Final summer house project--the cabinets

I've been sanding and painting the cabinets in the kitchen these past few days. Like all home remodeling projects it's going to take longer and be more complicated than planned. I was hoping to get it all done by the end of this weekend, but I don't think I'll finish it tomorrow. Mimi has been in town to celebrate an early birthday for Ellen and has helped a ton just being around and hanging out with the girls so I can work on the cabinets.

The girls were once again happy to help. We had to take everything out so that I could sand in kitchen.
This is one of the rooms that we stored all the stuff that was in the cabinets. One of the fun parts about home repair is you get to live in chaos! We put it all back late last night so now we just have to live without the doors for a few days. I had fun getting rid of food and junk that I know we'll never use but has been shoved in the back of the pantry:)

This is what I've looked like for the past 2 days.

I'll post pictures of the finished project soon!

Spring, I mean, late summer cleaning

We went to Charlotte last weekend to visit Daniel's family and do some shopping at IKEA and Trader Joe's. Friday was spent with William. We went to the Matthew's farmers market and toured the organic CSA that William is involved with. It was encouraging to see a beautiful, successful organic farm.



Saturday we spent the day at the pool by Gail's house. Here's Ellen and aunt Anna playing in the pool.


Sunday we stopped at IKEA for a new bunk bed for the girls' room. They have been sharing a double bed since we moved to Columbia. They didn't ask for a new bed, but we thought it was a good time to give them their own space. We had quite a fiasco when we got home to Columbia ard realized the box of bed pieces was missing two of the long boards that hold the slats. Daniel had to drive back to Charlotte to get those pieces since IKEA wouldn't ship or deliver them to us. It was quite frustrating, but everyone was calm and collected and we finally got it all assembled on Monday night. The girls were right there with us at every step putting the bed together--reading directions, sorting pieces, holding things, tightening screws, hammering, etc.

Since we were moving the double bed from their room to the office we decided to go ahead and rip up the carpet in those two rooms. There is nice wood flooring in there. That inspired us, or rather forced us, to do some rearranging around the entire house. We moved the office, bedroom, dining room and den around. We now have a guest room where the office was. Daniel and I cleaned out files along with many other things. We loaded up my trunk twice with all the stuff we got rid of. I still have a pile of old carpet and a recliner on my porch waiting for the next load to the dump. Here's a picture of the massive pile of papers Daniel recycled.


It feels so nice and refreshing to clean, organize, and de-clutter the house in this way. I think it's a good thing that we don't have much storage space (no attic or garage). It forces us to get rid of things that we don't need and would probably store if we did have the space.

backyard wildlife

Max brought in a baby squirrel last week. As you can see in the picture of Ellen's hand, he is tiny. If you want more info on the story go to my facebook page.



Here he is asleep in Daniel's hand


The other night we were in the garden and spotted this beautiful butterfly. We were trying to get close so we could identify him. I reached out my hand and he walked right up on my finger. Daniel ran in to get the camera and tell the girls. The butterfly then moved to each of our fingers. It was amazing. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think we decided it was a painted lady butterfly.