Extreme Home Makeover....

...No, not the show! (Although I have participated on one of these houses and it was AMAZING!) We decided to undertake a home renovation project this weekend in all anticipation that it would be finished (or nearly finished) by the time Tuesday rolled around. We decided we were TIRED of the carpet in our house. When we moved into our house back in October (in a hurry none the less) we didn't really have time to think much less time to do any improvements before the house became ours. Since I am in law school and the husband travels for work a lot, we didn't have too much free time to get things started to improve our new house. So, we have been wanting to get rid of the carpet for a while now, we weren't sure how old it was since we weren't the ones who had it installed and we also have two dogs, carpet just wasn't fitting into our lifestyle. We decided we wanted to get hardwoods a while back. We also decided that we wanted to go a head and do the whole house. We then decided we wanted to do it ourselves (because my husband is handy like that and we actually enjoy improvement projects). First, we had no idea what kind of floors we wanted. We didn't know what color, what kind of wood, how wide we wanted the boards, we knew nothing. We started looking around every chance we got to get a feel for what we liked and also get some pricing. We knew we wanted to do it this summer while things were pretty slow and we had some time.

Natural hickory...Sneak peek after Day 1.

       Since I was off for Memorial Day, we knew it would be a long weekend for us and the perfect opportunity to do the floors. We bought the floors a few weeks ago and bright and early Saturday morning, the renovation commenced.We tore out the carpet in no time flat. We then decided we wanted to extend a wall so we would have a place to hang our tv (since the wall had been altered by the previous owner). We built the wall. Then, we decided that we wanted to paint the room while the carpets were out so we could lighten the room. We got about 25 different paint swatches and taped them to the wall. We each struck the ones we hated and it came down to about three. We picked one and then it was done. The room looks COMPLETELY different already. ( I am saving pictures for when we get it all done.) Now, once the wall was built and the room was painted. The laying of the floors began. This.Process.Was. EXCRUCIATING! It was SO hard! I mean ridiculous! And when I left to come back to work this morning, only about half of the FIRST ROOM was done. We had anticipated it would go quick and we would at least have the living room, dining room and the hallway done by the time I had to return to work then Emory could work on one room a day until Friday when I could help again. My body is screaming with muscle aches of muscles I didn't even know I had! I feel sorry for my poor husband who is now at home laying floors all by himself. But, on the bright side, we will  have a whole new house when we are finished, but it is definitely ALOT more work than we had anticipated!

It's Friday!!!

I am so glad the weekend is finally here! It helps that it is a long weekend! My sweet husband has been out of town all week with work and he comes home today! I can't wait to see him! We are putting down hardwood floors throughout our house starting tomorrow and I can't wait! Hopefully I can get some work done before he gets home and we can get started on the floors ASAP! I will try to remember to take pictures along the way so I can keep you guys updated! Well, I am off to play frisbee with my boy and then get some work done and then to the airport! Hope you all have a wonderful long Memorial Day weekend!! :)

Can I take a mulligan?

Today has just not been a good day (I know, it is seriously only 10 am)! But, honestly, I think I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning (and I must have driven on the wrong side of the rode and everything else) and my day has just been off. I woke to a bad day, forgot my jewelry, had to turn around and go home, then I looked at my feet and I had on my outside Old Navy flip flops and not my heels (that is a big difference, I should have noticed) and I had to turn around. My dogs thought I was crazy this morning I am sure. But, here I am, at work and I am trying to get it back on track so maybe the rest of the day can pick up the pace, but it's slow going. One thing that is helping though, John Mayer. I think he is my trusting source of calm when I just need to forget the world around me and focus and calm down. I downloaded his new cd this morning on Google Play and I seriously can't get enough of it. I HIGHLY recommend it if you are a Mayer fan, then you won't be disappointed. I think I have loved JM since 1999 or 2000. I was even on his rep team before he was too famous. So, maybe this day can turn around after all. Here's to hoping anyway. Here's to John Mayer and great friends on bad, backwards days! Hope your day has started off better than mine!

What helps you turn your day around when you start off on the wrong foot?

Trying Again

I think every month I say that I am going to be a better blogger. I am always reading everyone else's blogs and thinking, "I really need to update my blog!" Honestly, so many things happen and my life is going a million miles an hour, I just forget to slow down and take it all in! I live by my calendar and my phone! So, maybe if I put "Update Blog" as a recurring appointment on my calendar, I will remember to update my blog everyday! I can't believe I have finished a semester of law school (and started a new one) since my last post! That is what takes up most of my time! Also, we are starting to really settle into our house and make it our own! My this time next week, we will be carpet free and in the middle of putting down hardwood floors throughout the house! I am SO excited and I will keep you updated on the progress! We have thrown around the idea of painting (we haven't really decorated much until we decide what we want to do) while we have no carpet and no floors, but we just aren't sure. The floors are going to be a mountain to tackle alone, we aren't sure we want to add painting to the mix as well. But, I do promise to keep you all updated and I will add blogging to my daily calendar! So, it's a date! Expect to hear from me much more often! ;)