The updating process

We bought our house for many reasons, but the wall colors were not one of those reasons. We have made strides toward improving said wall colors but seriously we have to paint the ENTIRE house and its taking awhile. Today I primed the dining room and entry in an effort to move forward on removing some of the crazy house colors. Here are pictures of the dining room (please note the partially painted ceiling) and entry when the previous owner stilled lived here.

Its amazing what even a little primer can do to improve a room (and ceiling)!

Another room in progress is the half bath - here is a before and current.

And just for funsies here are a few other before and afters.

The hallway - before is one of four shades of pink in the house. After - a soft white.

The toilet room in the master bath - before a lovely pink wallpaper. After - light gray paint.

Making it our own, one Saturday at a time.

Yesterday was hot. And, in the midst of that terrible heat, we decided to mulch and finish putting stones around the beds in the front of the house. Afterward we made a deal that we would not do any more large outside landscaping projects until it cools down (likely November). Despite being a dirty, hot mess of a couple after yesterday's work, we are happy with how the front yard has turned out. We have a few more things we want to do eventually but here are some before and after photos for you!

Before

After

We tore out the ivy bed in March, then Chip installed the stone for the large bed. Yesterday we put all the other stone around the beds, and filled all of them with mulch. We will probably add a bench to the large bed and maybe some potted plants - the tree roots are so close to the top of the ground that we can't do much with that space. We also plan to sod once it gets cooler.

90 years old

My grandfather turned 90 yesterday. It is difficult to describe how important he is to me but here are some of my favorite things about him. He doesn't eat chicken because as a child he watched his mother kill and de-feather too many for dinner. He loves to eat cornbread mixed in milk for dinner (who doesn't??). He is frank but still gentle. He gives the best hugs. He went to University of Houston and is SOOOO excited that Chip and I are down in Houston. When I was deciding on a major, he asked me if I had considered engineering. He loves Chip and besides me, Chip is the only other person who refers to him as Pally (we add a -lly to the end of Pa). I love listening to Pa talk about his family and its so interesting in fact that there is a documentary about some of them!

I was incredibly lucky to grow up in the same city as my maternal grandparents and they both mean the absolute world to me.

One month!!

Its been one month since we got married! :)