Since we’re officially back to work today, here’s a little update of the things that got done around here this summer.  It was very productive but it turned out a little differently than my summer bucket list had in mind.  Let’s take a look back…

>>Switch the guest room, clean out the office and start on the nursery.

We got the majority of this done in one weekend thanks to my mom and sister spending an entire Saturday refinishing furniture.  And then when the guys came home from playing golf, they moved everything around for us… more than once.

>>Catch two minor-league baseball games.

I had in mind that we would hit up our local team The Hickory Crawdads and check out the new Charlotte Knights stadium in uptown.  We did neither but there’s a good story behind it.  Sometime in mid-July we went to Greenville to do a furniture swap with Kaitlyn.  We had stored her armoire in our basement and she had our crib.  While David was building them shelves for their garage, I Googled discount furniture stores because we were on the hunt for a chair for Baby Girl’s nursery.  We went in to the first place and didn’t find anything.  The second place… we looked at a few of the chairs but they just weren’t what we were looking for.  While I ran to the restroom, Dave and Kaitlyn found a sofa and loveseat combination that we couldn’t pass up.  And then… in case that wasn’t enough adventure for one day… we found out the guy could order the exact chair we had seen {but didn’t splurge on} for Baby Girl’s nursery for a better price and a better color.  A win all the way around!  But it was also money that we didn’t plan on spending so we put some of our other adventures {such as minor-league baseball games} on the back burner.  

>>Organize: three bedroom closets, kitchen office/mudroom, storage in basement.

These are three fairly large projects.  Wait; two fairly large projects {organizing closets and the kitchen office} and one GI-ANT project {the basement}.

Unfortunately, I never really took any before pictures but trust me, each project needed to be done.  But who really wants to read about that?

We also cleaned out/organized:
>>our dressers
>>the entertainment center in the living room and restyled it
>>the pantry
>>my jewelry box
>>cleaned the baseboards and doors

On the decorating front, I made a few minor changes that I’ve really enjoyed:

I’ve had this vintage window for at least two years but just never did anything with it.  I’m trying to bring in more vintage looks to mix with the modern that’s already in place.  I also didn’t want to spend a lot of money and I found this wreath at AC Moore for less than $3 when I used the 50% off coupon.  My photographer was nice enough to hang it for me and ever since then he makes fun of it.  “Look Coppy, we have a window hanging on our wall.”  Copper obviously approves since he wanted to be in the picture.

When we first moved in our house, I had David hang up these black boxes and because they were so difficult to hang, I promised him I’d want them up there forever.  Well, forever didn’t last long and I’ve hated them for years.  Hated.  They were hideous.  Summer is the perfect time to make this little sunburst mirror {instructions here and here} and take those God-awful boxes down.  I love how minimal and simple this look is.  Megan helped me with it and cost less than $3 also.

This little update on our entry table consisted of repurposing things already in my house.  Sometimes it’s these simple changes that end up being my favorite.  That lamp has been on the desk in our kitchen for years but hasn’t ever really gotten the spotlight it deserves.  I love it in its new home.  The books were stolen from my mom’s house and again, I love the little pieces of vintage they bring out.  The H was the cake topper at our wedding that was also used at David’s brother and sister-in-law’s wedding.

 

This frame was a gift that has sat in our basement… that’s the beauty in cleaning and organizing.  You find things that feel like they’re brand new!  It’s now hanging proudly in a spot in our bedroom that has been empty the entire time we’ve lived here.  I never knew what I wanted to put in that space; I’ve had several ideas that haven’t ever come to fruition so seeing this fit perfectly was fun.  It has a picture of David and I holding our pink balloon from when we revealed that our little one was a girl.

Go on two different day trips.

Remember that story about why we never went to any minor-league baseball games?  Yep, same story applies here.

Get baby registry in order.  

I actually spent a lot of time doing this while we were on our vacations at the beginning of the summer.  We have a lot of the big things on there but I probably need to go back through and sure I’m not forgetting anything.  I’m using Babylist… any mamas out there used it and liked it?

Go out on the lake.  

Yes.  And that’s my favorite picture of the summer.  But today is officially the first workday for teachers in North Carolina.  It was a great summer filled with great memories and so many important things checked off the to-do list.  We even checked off things that never made the to-do list.  Now that is productivity at it’s finest.  Farewell summer; bring on the school year!

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