The BIG Living Room Reveal

*Note: I started writing this post a few months ago and just never got around to taking the "after" photos. 

I've wanted to change our living room for a couple of years now, but I just never got around to it. I "liked" or living room before, but I definitely did not LOVE it. It was too brown, dark, and there was never enough color. There was a brown couch across from the fireplace, two brown chairs to the left of the couch (when you were sitting on it), and a white dresser that held the TV in the corner to the right of the couch. Unfortunately, I only took two "before pictures." And they're kinda shitty pics. Sorry.

 

The first order of business was to get a new couch and rug. The old living room rug was put in the dining room and the hunt for a new rug began. We found a new HUGE sectional couch at Ashley Furniture. It's grey. And I love it. Soon after, I found three sets of pillows. Of course, two are patterned and one is solid teal. (Mixing patterns is one of my favorite things to do, in case you didn't know.) Anyways, then I found an awesome 8x10 rug at Walmart for under $100! I had to have it.

This is the view from the front door foyer.

All that's left for this side of the living room is curtains for both windows. I have the rods ($5 each at Ross!) and I have the material for the curtains ($5 each from Walmart!), but I just haven't made them yet. I'm hoping to make them and have them hung in the next couple of weeks. (In case you weren't adding things up, that's only $10 per window and we have four windows in the living room. So, it only cost us $40 for 8 curtain panels and 4 curtain rods.)

The wall where our old couch was got a face lift, too. It used to have a few photos from our last three Virginia lake vacations (2011, 2012, & 2013) over the brown couch in a circular pattern. Well, now the television is on a new piece of furniture we got from Wes' grandparents' estate and we added several more lake vacation photos to the mix (and we'll add even more after our TWO lake vacations this summer). 

 

The fireplace looks exactly the same. Nothing is different.

But the wall that is not opposite the sectional is completely different. Prior to the re-design, there was nothing on the wall. Now, we have a set of four white framed prints on one side (I printed the art on card stock and then got the four white frames on clearance for $7 each) and a large blank wall (to be filled soon) on the other side. I also framed two pieces of fabric for the corner (I had the frames already and got the fabric for $5). This wall used to have the television on a very large white dresser in the corner. Now there is the blue secretary desk that I painted a couple of months ago under the window and a new burlap and black chair on each side. I made curtains for these two windows (and I plan to make the same curtains for the other two windows). 

Here's the breakdown:

• Grey sectional from Ashley Furniture: $1400
• Rug from Walmart: $89
• 6 pillows: $46 total
• Piece of furniture for TV: Free
• Blue secretary's desk: $44 (You can read about that project HERE)
• Two patterned chairs: $150 (on sale from $250 at Costco!)
• Artwork for left of the blue desk: $28 for four white frames (I took screenshots of the art off Pinterest and then printed the art on card stock)
• Framed fabric art: $5 (found the fabric in scrap bin and already had frames)
• 4 curtain rods from Ross: $20 ($5 each!)
• 4 sets of curtain panels: $20 (I used one $5 twin flat sheet for each window)

TOTAL: $1,802!

I think that's pretty good for a brand new living room! And by the way, I really LOVE it!

Their First Week of Kindergarten

The twins started KINDERGARTEN on Tuesday, August 19th. Insane.

They were VERY excited about it all. But they probably were most excited about walking up the street to the bus stop and then actually riding the bus. They each got a new outfit for their first day, which were hand selected by them. Vivian chose an "Elsa & Ana" (from the movie, Frozen) dress. Elsa and Ana are pictured on the top and the bottom is a glittery, purple tutu. She wore grey and white striped shorts underneath and purple tennis shoes that light up.

Gavin decided to wear a "Dusty" (from the movie Planes) t-shirt and his blue shorts and blue tennis shoes.

Of course, Paxton had to get in on the action, too (complete with his own book bag).

We walked up to the bus stop (which is up a rather steep hill) and waited. And waited. And waited. The bus was about 20 minutes late to picking them up. And when it arrived, they got right on. They didn't even look back at us! They were so ridiculously excited about riding the bus.

Paxton was sad when the bus drove away and he wasn't on it, but he calmed down quickly.

Highlights (and lowlights) of the week:

• The bus is late. At every pick up and every drop off. The latest was at the end of the first day. Wes, Paxton, and I waited for FIFTY MINUTES for the bus to arrive. It was crazy. We were freaking out a bit.
• When asking the twins what the best part of their day was (on the first day), Gavin said, "Riding the bus! It was so fast and bumpy!" Vivian told us a story about lunch, "At lunchtime, I forgot my water bottle in the classroom. So I didn't have anything to drink. But it was okay because my teacher gave me some chocolate milk. And Mom, you're not going to believe it. The chocolate milk was IN A BOX!" So funny.
• Not surprisingly, Vivian has loved music and art classes this week and Gavin thought gym was really fun.
• Vivian has already made a friend, named Elise, and Gavin has a friend named Lucas.
• Paxton got to spend a lot of time this week with mom, dad, and both of us together (I don't start classes until next week).
• We let the buy school lunch on Thursday and that was the talk of the day with both of them. Gavin even said to me, "Mom, can you send lunch money with us everyday? We don't really want your lunch."
• When asked, "How was it being separated?" (they are not in the same classroom) Gavin replied, "It was okay." And Vivian said, "It was really sad." But she said that she hasn't cried at school about it.

As for me and Wes? We have mixed feelings about the whole situation. We're glad that they're growing up, but we're sad that they go all day (their bus doesn't drop them off until 4:12!) and we're just not used to being away from them that long. It's a learning experience. For everyone.

Me, Too!

Paxton is in a serious "me, too!" phase. It's one of the popular phrases that comes out of his mouth. He wants to do everything anyone else is doing, especially anything that the twins are doing.

Gavin: "Mama, can I have a cookie?"
Pax: "ME, TOO!"

Vivian: "Let's go to the park!"
Pax: "ME, TOO!"

Wes: "Go upstairs and get me a book."
Pax: "ME, TOO!"

Paxton says "me, too!" so frequently, that we've started calling him Me Too as a nickname.

Other August Stuff

We went to Pump It Up a couple of times. 

We went to the library a couple of times. 

We went to the county fair with the Whitehursts. 

We went to kindergarten orientation. 

We played outside a lot. 

We played at the Whitehursts' house. 

And, the twins started kindergarten!!!

{post to come}

Shenandoah National Park

The weekend before kindergarten started, we took the kids to a small portion of Shenandoah National Park for a hike. We clearly underestimated our ability to complete this hike. It took us 4+ hours from start to finish. And there were some significant inclines and treacherous terrain. Lots of whining, lots of begging to be carried, and lots of breaks. It was rough. But the last leg of the hike was really nice, so it kind of made us forget about how difficult the rest of it was.