Best. Reveal. Ever.

Sorry for the long vacation. We had a pretty major change of plans and our little bundle of joy made his (yes, I was right all along and we had a perfect little boy) appearance 3 weeks early. So I've been very happily distracted from anything non-baby related this week with this adorable little face:



Jack Kilgo

January 28, 2013 at 2:30pm

5 lbs, 13 oz

19.5 inches long

He's named after his father, grandfather and great grandfather, but we're calling him Jack. I have lots more pictures, but I have to get up the willpower to tear myself away from the real thing long enough to edit and post them. So for now, this will have to do.

Praise the Lord for this perfect and precious gift that He's chosen to give to John and I. My prayer now is that we will be parents that are worthy of this incredible child.

"For this child I have prayed and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him." 1 Samuel 1:27

Review: Mr. Beams LED Light

OK, I know. I feel off the face of the earth again and I’m probably going to do it again in the next few weeks. However, I wanted to get this post in before I disappear into babyhood.

In November, I was contacted to review Mr. Beams LED Wireless Motion Sensing Lights. Long name for a nifty little product. We didn’t need it under the counters (John was planning on doing a big under cabinet lighting project as part of my Christmas project… more on that in a later post). However, we had the darkest pantry… I’m talking you can’t see anything in there.


Seriously, I’ve been known to pull out a flashlight to look around in there. So when I had the change to review these lights, I jumped at it.

They were SUPER easy to install (maybe 5 minutes) and made an immediately difference:


(Please don’t judge the state of my pantry. It’s crazy messy and on my to-do list for this year. We’ll call these real life pictures.)

Now, before I reviewed these, I wanted to live with them for a bit. I had bought some inexpensive wireless lights a few months back and they died in about 3 weeks. Now, to be honest, I never remembered to turn them off, but still. Not an effective solution.

So when I saw that these were motion sensing, I thought it might be the solution. They are awesome! They immediately come on when I open the pantry and turn off after 20 seconds of no motion. They have been one of my favorite practical solutions for the kitchen and I highly recommend them. Amazon actually has them on sale right now for $24 for 2, so if you have a couple of dark spots in your house, you should definitely look into these!

2013 Home Goals

So remember how I’ve been promising preggo pictures? Remember how I was going to take bi-weekly pictures of the entire pregnancy? Remember how I haven’t taken a picture of myself since week 17? Yeah, I remember that too. It was a nice goal. It didn’t happen.

These goals are not like that goal in that I actually intend to follow through on them.

1. NURSERY!

This is top goal because there’s this looming deadline to have it finished. Technically, that deadline is February 18th. However, since I’d really rather not be hanging the curtains as I go into labor, I plan on having this finished by January 31st. The picture above is the BEFORE picture. it doesn’t look like this right now. It’s well on it’s way to being adorable. Here’s where we stand right now:

• Remove painted wallpaper boarder and fix walls
• Paint ceiling, walls, trim and closet doors
• Add bookshelf, crib, dresser and glider
• Reupholster ottoman
• Add tree/branch/animal decals
• Replace ceiling fan
• Hang curtains
• Hang pictures
• Make cross-stich sampler (this will make sense later, I promise)

2. Entryway/Upstairs Hallway

I don’t even have a picture of the entryway, but I really hate the color. Plus, I’m hoping to look under the nasty carpet and reveal beautiful hardwood treads… then I’ll wake up from my fantasy.

3. Living Room to Dining Room Transition

This is the second major goal of the year. I will be moving the Dining Room into the current Living Room:


It’s bigger, it’s brighter and it’s the first room you see in our house, so I don’t want it to be wasted space. We’re going to make the current dining room into a downstairs play/crafting area.

This will be a gradual project. First up… popcorn removal and getting an electrician to install an overhead light. The full list is:

• Popcorn removal
• Add overhead lighting
• Replace dining room table
• Replace carpet with hardwoods
• Add chunkier crown molding
• Paint walls, ceiling and trim
• Add buffet

4. Outside


There are some big projects I’d like to tackle outside, but I’d be happy if I just painted the shutters and changed out some plants.

I know, I know… you’re thinking,” Only 4 projects, are you sick or something? You completed 6 rooms this year!” Not exactly, I’m pregnant and figure life is going to be pretty interesting over the next 12 months and I might want to give myself a little leeway. With that said, I am not going to be posting 3 times a week for the near future. I will be posting 1-2 times. I love my blog and I don’t want it to become a burden so that I just quit. Plus, I have priorities like my new family, my job and retaining my sanity (hopefully), so those will take precedence.

2012 Resolution Check

So in 2012, I set three types of goals for myself: Blog, Personal and Home. So I’m going to do the same thing for 2013. But first, let’s check in on the 2012 goals and see how I measured up.

BLOG Resolutions for 2012:

1. Hit 350 followers by my 1 year blogiversary in April. – Check!
2. Start having guest bloggers - Check… kinda. I had a few and then stopped.
3. Hit 500 followers by 2013. – Check! Currently sitting at 577 Feedburner subscribers, 60 Linky Followers and 226 Facebook likes.
4. Most importantly, I’d like to stop comparing my blog to other blogs. I want this to be a creative outlet for me, not a job. – Yeah, this one’s a work in progress.

Personal Resolutions for 2012:

1. Stop biting my nails. – Check! I’ve now gone 2 1/2 months without biting. Yay!

Home Resolutions for 2013:

1. Rooms I’d like to update:
   • Master Bedroom
   • Guest Room
   • Entry way

We didn’t get the Entryway, but we did add the Mudroom (again), finished the Kitchen, Guest Bath, Master Bath and started on the Nursery.

1. We have a lot of work to do outside including but not limited to:
   • removing some trees in the backyard – I talked John out of this one for now
   • replacing our fence – Check!
   • adding some privacy trees – nope, that’s back on the list for this year
   • adding a garden – Ditto.
   • painting the shutters – Ditto.
   • adding 2 columns to the front of the house - Check!
   • painting the front door (again) – nope
   • reseeding the lawn (again) – Check!

Overall, I am totally happy with what we accomplished in 2012! It was a busy year, but my house is a million times more in order than it was in 2011. Almost the whole downstairs is done. We have the Living Room left and that’s definitely on the list for this year, along with the Entry way.

Favorite Projects of 2012

Sorry for the long hiatus. My attention hasn’t really been on blogging or projects lately and I hate posting “filler,” if you know what I mean.

Can you believe it’s the end of 2012? I feel like I was just writing this post for 2011 (check it out HERE if you’re interested).

#10 - Upholstered Valance

I love this valance. It pulled the entire room together (see the room down on #6). For those of you who are wondering, the valance has stayed in place this time.

#9 - Spray Painted Striped Curtains

This is one of those projects that I kind of made up as I went along and it worked out! For the record, the Guest Bedroom Makeover is probably #11 on my list and should you want to check it out, you can do that HERE.

#8 – Sofa Table

It may not look like much to you, but this table has improved my life:

It provides a warmth and a “completeness” to this room that it was lacking before. Plus, now that I’m way preggo , the coffee table (and my drink) feels very far away when I’m curled up in that corner seat. 

#7 - Antique Silver Leaf Frame

I picked this picture up from a flea market in Asheville over the summer.A little spray paint, a little silver leaf and a little glaze gave me this beautiful antiqued finish on the frame. Honestly, the picture looks so much better because the frame is pretty!

#6 - Master Bathroom Makeover

Don’t you love how much difference some paint can make? I mean really… that’s ALL that changed in this room. It’s a much brighter, happier place to wake up to and get ready in the morning.

#5 – Mudroom

Yeah, I’m basically the luckiest girl in the world. My husband is so incredible and I’m so blessed. He put so much work into this room and I LOVE it. It was important to me to have a pretty laundry room because that door at the end is our half bath and the only bathroom on the first floor, so all of our guests come through here. Now I don’t have to cringe when they walk through. (For more proof that my husband is pretty much incredible, see #2).

#4 - Burlap Wreath

 
This was my favorite kind of project. Quick, simple, cheap and turned out great! I left this wreath on my door from May through November and just changed out the accessories.

It also doesn’t hurt that this is my most pinned, most viewed post ever with over 61,000 pageviews. That’s triple any other post. Crazy and thanks to everyone who pinned it!

#3 - Striped Bathroom

This is another one of those before and after’s that are just amazing all because of some paint. I love this bathroom now. It just makes me happy, which is great since I’ll be using it A LOT more in the coming years.

#2 - Kitchen Countertops and Backsplash

Let’s just step back and remember where this kitchen started:


The picture on the left is our kitchen when we moved in. On the right is after removing upper cabinets and painting. We never changed the layout to save money and I’m so glad.


By far, this kitchen makeover has made the biggest difference in the way I feel about my house. I love cooking in this kitchen. Plus, every time I wipe the counters, I remember what a gift and labor of love this was from my husband. He worked so hard and did such an incredible job. I am so grateful for him.

#1 - Nursery

So, the nursery isn’t finished and I don’t have any pictures to show you, but it’s coming along perfectly. I love that room. More than the project itself, this is my favorite project because what (or rather who) it represents. The Nursury represents all that is to come in 2013. 2012 has been an incredible year and I’m actually overwhelmed as I think of how much better 2013 will be. The Lord has so abundantly blessed me and He’s about to bless me in a completely new way.


I’ll be back in the New Year with regular posts and updates. I PROMISE I’ll bring you a bump picture, which hasn’t happened since 17 weeks (how is that 15 weeks ago???), a 2013 project list and regular updates. Have a wonderful, safe New Year!


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