Thursday, July 30, 2009

Moving In



Here is the "before" picture of our front door and living room wall:

Here is the after photo:

We're moved into the new townhome! There's still about half a dozen boxes to unpack, but it's definitely starting to feel like home.

Andrew and I went to work right away! We moved in on the evening of Wednesday, July 15 with the help of our parents and family friend, Taylor. The following day, my mom was off work and stayed at our place for the afternoon. She waited for the cable guy and cleaned the carpeting in our bedroom.

That weekend, Andrew taped and primered over the hot pink wall in the bedroom. Let me just say, that's no exaggeration. The wall was hot pink. Then, he helped me tape the rest of the walls (he taped high, and I taped low), and my mom and I painted all the walls a bright yellow. I thought it would contrast nicely with our dark furniture and navy headboard. We traded the fabric drapes for some white mini-blinds, and my dad replaced all the outlets and switch covers in the room. That Sunday, we moved the furniture in. Rather, the three of them moved all the bedroom furniture in while I worked on unpacking boxes.

Next, we moved on to the living room! Andrew removed all the old window coverings that I didn't like. They were straw and over-sized and very dirty. He then primed and painted the purple wall. I had so much fun picking the color for the living room and finally settled on a color called "witch's hazel," which is a very earthy green. It looks nice against the stone fireplace and the new white outlets. I then painted the door with a fresh coat of paint, which did wonders because the door was so dirty and had purple squares painted on it. My mom took me out and bought me some new drapery that's a little darker than cream and looks pleasant against the walls.

Our next project is the main bathroom. I've stripped the wallpaper border from the room (thanks to my coworker Tonette who told me I could just use hot water to remove it!). Andrew pulled up the floor. Well, the first layer, anyway. There's still another layer to go! I think we're going to wait on that until it's time to replace the floor. Our parents are both wonderful... my mom and dad are treating us to a new floor throughout the first floor of our townhome, and Andrew's parents just bought us a new washer and dryer (to be delivered August 15).

We're definitely working hard. I have a constant "to do" list in my mind that Andrew thinks has a lot to do with my nesting instincts. They might be strong, but I'm waiting to do the nursery until I can't stand it anymore! I think that's going to be the most fun room to do (after the bathroom maybe ;-) ).

I might add, we're very grateful for the first-time homebuyer's grant. It's allowing us to do a lot of work in our new place :)

Friday, July 3, 2009

Andrew Feels a Kick

Andrew made me a snack of apple slices and peanut butter. Soon after I started eating, our little boy started going nuts in my tummy. I started to feel all sorts of kicks. Andrew put his hand on me to try to feel them, and at first missed out. After a little lull, I started to feel the kicks again, only this time hard enough to make me jump. Andrew came over and put both hands on my stomach just in time to feel a whole series of sharp kicks! It was so exciting. He looked up at me, giggling, and said, "What have we done?" (sarcastically, of course). I love that he felt it, too... that someone else gets to feel the little thumps our baby boy makes.