House Updates Galore!

After going through photos on my computer, I realized there is a good number of pictures I haven't posted. They're not super exciting, and they're not the most up to date - those will come later. But it's fun to look back and see how things have progressed. Notice how I didn't say how far we've come, because we really do have a long way's to go, but for now it's comfortable and it's becoming home more each and every day.

We've updated the basement since these photos were taken - we've put the bookshelves together, and moved SO many more boxes down there! We'll show an update later but for now, this is the progress we've made. We still need to get a TV stand/entertainment center for our TV, but that's been put on hold because of our lifestyle right now. We've been spending the majority of our TV-watching time upstairs in the living room, so we're going to put our strength, effort and money into that room right now (in addition to an office), until we start clearing out the basement and making it more of a space we'll hang out in. It's only two of us here, so we don't need multiple spaces for downtime quite yet.

Basement Progress:

The next set of updates is our kitchen - we've added island chairs, and they've been awesome! We had a hard time deciding what we should do, and I think I've said before that in a perfect world, we would have gotten different ones, but it wasn't in the budget, and won't be for awhile, to spend $150-200 on a chair. We bought two different ones to try them out - they were two totally different styles - and ended up with this one. They are so comfortable, and that's what mattered most to us because we spend so much time sitting at the island - or rather, I do, watching Mr. K cook!

The most amount of work has probably gone to the outside, mostly the backyard but also the front yard! We've gotten really into flowers and herbs, so I'll share a few with you now, and then post the updates later to see how much they've grown until now! 

Before the mulch:

We used Garden Pro by Harvest, Espresso Brown mulch. We really liked the color of it, plus it was "on sale" at Home Depot for 4 for $10. I say "on sale" because the bags are usually $2.50, but doesn't the 4 for $10 sound so much better?!? Anyways, we were told at Home Depot that we had to be really careful and only handle it right out of the bag with gloves (I wouldn't have done it without gloves regardless, but it was a good tip) because of the dye that was in the mulch. After it got wet and then dry again, it would be fine. I still have to wash those gloves soon!

After my amazing mulching skills:

If you have any good tips about growing sod and keeping it super healthy, feel free to drop me a line! The sod was put down in mid-late April and we still have a few patches that are struggling and there are still lines between the pieces of sod. Soon and very soon we hope to have a regular-looking lawn full of healthy, beautiful green grass!! 

A close-up of our trellises - the flowers are mandavilla flowers combined with annuals around the edge of the pot (They've since grown, especially the one on the far right in this picture, so I can't wait to show you soon!):