New Kitchen Digs

We've worked hard to add some new digs to the kitchen this past weekend. I sewed up some cheerful little curtains for our window above the sink. I purchased the fabric from Joann's, I believe it was around $5.00. I love the birds and the yellow. Next up on the docket, we got a brand new oven! Our other oven was becoming really dangerous and with Jack in the house we knew it was time to get rid of it. The oven would become as hot on the outside as it was on the inside, it would only allow one burner to be lit, and it would burn food at 200 degrees! Whoa... the hot on the outside was enough to say, "see-ya"! Unfortunately, to replace the oven exactly it would cost upwards of $1000-$1500... lets just say that doesn't work for us or this house. We went ahead and purchased an oven that we fell in love with. It has 5 burners (the burner in the middle houses a griddle). Ryan and I have something in the works to hide the back of the oven from the dining room. Stick around for that ;). As mentioned previously we have our awesome new produce holders! All in all I feel like we have a great "new" cozy kitchen. 

Christmas 2013

.Christmas.2013.

Fruit Holder

We love fruit, but we don't love the counter space that it consumes. I generally don't store our fruit in the fridge because it is juiced/blended so fast that we like to have easy access to it. We also tend to forget about the fruit we have when its stored away in the fridge. So today I thought up a solution. Ryan hung wire baskets under the cabinets to hold our fruit... wooohooo! Easy access and more counter space win win my friends!

Before:

 After:

Christmas

Christmas Decorating

Christmas is coming and I am beyond excited! It may be because it is the first year where Jack will be able to actively participate in the events of the season. I couldn't wait any longer so I have started added some christmas themed decorations to our house. I currently only have our "makeshift mantle" as I like to think of it decorated. I will update the post later with more of our Christmas craziness.

Reindeer  from hobby lobby- $3.00

Random stack of books and fabric scrap- Free

Ball Jars from Christmas Tree shop- $.69/.89

Pine cones- Free

Lantern- Free (already had)

Jack is One!

We decided to go with a Curious George theme for Jack's first birthday party. Ryan had a special connection with his Grandma Knox when it came to Curious George and I thought it would be fun to carry on the tradition! My mom and I scoured pinterest and of course used our own imaginations to come up with the party decor and food. I absolutely loved how everything turned out! Jack had a rockin' time as well :)!

The centerpieces each contained a monthly fact about Jack! I loved creating them! I also had everyone color a page so I can make a book for Jack with all of the pages!

 Party favor bags

 We decided to hang up the 12 month 'evolution' of Jack

 My mom made all of the cupcakes ( banana, blueberry, and red velvet)

 the dessert table

 I decided to paint a mural of Curious George :)

 My mom decorated some epic cookies!

Evolution of a House

 When I first moved in to our house, it was a typical bachelor pad. Every wall was either white or some off version of white. I of course being young and naive decided to paint everything in the most dramatic crazy color scheme that is beyond comprehension. Here are some before photographs from 2007.

 Yes you are looking at these colors correctly. Dark blue and red. 

Lime green in the kitchen... why not?! 

Here is our house as it stands today, except for the couch area. Same house? Yes. It looks so much bigger, and it feels a lot cozier. I am beyond happy with the path that our house is going down.