Hi! My name is Abbey and I'm addicted to organizing.

Hey everyone! I just visited this blog for the first time in awhile, and I'm hoping to start it up again. I'm not much of a blogger, but I love chronicling the things that are going on with us. Right now I'm waiting on Jon to get home from work. I try to have dinner every night by 6pm. Some people think this is funny, but 1) I enjoy cooking 2) It makes me feel like I am contributing to something 3) It makes Jon happy! :)

Tonight our cupboards were kind of bare, and I found a potato, so I figured we could split it as a side with the chicken I just made. Well, I went to microwave it and it ended up hard as a rock. Seriously, y'all! This is the second potato I have tried to microwaved in three days that has ended up like petrified wood instead. Potatoes beware!

I thought I'd update y'all on our home renovations. We finally got some furniture the other day, all of them "hand me downs" except for our couches. We got a steal on our couches! They are extra deep (like twin bed size!) and sleep extremely well. I learned that if you put a sheet of aluminum foil on them it terrifies the dogs, and they don't even try to go near the things! Score! We are so thankful for all of the furniture that my parents trailered up to us, and that Gaga let us steal from her attic! All of this is extremely exciting to us- since we've been living in our five dollar tailgating chairs for the past few months.

So you want to see our progress? I thought so!

Remember that disgusting kitchen?

*TA-DA!!!!*

We installed hardwoods, new Sheetrock, stainless steel appliances, brand new white cabinets, and a sweet washer / dryer pair. We had the finished (no oiling here) butcher block counter top built over the top of the washer / dryer to maximize our space. I also replaced the old sink with one of those large bowl sinks that's not separated. I love it! Still to do: cabinet hardware, tile back splash, light fixtures over the sink and in the ceiling, and decorate! Our always-important KOOZIE collection has a special spot in two baskets in the cabinet- color coordinated of course. NOTE: I was cooking dinner when I took this, that's why there is stuff all over the counters!

Next Up: The Living Room

Remember that dirty old carpet & ugly tile in front of the fireplace?

New hardwood. No more tile. Antique sideboard from Gaga's attic is doubling as a Wii / super Nintendo holder / TV Stand until we get a flat screen to mount on the wall above it. Those are boxes I have to take to the recycling center tomorrow! Just now starting to unpack.

New couch! I guess I should have straightened it up before I took the picture, lol. Antique tea cart from my bedroom at home. Antique quilt chest from Gaga's attic... I love having that as a coffee table!

New love seat and pillows & throw. New lamp from dad's friend Flash- a lamp designer! Such a great shower gift. It goes great with our colors we picked out. We painted the living room a warm gray- it worked well with the fireplace. I think we improved on the living room a bit this far. I love old designs and modern designs. I can't wait to get a job so I can have the money to decorate! Still have to put in a modern ceiling fan. I'm ordering every decorating magazine known to man. If you have any ideas on mixing old with new, let us know! Here is my inspiration page http://desiretoinspire.blogspot.com/2007/11/grey-my-favourite-neutral.html .

Now onto.... the OFFICE!

Originally, the office was the best looking room in the house. But we did change the color, put in hardwood flooring and new 2 inch blinds like we did everywhere else, and add more shelves into the closet. This past Monday, when I finally started unpacking, I got a hold of the office. My OCD tendencies went into Over(C)Drive...

Plan to update this TV stand with some paint and basket... new rug... IKEA fold out bed love seat for those who crash with us after a night of honky tonkin' ... lots of matching frames on the walls... diplomas...

Oh how I love labeling things...

Label. Label. Label. Clothespins for laundry.

Leftover mason jars with ribbons and labels to hold office supplies. Ribbons just make everything look cuter. Can you find my dry humor in this shot?

Cuteness!

Everything needs a place!

Now onto...... THE GUEST BEDROOM!

Who could forget that adorable electric blue room with the Cars border?

This room has two closets. Since we don't have a linen closet, we made one! Bathroom stuff in the bottom of the closet has yet to be organized due to the bathrooms not yet being remodeled. Also no closet doors- they are leaning up against a wall you can't see :) We took the ugly bi fold doors off and are replacing all doors in the house with the six panel doors. Note the spot below where there is no baseboard - when I organized this room yesterday I moved a box and low and behold----- Jon 'forgot' to put baseboard and shoe mold here! Apparently he has something against moving boxes in rooms and just works around them... just kiddin' ! Love you! I did laugh when I saw that though.

Here is my inspiration for this room http://uktv.co.uk/images/standarditem/EX1/6377.jpg

The Master is a Disaster!

I worked on it today and have a bunch of stuff laying everywhere so I can put it in the attic later. We pulled down the crooked chair rail, did lots of patching and painting. new blinds and floors. Can't WAIT to get some bedroom furniture!

The master bath needs lots of work, too. We pulled out some tile, replaced toilet hardware. Replaced vanity. Will be painting and pulling out the old tile soon.

The guest bath has not been touched since we moved in. Ew. It has become our supply room. I wont show you what it looks like now. But here is a before:

I can't wait to pull EVERYTHING out of it... toilet, etc... cabinet and wallpaper already came down on destruction day. ;)

Exciting, huh? And we thought this would be a month project- ha! 5.5 months later and still going strong. We actually had a yard sale the other day where we met one of our neighbors. Before we moved in he looked at our house to invest in as a "flip". He immediately decided against it and flipped a different house on the next street. He found ours to be too much work...