Steve and Maria Frey

Today marks 38 weeks of being pregnant. We can finally say that the baby’s room is done. How’s that for cutting it close? Apparently Steve shares the same characteristic as me of working better under pressure.

We were gonna do this whole “progress” thing where we’d take you through our past weeks in pictures, but really…who cares? We’ve been staring at progress for too long…on to the end results!

First, to give you a quick background on what all we did:

Guest Bathroom: (tackled solely by Steve) He scraped the popcorn off the ceiling. Primed and painted it. He painted the walls (they used to be blue and dirty). He installed new flooring (the same flooring we use throughout the downstairs). He installed a brand new toilet (Handicapped, but who cares…we’re tall…if that makes us handicapped then give me a sticker and call it a day) – oh, and it’s supposed to be one of those kinds that’s good for the environment. Less water, more poop…something like that. He also put up a new shelf above the toilet and though you can’t see it, installed another storage rack inside the shower. We’re ready for guests! (and a dirty little boy)

Baby’s Room: This was a stark white room, probably never painted, with not even mini blinds on the window. Steve handled the base coats since it was harmful paint for me to inhale. He cut and painted and put up trim all around the room. Made up some shelves (which was made a whole lot easier thanks to some IKEA brackets!), hung some blinds, and served as creative director for all the artwork. I sketched out the little animals and painted them (not fun when you’ve got a big belly in the way) – found some birch branches and wood letters and there you have it. My mom made the plant hanger in the corner for me when I was a baby and I’m thrilled to share it with our son. Just need to go buy the plant! (okay, so maybe we’re not totally done…)

The fruits:

Oh, and Ruthie loves the new room too. She is especially fond of the crib. She loves to hide under it and practice her Navy Seal techniques: sliding in and out from side to side and spying on us with barely a nose showing under the dust ruffle…at least we know Jacob will be well protected! Or at least kept company.

*Update: Here’s the belly shot some of you were asking for. 38 weeks and one day. Big and battle scarred.

We’re not ashamed to admit that 90% of our house is made up of hand-me-down furniture or Craigslist finds. Every once in a while though it’s nice to buy something new. Something our own. Something we picked together and didn’t have to settle on.

Introducing…our new dining room set. We’re headed out of town tomorrow morning so I didn’t have time to make it look all pretty and official (and remove the dust and dirt from the moving guys laying all over the floor to put it together!) but I’ve been asked to send pictures regardless.

We’re looking forward to many dinners with family and friends…and MUCH to my mother’s delight, they will no longer have to sit on the couch with t.v. trays! (Though I’m sure those trays will still get occasional use)

Today marks one year since we’ve become homeowners. We’ve worked hard over the past year to make this place our home, and have enjoyed sharing it with all of you who have visited…whether in person, or virtually! I don’t know that we will ever say “It is done.” but we’ve come to realize that the joy comes from each day and each experience.

This next year will bring more “improvements” with the biggest one being to our family. It’ll be interesting to see where we are this time next year. One thing’s for sure…we’re going to enjoy every minute getting there!

Well, here’s the long and short of it. Steve and I came home from church, ate lunch, and decided to take on the house! With our vibrant new dining room painted, the music room was looking as tired as my guitar skills. So, I painted the walls (Behr- Warm Muffin) and Steve pulled up the pug pee stained carpet (YES! FINALLY!) and then layed all new flooring to complete out the entire first floor.

We had a neighbor come over to help Steve move the piano out of the room…that was around 1:30…by 7:30pm we were calling him back over to help us move it back in. I think he threatened brute force if we told his wife that we could do all that work in such a short amount of time. He was like “I just watched football all day.” No worries, Mike…Steve and I have more lazy days than not.

It’s amazing the transformation that has taken place in the past 2 weekends. It feels like we’ve settled into a new place. I certainly don’t know that we did anything to deserve such a warm home, but we are thankful for it and we hope that it will be more than a place for us to “hide away”. In fact, it worked out that we were able to share a meal with our dear friends The Eisenbergers last night…in our NEW dining room! We sat 4 adults and tres ninos (three of the cutest boys in the world) and it was so cool to finally make good use of that room. I guess we were having so much fun, that I forgot to actually take a picture of the guests…but there’s a couple of the table at least.

So all of you reading this…you’re invited! Come on up, come on by, and most importantly – Come on in!

It seems like it’s been a while since we’ve gotten to take on any of those weekend warrior projects. You know, the ones where you buy a new house and want to fill it with your personality and rid it of the previous homeowner’s lifeless…um…I mean desaturated decor. It’s of no thanks to said homeowners that we’ve been spending our time fixing floods, and toilets, and mold and floors. Thankfully, with the exception of some trimwork, our floors are better than they were to start with though. So, to round out that project some more, we’ve taken the faint, faded lilac walls in the dining room, and have really punched it up with some warm, and hopefully inviting hues.

To be exact: Glidden’s Amber Coast (top) and Tinder Box (bottom)

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The room is still a work in progress. We’d like to update the lighting, buy window treatments and actually get chairs to sit on… but hey, one step at a time! The weekend is only 2 days.