The Great Home Improvement Post

Just one year ago, Zach and I moved into our Downton Blabby home. You can see what it looked like here: and we've worked on some things over the last year. Especially in the last few months! I'm not an interior designer by any stretch of the imagination, so choosing colors and picking things to put together was not easy. We're really happy with how things have turned out! We still have projects (the mantra of home owners I guess) but for now, we are set. I personally LOVE before and after photos, so I'll post mine here. :-)

Front Yard

Changes:

• Landscaping
• Lights
• Park bench

Future projects:

• Install lights to shine on the house itself

It doesn't look a lot different, but we spent a lot of time on the flower beds adding flowers, plants and also planting fescue grass in bare spots. My favorite part of the front yard is that park bench. We sit on it drinking our coffee and watching Ellie chase squirrels.

Formal living room

Changes

• Furniture and some decor from my Grandma Sara and my Wilder grandparents
• Console from Jena Miller
• Rug
• Chairs from World Market
• Table handmade from a Craigslist vendor
• Candles from Pier 1.
• Decor
• Reupholstered wingback chairs from Grandma Sara

Future projects

• Reupholster sofa
• Window treatments

These rooms took a while to put together, but we really like how they have turned out. I dreamed of having a big enough table for dinner parties, and now we've got one! I love the teal pops of color. We'll eventually reupholster the sofa in a cleanable grey... it's white silk right now and nearly impossible to clean. You can't see the console by the door, but we love that too. :-)

Office

Changes

• Matching office suite by Restoration Hardware (Craigslist for the win!) refinished by Jena Miller

Future projects

• Hang Ikea picture ledge shelves with my cover photo art / Zach's art

This room has been in working order for a while (hey, we both work from home--necessity!) but we still haven't put the photos up on the walls. We'll get there. For now, we have matching desks and file cabinets on opposite sides of the room.

Foyer

Changes

• Added crosses, books from my Papa Wilder and vases from Pier 1. Sticks/feathers from Michael's.

Future projects

• I have one more picture to hang up on the right wall. by the front door.

Powder Room

Changes

• Wallpaper removed
• Walls textured and repainted off white and grey
• faucet and toilet paper roll replaced with nickel
• New light fixture
• Decor

Future projects

• Clean up baseboard paint

This was one of the "biggies" Zach took on this fall. Wallpaper is a jerk to get off! His uncle helped us with plumbing and a lot of other things, but the wall paper and painting was done by Zach and his mom and it was a long process. We love the cooler color in here!

Living Room

Changes

• Decor on walls, furniture
• Stools from Target
• Small table from friends
• Hung TV mounted on wall 
• Coffee table from Jena Miller
• Blinds

Future projects

• Photo collage on wall
• More decor over bedroom doors

We spend a lot of time in here. Zach and his uncle did a really good job mounting the tv on the wall -- it can pull out and swivel and everything!

Utility room

Changes

• Blinds
• Washer/dryer
• Table from my mom's store
• Storage cabinet
• Fresh paint

Future projects

• Replace knobs
• Reorganize area over washer/dryer

I love that we haver the washer and dryer up on pedestals. And the table is special--it was in my mom's store for many years, and now it's perfect for folding clothes in our home.

Master Closet

Changes

• Replaced flourescent light with can lights
• Resurfaced and repainted walls
• Installed Elfa shelving
• Removed carpet and replaced with ceramic wood tile
• Repainted cabinets
• Replaced brass knobs with nickel knobs
• Added a stool and runner rug from target

Future projects

• Add additional shelving in one section on right

This was a major project this summer with Zach's uncle. Our closet is spacious, but the shelving was falling off the walls, didn't use the wall space well and the fluorescant light was like a disco. Now it's WONDERFUL. Holds our clothes in a way more organized way and it was really the start of using grey in the house. Love the closet now!

Master Bathroom

Changes

• Removed wallpaper
• Textured walls and repainted off white
• Painted cabinets grey
• Replaced all brass fixtures with nickel (faucets, lights, showerhead, tub faucet, knobs, toilet paper holder, towel rods)
• Added shower head fixture to tub
• Added white and teal towels
• Stenciled rugs
• Removed one panel of mirror and added a medicine cabinet and shelf (teal)
• Painted over toilet cabinet teal
• Plantation shutters by tub (not shown)
• Decor from Pier 1
• Replaced ceiling lights with LED can lights

Future projects

• Replace brass shower stall with nickel
• Hang decor/framed photos

This was our last project and by far the most labor intensive. Zach's uncle did plumbing, lighting and helped with wallpaper. Zach and his mom painted everything and I helped paint cabinets, picked up towels and stenciled the rugs. My one hope for this house pre-baby was to get the tub faucet replaced because it broke around December last year. I can now take wonderful baths again!! We are so happy with how this room turned out!

Master Bedroom

Changes

• Blinds
• Bed from Restoration Hardware (Purchased from friends - thanks Stacy and Jason!!)
• bedding from Bed, Bath & Beyond
• Bookshelves 
• Oak furniture from my mom's house
• Glider from Buy Buy Baby
• Table from Grandma Sara
• Decor

Future projects

• Window treatments

I love how our bedroom turned out. It took a long time for me to figure out the colors I'd like to have in here, but neutrals + teal and more recently a bit of purple, worked out great. Love the bed and the glider--we just got the glider and it's already my favorite seat in the whole house.

Kitchen

Changes

• Replaced non-working can lights and fluorescent light with LED can lights
• Replaced dishwasher
• Decor

Future projects

• More baby-friendly table and chairs

The kitchen is white and black--colors that at first, didn't seem to match the rest of the house. But we ended up going with those colors and a splash of yellow (thanks to a great picture from a friend) and it now has a French bistro vibe going on. Love!

Upstairs living area

Changes

• Furniture (thanks Stacy and Jason!)
• Decor
• Hung our rug from Istanbul
• Blinds

Future project

• Eventually we'll have more kid stuff in here.

For now, this is a nice sitting room for guests and a good place for me to do my yoga videos at home. Probably we'll have some toys and such later on. :-)

Workout room (upstairs)

Changes

Blinds

Exercise equipment

Future projects

none at the moment

I use this room almost every day. I love to workout at home--have everything I need right here. We bought the house with it having indoor/outdoor carpet, mirrors and even a TV stand already set up in here, so we've been using it for working out ever since!

Guest bedroom (upstairs)

Changes 

• Blinds
• Furniture
• Decor

Future projects

• Window treatments

This furniture was Zach's before we got married and it was our master bedroom before we moved to this house. The bedding was also ours, and it works really well in here, especially since the living area just outside the door also has dark wood and red accents.

Guest bathroom (upstairs)

Changes

• Removed wallpaper 
• Textured and painted walls off white
• Painted cabinets grey
• Replaced brass faucet, shower faucet and knobs with nickel
• Painted grey and installed over toilet cabinet
• Replaced lights
• Decor

Future projects

• None at the moment!

This was the *very* last major project we undertook. Zach's uncle did the plumbing and Zach and his mom did the rest--I did the decor. :-) I love the grey with black and white and red--this was what we had in our master bathroom before we moved into this house. I like how upstairs has a lot of the red throughout. And we have a working shower head!!

This weekend we're tackling the nursery! It used to be a guest room... now it's in the middle of transforming to be Baby Wilder's room. Can't wait to share photos!

Gardening adventures

My beloved bougainvillea on the front porch.

Gardening with container plants at an apartment is a completely difference experience than landscaping a home. Zach put a lot of hours into our lawn and landscaping last fall, and he's on top of keeping it looking good this year with mowing and such. It's looking really nice! We planted one tree last fall, and that was about the extent of the gardening. This spring, I realized how hard weeding can be.... All of our flower beds had loads of weeds, and I turned over the mulch to prepare for fresh mulch in the process. It was a long process, but enjoyable. The weather has been fantastic.

I hadn't planned on planting anything other than moving my container herbs and irises into the ground, but the more we thought about it, the more we realized we did want some flowers. Having only owned irises and bougainvillea--and my cooking herbs--I'm not much of a landscaper. It's all overwhelming to me. What can be planted that will survive? I don't have much experience with plants outside of horticulture class at A&M--my childhood ventures into gardening were all a failure. Black thumb Abby here. But hey, my herbs are doing pretty well.

We enlisted Sharon, my mother-in-law, to help us choose plants and install them. She was such a trooper! We went to Redenta's nearby for the plants. After picking up some plants and odds n ends, we got to planting. Well... preparing the ground, and planting. Zach meanwhile ripped up three bushes we had growing along the side of our driveway to make way for ROSES! After many, MANY hours, Sharon and I got all the plants in the front placed in the ground. The next day, she came back and helped pulled up the whole back section of some kind of ivy that was getting bedraggled, and that housed tons of bugs I'm sure. We spent all morning preparing the ground back there, and the afternoon planting. Zach and I finished up with fresh mulch all around. We were totally wiped out after all of that, but it makes me so so happy to see our pretty flowers around our home. Crossing fingers that I can keep them going. Wish me luck!!


Here are some photos of the flowers and everything.

I replanted my irises in front of our office. Crossing fingers they will bloom now that they have sun and better soil. Also planted purple queen and lantana.

We planted white, pink and blue hydrangeas on the side of the house next to the porch. They're supposed to get 3-5 feet tall and wide. I can't wait to see them grow and bloom. I'm the most worried about their hardiness, but they are in mostly shade and I'll water them a lot.

More lantana and purple queen in front of the porch.

In front of the garage, we planted purple queen and knockout roses. So pretty!

One of the knockout roses 

Beside the house next to the driveway, we planted three rose bushes that produce beautiful scented roses we can cut. We can see these from our bedroom. I love walking by them and smelling their blooms. Also note--used to have a row of waist-high bushes here. Zach took them out!

Belinda's Dream

David Austin Golden Celebration - this one is getting an iron trellis to climb on soon!

Chrysler Imperial

We moved all my herbs to the back beside the kitchen. I hope they do well here--I've never put my herbs in the ground.

Sweet little celosia. We interspersed these with purple fountain grass and lantana along the back flower bed. They look like troll doll hair to me. *love*

Lantana

All this used to be yucky ivy, overgrown grass and wobbly bricks. Now it's a nice flower bed with planter's stone, mulch and pretty flowers! Such an improvement!

I can't think my mother-in-law enough for her help. It was a lot of work but definitely worth it. Everything but the celosia is perennials, so... if I don't kill them, we should have them for several years at least! We love looking at our pretty flowers! Y'all should stop by to see them. :-)

Fabulous Fall

This tree is in our backyard! Spectacular!

Hello all! It's been a busy few weeks since I last posted. I'm going to combine several topics into one post. :-) We moved in, got our furniture put in the right places and I went to Florida and College Station almost immediately for a week. I've been back for a bit and we're slowly getting everything set up. We don't have decor put on the walls, books on shelves or the garage cleared out, but we're making good progress and it's really starting to feel like home.

I've even been able to put up some fall decor. Michael's had some great sales, so I was able to get some things without much investment. Here's a sampling:

I've had those pumpkins for a few years. The peacock was a recent gift. The leaf garland and wheat in the vase are my new additions.

A friend made a centerpiece like this recently and I copied the idea. The coffee beans in the bowl smell great!

I am really proud of this wreath. I was appalled at the price tags of pre-made ones, so I picked up a grapevine wreath, leaf garland, artificial flowers, pine cones and pumpkins and made my own for half the price. I love the color!

We finally got all the pieces for our new bed and set it up. It's super super comfy and I really like the colors. We're planning to use that teal throughout the house, and you can already see it here and there!

Bed is from Restoration Hardware (Originally), bedding is Barbara Barry (Bed, Bath & Beyond), the teal throw is from BB&B, purple pillow is DKNY and the teal pillows are from Ross. I made the lamps myself in welding class in college. :-)

Though I never would have thought it would work with my style, we decided to use some of my mom's furniture in our bedroom. It's all solid oak. Our bed is also oak, so they work well together. We may refinish them someday, and we'll probably get new handles, but for now, we have a really nice bedroom set up. I'll show you the rest once we get our decor up.

I've also been doing quite a bit of cooking. It's wonderful to have the kitchen all set up with all my favorite things! We recently had a gathering with our Supper Club at the house and I got to try out some new recipes.

My first time to roast a chicken. It turned out REALLY good.

I was so proud of my roasted chicken :-)

I made butternut squash soup too, and it was awesome. New favorite meal right here.

got to use my wedding gift champagne glasses!

Our first fire in the fireplace. My brother-in-law made it a roaring one.

We also made s'mores. Super yum.

beautiful!

Drew and Ellie

Pierre will only let Jason do this to him.

Our party was a sleepover before our 5K Foam Race, so we also had breakfast, courtesy of Grant and Zach.

awww

We've been doing some gardening as well. Zach has been hard at work making our yard look great. We seeded the bare spots with fescue. Can't wait to see how it sprouts up!

the bare part of the backyard after Z got it ready for grass seed

evidence of Zach's industriousness

grass will go here.

grass will go here

grow little fescue, grow!

Hard at work

We got the bougainvillea hung up too!

I'm very excited about the two trees we're planting. I really wanted something with pretty fall color. Lucky for us, one of the trees in the backyard has gorgeous yellow leaves. We just planted a "Fire Dragon" Shantung Maple in the front yard today. This is what it's supposed to look like--IN TEXAS:

"Fire Dragon" Shantung Maple (the red one)  and regular Shantung Maple

It came in a box!

I can't wait to see how it grows. I'm already in love with the leaves!

tiny tree :-)

tree in our front yard--Total To Kill a Mockingbird moment :-)

I also got some acorns from the one and only CENTURY TREE from Texas A&M. It's a huge tree on campus and the tradition goes, if you walk under it with your true love, you'll stay in love forever. It's such a special tree to Aggies. Thanks to my friend Jana, I have acorns from it... so I planted them. It'll take a while to grow, but that's ok. We'll be here for a while. :-)