Some Photos from this Fall

Fall came late this year to Ohio. Most of October was hot -- too hot to feel like fall. We went apple picking and lamented the sunscreen we forgot at home as we sweltered under the sun. So we delayed pumpkin picking until the weekend before Halloween. This, as it turned out, was the weekend mother nature decided to skip fall altogether and go straight to winter. You just can't win with Ohio weather. Below are some photos of our freezing trip to the pumpkin patch and the corn maze. All I can say is I hope for better luck in the weather department next year. This wasn't our finest hour ;)

 

It was so cold out that we had the pumpkin patch to ourselves and pumpkins were half off! (aka they were so picked over they felt bad charging us full price). And no one even bothered to man the corn maze entrance so we got to go through that for free. Perks of going way to late in the season, I guess?

 Josh decided about half way through the maze to let Ever direct us the rest of the way. Honestly, she did just as good a job guessing as any of us. We made it out!

Wes's little friend Micah joined us for pumpkin carving this year. Oren abstained as usual. He can't handle the pumpkin guts so he just directed the rest of us on how he would like his pumpkins to be carved.

 these cuties.

We had another successful trick or treat and we had so much fun really dressing the house up this year. The pressure is real on Highland Ave to have the house looking Halloween ready. It's my favorite day of the year for our neighborhood who goes ALL OUT on the Halloween décor. This year we added lights, a fog machine and sound effects.

 2017 costumes: a ninja, Star Lord and Anna (of course) - perfect choices for each of them.

 

Next up turkey, trees and allllll the Christmas music. I can't wait!

 

Kitchen Progress - Phase Two Complete!

I could not be happier to be updating you all today on the progress of our kitchen! We finally replaced our sad linoleum floor with beautiful adoni slate and cement tile. I selected and secured the materials and did the design layout for the tile myself, but we hired out the actual labor. It went as smoothly as not having access to your kitchen for two weeks can go ;)  but we finished on time and budget and you can't ask for much more than that.  I love the finished results! 

Here's a quick peek at our kitchen floor "before" (This picture is post phase one where we had completed a lot of cosmetic changes to the room but no major construction).

...and now after!

And yes, we also added a little butcher block top island and stools. I am loving this room more and more. And I'm so happy that all we have left for the final phase will be to install new countertops. We're almost there! 

Sources: Adoni Slate, Cement Tile, Barstools

Our Home Office Before + After

What you probably didn't know was that tucked away in a corner of our house right off the dining room is a little home office. You probably didn't know this because never showing it to you in any photos of my house up until now was a premeditated, tactical decision. Because this room, my friends, was bad. BAD. It had bright orange walls for starters, and a giant hole in the ceiling from a water leak. The walls in the area around the leak were also badly damaged and hung in the center of the room was a very outdated and not at all my style light fixture. This room was very, very bad indeed. But also, who really cares? Because we weren't using it much, other than to store copious amounts of junk and it was easy to ignore when there were so many other rooms that needed our attention. But now that we're three years into living in this house, and all the major rooms have gotten a face lift for the most part we thought; huh, maybe it's time we patch up that gaping hole in the office ceiling and paint over all that orange. 

And now comes the time to air my dirty laundry... aka "Before" pictures...

oof. and now...

After

better, right?

Source List: Desk pieces parts from IKEA, Desk Chair, Light Fixture, Rug, Plant Stand, Green Velvet Pillow, Black Buffalo Check Pillow