transformations: the dining room

Want to see the downstairs? Let's begin in the dining room!

In the beginning... or at least in the 1960's...

I know. You can't tell anything from this picture. But, I just think it's so cool that we even have it! This is during the previous owners' remodel of the house (in 1963), looking in from the kitchen. Apparently, there used to be a cool swinging door there!

Slightly more recent, circa 2005:

 Not too bad... in comparison to some of the other "befores".

You like that chandelier, though, don't you??

I don't have any of the "process" pictures, but this room hasn't been TOO much of a hastle for us. Just the "basics":  hardwood floors refinished, walls/ceiling/trimwork were primed and then painted, new chandelier and window blinds hung, crown molding added, etc. And, voila!

 Our dining room, as seen through the wide entryway from the living room.

 The furniture is a combined product of my parents' attic, some friends' generosity, and craigslist! I love the randomness.

 We framed black & white pictures of our families (both old and new photos) to hang on this wall. I love how it turned out, and can't wait to add to the collection!

Come over and have a meal with us! In the next few weeks, that is.  :(

transformations: our bedroom

It's been awhile since I've posted our room renovations. Well, I guess it's just been awhile since I've posted at all. Things have been a little crazy around here. With a little motivation coming from our now upcoming move, I'm back on track and will try to finish documenting the rest of the house... though it will surely not be in as much detail. You're probably grateful for that! :)

Our bedroom, as it looked before we bought the house:

 You'll notice the familiar sights of horrid drapery.

 Every. Single. Window.

Removing the curtains didn't help much, except to highlight the lovely carpet.

We really were pretty excited about the walk-in closet, especially with it's pegboard walls and homemade pipe hanging system!

 

In order to make the room/upstairs liveable, we had to rip up the carpet, prime both the walls and ceiling, and then get new carpet installed. We gratefully accepted some help from friends (including smiley Seth!) to make the priming part happen!

If I remember correctly, these two were more excited about posing than about painting!

Katie looked way too cute to be doing manual labor, don't you think?? And no, I'm not speaking of myself in the third person.

Fast forward 4 long years of carpet installation, wallcolor-choosing, furniture-searching, painting, and rearranging...

Our room in all it's glory.

Side note: I've been putting this post off because we haven't had bedside tables. Seriously. We've been using TV tray tables and hoping that Cooper didn't pull a lamp down on his head while I searched craigslist every day. Well, we finally bit the bullet yesterday and bought two from Walmart's "Canopy" line.

So far, we are really impressed! No particle board, easily assembled... really solid pieces of furniture. I'll let you know if we change our minds, but as of right now we would definitely give them our recommendation!

Okay, back to the room:

I love the dormers in this house.

I also love my closet...

even the pegboard walls!

Who would've thought?

make new friends, but keep the old…

There is nothing quite so wonderful as an old friend. Someone who knows what you would want for breakfast and that you hate feet. Someone who asks about the things closest to your heart and challenges you even when it hurts. Someone who has loved you through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.
 I am blessed to have 7 of those friends… my roommates from college. We live all over the southeast, don’t talk every day or even every week, and each have separate lives in new communities of people. Yet, when we get together, it is one of the sweetest comforts I know. Old friends truly are golden.
Last month, we were all able to gather at the beach with only one dear friend missing- our sweet Amy. It was a precious few days to be together. And so much fun. We even invited our “significant others” for the first time! At one point, we had 15 people in the 4 bedroom condo. There were some huge sacrifices made to be a part of this weekend, which made me even more grateful for every person there.
Allow me to introduce my dear ones and their dear ones….
(disclaimer: These pictures are not good. They were mostly taken at a dark restaurant, and I am just not a good enough photographer to make that work well without a flash. But I tried, because I hate the flash. Needless to say, they then required quite a bit of photoshopping, in which I am also no expert. So… I’m asking for your grace. It’s more about the people in the picture, anyway. Right?)

This is Kara. We sometimes call her “Parker” after the cruise ship director from our senior year cruise. She is a fabulous encourager and gatherer of friends, making everyone feel included and cared for. Hence, this trip... it was her idea.

 
Kara married Peter almost two years ago, and apparently they’ve been dressing alike every since. :) Peter is a native Floridian, an obnoxious Gator fan (at least that’s what they call them in Knoxville), and a tender-hearted man.

 
My beautiful friend Lauren was there, with a special glow about her. She is a free-spirit who never ceases to surprise us with both her random comments and her brilliant successes.

 
We had our first encounter with Matt, the reason for Lauren’s sweet smile. We understood- he seems like a keeper for sure, which is good thing since they got engaged a few weeks ago!! I am so excited for them!

Tiffany, who I lived with for all four years of college, is the Anne Shirley to my Diana Barry. Her strength and grace are amazing and I am so thankful for her long-time presence in my life.
P.S. She did not want me to take her picture.

Tiffany’s husband, Will, wasn’t planning on coming for the weekend. At the last minute, he drove all the way from Nashville, on his motorcycle, to be at the beach for about 12 hours. That certainly shows a lot about his heart and character.

Though looking a little frightened in this picture, I think Meredith looks gorgeous as well. Her wisdom and conviction have been a steady stream for all of us. She’s even a real counselor now! And she has great hair.

Scott, Meredith’s husband, did an excellent job repeatedly posing as I tried to take a decent picture. That’s the kind of guy he is- fun, confident, and carefree. The kind of guy you want in any group.

One of the best stories of the weekend: Ross (Amy’s hubby) came to spend time with us, even though she couldn’t be there! He is one of the most genuinely kindhearted men I’ve met, and almost filled the void that Amy left.

Claire, strong and lovely, was a joy to be with as always. She has a fabulous way of knowing every person in a room and making each of them feel important.

 
James, a great match for Claire, really added to our weekend and fit in so well. Intelligent, easy to be around, and so good to our precious friend… I am definitely a fan. I think we all are.

Look at that face- don’t you just love her already? This is my dear friend Julie and she’s just as fun as she looks. It is always a gift to me to be with her, especially since she lives forever away under the big city lights of DC. She’s so cosmopolitan.


This is Mac, the man lucky enough to get a ring on Julie’s finger. Mac has a good heart and a great laugh. I’ve told Julie that he and Curtis would/should be BFFs if they lived in the same town. He’s just a good one.


Scott decided to take my camera and try it out for a few minutes. This is one of the results… I actually like it, which says a lot coming from me! The biggest reason? I think it shows how happy these people make me. Happy makes beautiful.


Last but certainly not least in my world… Curtis. I feel so blessed that he went to school with all of these girls because he knows and loves them all already. He understands where we’ve been and is a part of where we are going. What a joy! And he’s cute. :)

To bring it all together for you:


and, just in case you need a refresher on the relational ties:
Ha ha ha. I just think that’s funny.
If you made it this far, thanks for getting to know my sweet friends. In learning about them, in a way you are learning about me too. So thanks.

simple and good

We spend quite a few weekends outside of Knoxville… sometimes it feels like too many. Something was different, though, when our friends Claire and Mike invited us to their cabin for the weekend. There was no agenda. No event. No expectations. Not even a dinner out.

Blissful, if you ask me. So we went.

It was everything we were hoping for and more: good friends, good rest, good football (well, some of it… boo Florida),  good play, and really good food.

 

Did I mention that there was a hot tub? The rain let up for awhile on Saturday, so all the boys partook… and loved it. 

 

 
Mike, our happy host, and baby Henry (6 months old).

 

 
I was jealous. I wanted to be Henry in that moment. 

 

 

Trying to maximize the rainless hours, Curtis and Mike decided to do a little fishing too.

 

 
I’m not sure it was the most successful fishing ever, but at least they tried, right?

 

They even let Cooper tag along and scare away the fish! His favorite method? Rocks…

 

 
…flung into the water. Too fun! So fun, actually, that he fell into the pond and had to be brought back inside for a full change of clothes (hence the lovely outfit)!

 

The rocks, however, couldn’t hold a candle to playing with the dog. Maiden, Claire and Mike’s dog, is slightly obsessed with playing fetch. Ironically, so is Cooper.

 
Each time, he would get the ball back from Maiden and start running…

 

 
throw… (usually about 4 feet in front of himself)

 

 
and watch Maiden go.

 

 
If only I had brought my Flip to capture on video the laughter and squeals of delight- every time- as Maiden ran to find the ball and bring it back.  Happiness in its purest form.

 

 
Claire, Henry, and I had come out to be a part of the action and were certainly glad not to have missed any of it.

 

 
I was also particularly glad not to have missed this.

 

Wait, no. This.  Ohhhh, the preciousness.

 

Later, I enlisted Curtis to help me with a special project… my only real contribution to the weekend worth of food. Delicious food! Mike smoked a pig and made unbelievable barbeque, Claire baked scrumptious pumpkin muffins, and they served us meal after meal with little to no help from us. It was amazing.

 
Curtis collected some sticks from outside and used Mike’s pocket knife-

 

to make these-

 

 
so that I could make these. Yum.

There’s just something simple and good about a caramel apple. Seemed to fit the weekend just perfectly…