do. But we did work really hard gutting the bathroom. It was a big job to tear everything out and patch some holes. Doug also had to remove the drywall around the tub because of some mold issues. Ah yes, the joy of owning an older home.

The rest of this week we'll spend doing some drywall mudding, painting, and plumbing. Then will come the fun part of putting in the new vanity, linen closet, toilet, tub and flooring.

I'm so thankful that we have a second bathroom in the basement and I am also very thankful that I have a handy husband who can do most of the work himself.

The Good, The Bad, and The Not So Ugly.

The Good - We ordered three stools from Sears for our counter, and they arrived two weeks early.

The Bad - I ordered bar stools, instead of counter stools, and they were just about as high as the counter and because we had them custom ordered we could not return them.

The Not So Ugly - My handy husband was able to cut the legs off to fit our counter and I absolutely love them. As you can see from the picture of Cameron's pizza party that we are already enjoying them.

The New Flooring

Doug is almost finished putting in our new flooring, he only has a bit to do in the closet in the entry way. Anyway I'm really loving the new flooring. No more patched together, brittle linoleum.

As you can tell not much is new with me, to be posting about flooring.

What we have been up to.

Just about every spare minute that Doug has had lately have been spent working on our renovations. Here is a glimpse of some of his hard work. (Putting the pictures on here mixed them up, so the after pictures are first).

AFTER
Doug refinished the oak, put on new cabinet doors and hardware on the doors, new counter top, etc. Left to do is the flooring and a back splash.

BEFORE

AFTER

We made space for a dishwasher (my first ever!) and added a bank of drawers.

BEFORE

AFTER

We took out the half wall by the table and are turning the closet into a pantry with pullouts (need to put on the doors yet). We also dry walled and painted the oak beam.


BEFORE

I'm really excited about how things are turning out. I'll post more pictures once we have the flooring in and do some decorating.

Need Decorating Advice

OK so we are in the middle of doing a bunch of renovations to our house, so these are kind of the before pictures. I would really appreciate input from other people on how to make our home a welcoming, and cozy place. I like casual, traditional design. Anyway some specific questions I have are; what do I hang on the walls of a long, narrow hallway?...hang stuff on one, or both walls?
We have our computer desk in the living room, what would make that area more appealing? Also what do I put on the wall beside the window? Window treatment?(For the two windows in the living room, and the one above the sink)
Also how would you rearrange the furniture in the living room, it is long and narrow and open to the kitchen. I want to get rid of the entertainment stand and either get a smaller corner one or just get a piano. I also wanted to buy slipcovers for the couch and love seat, but apparently that is a no-no, custom made is the way to go. For more info visit designwithchristine.com
We have already refaced our cabinets and put on new white doors, next we are going to replace the counter top and put in new flooring. I'm excited that things are getting done, but like my husband I look forward to our home being a sanctuary, not a project. Any advice on how to make that happen would be greatly appreciated. I'll post after pictures when I'm done.