Secret Project! - Afters

Yep. I'm finally posting them! I'm taking a serious risk here that Jeff will NOT check the blog between now and when he boards his plane to come home in a few hours. Let me just preface this post by saying that this has been the least fulfilling "secret" project I've ever done! I was hoping to do it while Jeff was gone out of town this week, and he would come home not knowing anything about it. But he looked at the blog while he was gone (which was a possibility I was fully aware of when I posted. I just really didn't think he would!), then he called on Wednesday night and talked to the kids. He thinks I painted the girls' rooms since I've been painting stuff lately. So he asked Sarah what color her room was, and she started telling him all about what I've been doing! I stopped her before she said too much, but I don't know how much he heard, or understood. So I don't know how surprised he'll be when he gets home, but at least he has no idea what the colors are...

I did not paint the girls' room, by the way. I did, however move Audrey in with Sarah, and painted Audrey's old room. It's no longer a bedroom. It's a much more useful and much cooler room now.

Here's a hint.



I finally found a good place to put these framed prints! I really love where they are now. And I love this room!

Now this picture's not that great, but you get the idea.

Here's my new comfy bench. I made the big long cushion, and all the pillows.

Here's one more before picture I forgot to post.

And the after: The last thing left for this part is some magazine holders for all the Scientific American magazines, Ensigns and Friends. I wasn't willing to spend $10 per holder at Walmart, so I'm waiting until I find something more perfect and less expensive. I wouldn't mind putting a small shelf in there on the left and putting the board games on it. But I have to find one that fits first.

And here is Sarah's room (now Sarah's and Audrey's room) after. I didn't really do anything to it other than get rid of the bookshelf, and move Audrey's stuff in. I'll make it all pretty and cool later. The main change with this project was the new library. The girls really like sharing a room so far. We'll see how long it lasts before Audrey starts getting on Sarah's nerves. So far so good!



The kids love the new library. They go in, grab a book, sit at a table and read! I'd say it was a good idea. Wanna know the best part about this project? It was free! Well, almost anyway. Almost every single thing I used to change up this room came from our house. It's all stuff I already had, including the paint! And the paint only cost me $5 when I bought it ("oops" paint from Lowe's). I already had all the fabric and embellishments for the pillows. I had the boxes for the closet. They were plastic milk crates that I covered with fabric to match the bench cushion. I had the kiddie tables and chairs already. I just moved them from the basement, where they've been enduring constant abuse and misuse since we moved in. The bookshelf was in the garage with some empty boxes on it. We got it for free from one of our neighbor's family members. The paintings were hanging in the hallway, and I never liked that placement for them to begin with. Now I love where they are. The framed Proclamation to the Family was hanging in our family room downstairs, but didn't match with the other colors. Now it goes perfectly. The only thing I bought new, specifically for this project, was the plaque that says "Library, Shhh..." And that, I bought at Walmart for slightly less than $4. Then I stained it the same color I stained the tables, painted the lettering, and attached the ribbon. I even already had the hook that I put on the door. Now, the only thing left is the magazine holders. What do you think?

Secret Project!

Here are the befores:

Audrey's room.


Sarah's room.
You're just dying of curiosity, aren't you? It's pretty much finished, but I want to put some last little touches on before posting the afters.

And by the way, this is what happens to my kitchen when I take the day "off" to work on a project.

"Look, Mom, Ants!"Nice...

Squatters.

We have some unintentional house guests of late. We noticed splotches of mud on our porch a few weeks ago, then noticed a couple of swallows sort of hanging around the front of our house. Pretty soon, this is what we saw.


We watched for a few weeks. No eggs. Then, all of a sudden, this is what we saw.
The pictures are very close up and not very good, but it was hard to get a good shot because the nest was so close to the corner of the front of our house and the ceiling of our porch. But they were sure cute! These were taken the day before we left for Washington. By the time we got back, the baby birdies were HUGE! I went to take a picture of some of them nestled in there, but was too abrupt and scared them out of the nest. They haven't all been back all cute and snuggly since then, so I'm just posting what I got. Anyone have any idea how long they might intend to stay? It's making quite the mess on our front step. I'll spare you the visual of that one. ;)

Before and After

I neglected to take a picture of the family room before I started moving things around and taping up. But you get the picture.



This was a difficult task for me. We have so much of so many colors in our home that it was very hard to choose a paint color that wasn't going to clash with something. I don't know if this was the right choice, but I kinda like it. I think any color paint looks better than the white we had before. It really makes the crown moulding and the fancy floorboards pop. What do you think?


And the kitchen. I wasn't sure I should do this dark a color in the kitchen, but away I went anyway. I actually really like it, though. You have to picture this with black granite countertops and some other kind of backsplash, though. Those are on the list of changes we plan on eventually making to this kitchen. But I think it turned out fairly well.





So there you go. Jeff was out of town for both these room projects. He didn't know I was even painting, much less what color it was going to be. After he got home and had seen it, he said he likes it and that it looks really nice. I would have to agree.

Yet Another New Addition.

And no, we're not pregnant. Here's the kids enjoying an outdoor picnic a week or so ago. Notice anything different in the background?

How about now? Anything different about the front of our house?The Farnsworths have a fence! And it is SO nice. The kids can play in the back yard without Mom worrying about who is walking into the street, or into the neighbor's open garage door, or into the pond... you get the picture. WOO HOO! Hooray for summer!

Another new addition to our property are these beautiful Gerbera Daisies. These are my absolute favorite flower, in case anyone wanted to know. I planted a few around our mailbox this year to add some colorful cheer. Aren't they pretty? I needed a "mommy break" a few days ago, so I walked outside and sat down in the grass next to my mailbox and just looked at these flowers. It was eerily calming. But it did the trick. They cheered me up.


And my little gardeners. They helped me dig up some plants I found annoying, and plant some seeds in their place last Saturday. They were very excited to wear their gardening gloves and dig in the dirt with Mama and Papa. It doesn't matter what the activity, I think they just love being outside. They're my little cuties!

Another New Addition??

Yep! That's right folks! The Farnsworths are moving up in this world! And no. We are NOT having another baby. We have added a new member to our kitchen family, and I am SO incredibly excited about it! Not only because it's 95% the stove/oven combo I wanted, but because I got it dirt cheap!! Yes... I am the Bargain Queen! Take a look see:

I say it's 95% the one I want. That is because I would have preferred gas. However, our kitchen is not currently hooked up to a gas line, and I found this electric stove for such a great price, that I was willing to settle for electric for a little while longer in order to get the double ovens and major features this one provides. Hooray for bargain hunting!!

We still haven't gotten our refrigerator yet. But we did get a new dishwasher that I absolutely love with help from our home warranty (the one that came with the house gave out on us). Two down, two to go! Wish me luck!

Our Halloween Decor

We've had our Halloween decorations up since September 22. Jeff's birthday. This is because Sarah was so excited for Halloween that she kept asking over and over again every day "When is it going to be Halloween?" And the response was always "After Papa's Birthday." Well... guess whose birthday was on a Monday night. FHE September 22 was putting up Halloween decor. Here's what it looked like for most of the month and a half before Halloween at the Farnsworth House:

Front.

Here's the front porch close up.

Here's the ghost I made this year. Sarah really wanted it to be a girl ghost, but I needed something to help tie off the neck. So it's got a necktie, and a bow in it's "hair." Plus some creepy red tulle under it's "skirt." I thought it turned out pretty cute. A good mix of cute and creepy at the same time.

Here's our creepy big spider. It's actually pretty daunting staring down our guests from the ceiling as they're knocking.

Some of you might recognize this from years' past. Maybe from a great, awesome, amazing haunted house that was put on at Kathy's house a few years back? Yep. It's the creepy amputated leg I made. I kinda like having it around for occasions just such as Halloween.

Along with the creepy, we do also have some cute stuff. Here's the scarecrows that became some of the newest additions to our Halloween decor this year.


Apparently, this is the kind of pet we really should choose to get. She stayed right there and out of trouble for an entire month and a half.

This is the first time we've had a real fireplace. Along with a fireplace comes a mantle. This was fun to decorate.

The cutest Halloween Spider ever! Sarah made this at preschool and brought it home. It was so cute, I just HAD to hang it up somewhere.

Last, but not least, and certainly not all-inclusive, is the bats and skeletons hanging from our dining chandelier. As an added bonus, you can see what the fixture looks like now that the ugly gold has been painted over. Nice, huh? Looks like a brand new chandelier. It used to look exactly like the one in the picture above with Sarah's spider, only smaller. What a difference a can of spray paint can make!

Who'd Have Thought...

I'd find something I miss about Arizona??

Now, I don't mean to offend any of you native Arizonans, or even any of you non-natives who now love to call Arizona home. Arizona is a wonderful place for a myriad of reasons. But if you know me at all, you will already know that it wasn't my favorite place to live.

With that said, one of those reasons Arizona is a wonderful place is the amazing monsoons that come around each summer. That was a part of the year that I always thoroughly enjoyed. Eleven months and two days of waiting after leaving Arizona, we have finally had a rainstorm I am comfortable comparing to the Phoenix monsoon.

The temperature here is completely different, but the rest of the storm bares a striking resemblance. It makes for a happy ending to a typical stressful Sunday. Tomorrow being Labor Day and Jeff having it off also contribute to the unusual relaxed mood of the evening tonight. Enjoy the beauty of the storm from our deck.

And the patio chairs are pushed up against the side because the force of the wind blew them over there! Granted, they weren't placed nicely on all four edges of the table to begin with, but they definitely weren't there before the storm...