{ One Room Challenge | Week 5 }

Week 5...how did this get here so quickly?! 

This week was crazy but Mark did get most of the tile on the wall (insert happy dance!)

This tile. 
It is gorgeous just coming out of the box and up on the wall it is PER-FECTION!  

If you are just stopping by for the first time, so happy you are here! 


Thanks for taking a minute to checkout our ORC week 5 post. You can play catch up here for week 1, week 2, week 3, and week 4 if you are wondering how we got to this point of the challenge

This challenge is hosted by Linda from Calling It Home. The challenge is to take one room in your home and give it a face lift in only 6 weeks. These past 5 weeks have been really fun AND extremely challenging for us. I like to share about our house updates and since we've got this old home that needs a makeover of every square inch it's a great outlet for me to journal about our progress crazy life. It's been fun because I love seeing how a space changes even with just a can of paint, into a room that feels more like me, more like home, and something that I love. It's been challenging because we really don't have a lot of time. Like everyone, we are busy. If this was our day job it would be a lot easier but we both have jobs and the kids seem to always need something ha! Life happens. So we sneak in a little work here and there in our spare time! 

Because we need to work on our projects a little at a time, Mark went a little unconventional when it comes to setting the tile but honestly I think it's pretty genius what he ended up doing!

If you are unable to see the video the short and simple version of what he did is, instead of using tile adhesive that you spread a thin layer across the wall in small sections due to the fact that it dries pretty quickly, he used an adhesive called power grab. Applying it on each piece of tile and sticking each piece up individually as he went.

We also opted to not use spacers while setting the tile. Due to the arabesque shape of the tile it was difficult to use spacers...we tried, and each tile is slightly different so because of this we decided to eye ball each placement using approximately a 1/4 inch gap between each tile.

We still have a small section to complete and then we will be moving on to grouting. I'm having a hard time deciding what color grout to use. One really great benefit of using the power grab is we could paint the wall prior to putting up the tile so I could get an idea of what the tile would look like with different colors behind it. This was the genius part. To be able to get an idea of the color grout by looking at the wall color behind it is easier to make a final decision.
 I have the hardest time making decisions, choosing grout color is no exception. oy! 

I painted a little section of white, a little section of dark gray, and then the original wall color is a light gray/green...

So here are my choices after the tile was applied

Opinions on grout?

Last week I still wasn't sure what legs we were going to use for the bench Mark made but I had an idea pop into my head that was altogether different than what I was originally thinking. I tried finding something similar online but I couldn't find exactly what I had thought up in my mind, so I asked Mark if he thought he could make them. He made them and they are exactly.what.I.wanted. 

A quick sneak peak before the big reveal next week is up on Instagram!

Here we are one week to go until the big reveal and we still have to finish installing the tile, grouting the whole back splash, complete the bench, CLEAN, and accessorize. Oh I forgot to mention, the curtains I ordered from Joss and Main came the other day and they were the wrong color. boo. I had to return them and the color I had wanted was no longer available so I will be crossing my fingers to find something in time for next Thursday! 

Don't forget to check out all the other awesome ORC posts here and here for this week. Make sure to stop back next week for some eye candy when all of us show off our newly re-done rooms!

One last thing before I sign off this post...my cousin Kyle was involved in a very serious work accident last week and is currently in the hospital fighting for his life everyday.The power of prayer is being felt by all and I just ask, if you could take a second to send up a prayer for his body to heal and for his family to stay strong through it all, it would be a huge blessing. Thank you and blessings to you. 

All of the beautiful tile was provided by Mission Stone + Tile, all my comments regarding the tile are 100% my own opinions and clearly...I am in LOVE <3 font="">

{ One Room Challenge | Week 4 }

I'm a little late to the party today (actually I'm always late so this is quite fitting) because I was waiting for the tile to arrive and it's finally here! 

This is week 4 of the #oneroomchallenge hosted by Linda from Calling It Home. I wanted to join the challenge for two reasons. First I wanted the kitchen to have the finishing touches that I've been thinking about since we bought the house and this was a great excuse to start that. Second because I love working side by side with my husband doing projects. It's fun talking about what our plans are and coming up with ideas on how to execute them. He is literally an amazing handyman and knows how to pretty much do everything and always helps me make my visions come alive.

ok enough of the sap...

I was hoping the tile would have arrived earlier but with some unexpected delivery issues it only just arrived but I can tell you THIS tile will literally MAKE my kitchen. I am excited to see it go up on the wall. 

When I saw this pull up in front of the house I got all giddy and then realized I had to help the guy unload the truck lol. It wasn't so bad.. our kid's wagon made the work easier getting that 250 lbs of tile to my door ha! 

Last week I wasn't sure what legs I wanted on the bench and to be honest, I'm still not 100% sure what I want. I'm leaning more toward the hairpin legs and if we're being truthful, I don't think that I will decide until the very last minute because for some reason I am the worst procrastinator ever. Thankfully its one of those things that its ok to wait on. 

Here is how the kitchen is looking this morning

The planks are painted and caulked. I walk into this kitchen everyday and smile. It is such a pretty room and the planks make it feel so warm. 

I purchased some curtains and am waiting for those to arrive. The bench needs another coat of paint on it and the legs and then we can check that off the checklist. The tile will get started this week. The island will get a touch up of paint and I was considering adding one more project to Mark's list with adding under cabinet lighting. We'll see how fast we can get the tile up and grouted and then if we have time I would love to have the extra light in here. I love the look of under cabinet lighting.  

Can we talk for one more second about the tile? 

This tile is from Mission Stone and Tile  and it's called Beveled Arabesque. I have been planning my kitchen in my head and on my pinterest boards forever and THIS is the tile that I have always gone back to when considering what to use. I debated doing the classic subway tile for a bit but doing something a little different was exactly what I wanted and this arabesque shape is perfect. I never had a tile back splash. In our first home that we built we didn't do tile. None of the bathrooms have had tile back splash so this will be a first for me. Can you tell I am freeking excited #thethingshomeownersgetexcitedaboutisridiculous but I'm ok with it lol! 

Stay tuned for next week because you'll finally get to see how the tile transforms our kitchen from plain to perfect (in my opinion anyway ha!) 

If you are just joining and want to check out the other people that are participating in the One Room Challenge linking up here you can check them out!

Thanks for stopping in...until next time! 

{ One Room Challenge | Week 3 }

It's week three and I have to admit that we are struggling when it comes to working in the kitchen. Like hardly got any work done this week because the weather has been so beautiful struggling. Doesn't really sound like it since we've been outside accomplishing projects like yard work and cutting down super large pine trees in the front yard but the kitchen has been suffering slightly. 

All is good though. We are actually doing really great with our time line so a light week of work isn't really putting us back on the overall project. 

I should clarify a little, it was a light week of work in the kitchen for Mark. I on the other hand spent the better part of two days priming and painting the plank walls. The above photo was taken just after I finished priming the corner of the room. 

These photos are so bad but you can already see how the paint is transforming those wood planks to pretty planks. The white paint and caulk really changes the whole look of the planks and I cant wait to show you that in the reveal. I honestly dont know how it took me so long to do a plank wall because seriously I overly love it. overly. ha!

The other project that we can almost check off our list is the bench. 

Here it is before we painted it. The nail holes were filled and I was ready to give it a good sand down. It doesn't really look like a bench above because the amazing thing about this bench is that it's collapsible!

Here is how it looks when it's up.

I'm still looking for some legs that we can attach to the bottom side. I just propped up the bench in the above photos to give you an idea of what it will look like. Here are a few of my inspiration photos when it comes to bench legs. Totally different options but I really love both benches so we'll see what I can come up with. 

What is your vote? 

Hair Pin Legs vs. Clear Legs

Give me your opinions!!

Here is a reminder of our table and our clear chairs for reference.

You can also see why having a collapsible bench will be great in this small dining room of ours. We usually have the table pushed right up to the window so with the new bench it will allow us to continue to keep our table pushed against the windows but when we need the extra seating for guests we can pull out the table and set up the bench. #perfect. 

I started priming the bench and hopefully by the end of the weekend it will be all painted. 

I made a couple cute pillow covers and because I cant help myself, when I propped up the bench, I had to add the pillows to envision it all pretty with some fun fabrics. 

I'm super excited to be able to have this bench option for extra seating! I will be sure to share all about how we Mark built the bench and once we get the legs I'll be sure to let you in on how he rigs those so they will flip up allowing the bench to move up and down the way we need it to. 

It was probably nice that Mark took a week off in the kitchen because this coming week he has LOTS to do including finishing up the plank wall and starting the tile backsplash! eeeek!! 

If you are just joining us for the first time you can check out how our #oneweekchallenge started here in 

week 1 + week 2

To see all the amazing bloggers out there that are also participating in Calling It Home's one week challenge you can click here! The link party for week three is here and there are over 150 amazing rooms that are getting a makeover so if you are like me and addicted to house photos and internet inspiration make sure to check this page out too! 

Until next week, Be Blessed. 

{ One Room Challenge | Week 2 }

We are in week two of the #oneroomchallenge hosted by Linda from Calling It Home. 

If you are just visiting for the first time you can see what our plans are here from week one. 

The three major projects that I want to cross off my list are

1) Plank Wall

2) Tile Backsplash

3) Bench Seating

Mark got right to work last week and he has almost all the planks up on the walls as of today. If you follow my instagram feed then you got to see that I was busy filling in all the tiny nail holes with spackle this last week too.

Spackling wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It took a little time but well worth it. I just used my finger to push in the spackle and then used an old credit card and swiped it along the board to scrap off the extra. Really technical huh! It worked so I call it successful. ha!

If you think that top board on the photo above looks a little wonky, your eyes are not lying to you. Mark needs to fix the top two boards as they've buckled a little since nailing them in. There's never a project that doesn't need a little adjustment in this old house of ours but that will be a pretty quick fix. 

I started priming yesterday on the wall next to the cabinets. 

My technique for this was to use a brush in the cracks and along the edges and then rolled the primer on. Another time suck project but overall well worth it because it already looks amazing. Like amazing amazing!

I picked up paint in the same color as the trim in our house and plan to paint ALL day today. The trim in here never got painted either since we renovated last year so this will be a good time to get that done too. 

The constructing of the bench under the window has started too and it looks SO good. Like I said last week, we really needed to add some additional options for seating in here and because the space is already really tight we went with a bench that can be collapsed when we don't need it. I will share all about that project next next Thursday.

I'm still on the hunt for some curtains to hang up over the slider door and fabric to sew up some pillow covers for the bench. 

We've got some amazing tile coming from Mission Stone and Tile   that I CANT WAIT to show you. Seriously they have fabulous tile to choose from, while I already knew what I wanted for my kitchen it was hard to not question myself a little when I saw how awesome all their tiles are. I am really looking forward to showing you that when it comes in so make sure you follow me on Instagram because you will see it there first! 

So far I am really loving how this room is shaping up and looking forward to the next four weeks left of this #oneroomchallenge to share our progress with you! 

Thanks for dropping in, until next time... Be blessed!

{ One Room Challenge | Week 1 }

I don't really know where March went but it's gone and I realized when I logged it today that it's been almost a whole month since I blogged last. Did March fly by for you too or is it just me? I really don't have any excuse other than just being busy with life! We are on to bigger and better things for April. The snow is FINALLY all melted away here in Michigan, spring is in the air, baby kittens are being born in the barn and most importantly we are ready to get back into some house projects! 

I decided we need a kick in the pants so we've joined the blogging world in the #oneroomchallenge and I am SO excited to do this because we really need to get a few big projects done so this is just the thing that will help with that.

A bunch a fabulous and inspiring bloggers have joined up to transform one room in their home in just 6 weeks. You can find a link to all the bloggers rooms here that are linking up to this challenge hosted by Linda from Calling it Home. Additionally, you can click here to see 20 design bloggers who shared their plans yesterday! 

The room we chose to do is our kitchen. Last time we left off on here with our kitchen it looked like this

The above photo makes me still so happy that we have the kitchen that we have, especially when I look at photos like the one below which is what we started with when we bought this house back in 2013. If you are new here, welcome! You can click here to read more about who we are if you'd like. But for now, back to the matter at hand.

It was bad. Gross floors, rotted slider door and window, nasty counter tops, dark cabinets filled with mouse poop, bulk heads, a large beam, and really bad paint choices. If you want to see our whole house tour you can click here . We've come a LONG way but adding some more finishing touches to this room will really make it the way I dreamed about (I know lame, but I do dream about house stuff ha!)

This one room challenge is just the ticket to getting those things checked off the list. So want to know what our list is? Just a warning, it may change up a little, but at this point this is what we have planned...

We've needed a bench seat along the window wall for a long time now and it's finally going to get done. Our kitchen/eating area is pretty tight space wise so most of the time we leave the table pushed up against the windows and just use the four chairs around it. This works fine when its just us here but anytime we add friends to the mix it gets pretty difficult to fit everyone around the table. SO looking forward to this, plus it's a good excuse to make up some cute pillow covers to make that side of the room pretty! 

The below pics are going to be helpful inspiration when designing our plans for our kitchen. 

Bench seat...

source

Plank wall...

source

Tile backsplash...

source

All those photos above make me super gitty to get going on our kitchen and I cant wait to share over the next six weeks what we are doing and how we are doing it. My man is insanely talented when it comes to pretty much anything DIY so everything we do will be done by him (with a little help from me) so we will share details on how to do these projects in your own home AND on a budget of course since that's real life! 

Check back next Thursday to see how far we can get in one weeks time. #crossingmyfingersitwillbegood ha!