Happy 1 Year of Home Ownership to Us!

Sorry I've been ignoring the blog. We've had a lot going on in life and this has taken a backseat. Part of the blame is the fact that my old, piece of crap digital camera has decided it doesn't want to take pictures anymore. I need to figure out what's wrong with it (cause the camera on my Droid isn't cutting it anymore), or I might need a new one. We're still working on the kitchen, which let's face it, is quite an undertaking. We still have to finish up a *tiny* amount of our glass tile backsplash, paint the bottom cabinets, install new hardware on those, paint crown, wainscoting, and do countertops. We were going to be painting the countertops with a paint called Giani...it looks like granite when you're done. But, we found a product by The Formica Group called 180FX (similar to WilsonArt) and we like how one looks. Yes, it's laminate, but I for one don't want granite cause you will never get your return back on it, and I was surprised at how inexpensive 180FX is. The 180FX we've picked out is called Travertine Silver, and yes, it looks like Travertine. I wanted something lighter since the cabinets are dark brown and our backsplash is on the dark side, we needed something to "even" it out.
This is what it looks like:

In other home improvement news, we've painted our laundry room. I antiqued the cabinets in there which looks nice (to me anyway) and all we need to do is paint the base, and crown (it's dingy, and we had to let the wall paint cure so we can put tape up)Here's what it looks like now:

We've also started painting our bedroom (a green color to go with the black bed). The only things left to paint are all 3 bedrooms, our bath, and some touch up paint in the spare bath and we'll be done with the inside! (other than kitchen) I've also been moving a rug around our house trying to find a home for it. (it was in my dad's room and he decided he didn't like it, so instead of it collecting dust in the basement, I took it) I thought it would look good in our bedroom (it's black and white-ish like our bedding) but it looked out of place. I tried it in the kitchen, to no avail...before settling on the livingroom. I think it fits in perfectly, and adds a little "pop" in there. I find it crazy that one rug can open up a room, make it feel larger than it was. I moved the "old" livingroom rug to one of our spare bedrooms where Buddy's "man cave" is. Here is our "new" rug:

We've also painted our new front door, and my crafty husband (after some choice words), installed it. We used some crown moulding we had leftover to frame the door, and all we have left on that is to paint the trim around the door white.

So, there's a little update for you. We are extremely proud of our home and the hard work we've put into it. Look back at original posts in this blog and you'll see how far we've really come! It's not perfect, but show me an older home (and even a brand new home) that is. There are ALWAYS faults to be found in ANY house! Like I've said before, I love our home, and if no one else liked it, that's ok with me. I'm sure there are things that could be "fixed" and "pointed out" (please don't cause that's rude :) ) but I'm happy with what we've done. I will try and get my camera fixed so I can start updating this thing with progress pictures, and before/afters. Have a great week, everybody!

P.S. Yesterday marked one year we've lived in this house. So, happy 1 year home ownership to us!