Busy Bees....

I have been out-of-control busy the past few weeks and with every thing I was doing I thought "I should write a post about this" and then I didn't. It's the thought that counts though, right?

So I could drag this out into several posts but we have some dear friends coming into town tonight (Leggs and Quiglet), so I think blogging will be the last thing on my mind while they are here. So yes, I am cramming, shoving, and squeezing several things into one looooooong post, if you don't like it then don't read it :)

We started getting really busy about a month ago when we had some guests (Ben's sister's family) stay with us for a week. It was so much fun to see them and explore Colorado with them. Here is  a cute picture of us:

The week after they left we had kind of an end of the summer craziness with the youth group that included a trip to Elitch Gardens, a lock-in, Sky Sox Baseball game and cook out all in a matter of 4 days. Needless to say we were worn out! So we took a week-ish break from all things home improvement :)

Ok so that brings us to the second week of August (My birthday week if you will):

Project One: Shelves In The Living Room and Dining Room

This was a pretty basic improvement. We went to Ikea and bought some shelves and put them together. Done.

Picture of the Living room before:

And now one of it after:

If you look on the shelf you can see the housewarming gift I bought for Ben. I really love it. I had it done by Jennifer Marie Designs and she did a great job!
Here's a closer look:

Isn't it great?

Okay now onto the dining room:

Before:

And after:

Please don't judge the lack of styling done on these shelves. I just threw some stuff on there (and yes there is pumpkin. I had just found it at  Homegoods and thought it was silly to pack it away to get back out in a month so I just left it out).

I didn't have much time for styling because we had more wonderful guests come into town.

 Doesn't Jefferson look so excited to be at the top of Pikes Peak? We had a great visit with Ben's brother's family but got right back in the swing of home improvement after they left.

 
Project Two: The Half Bath

I started this project the day after Ben's brother's family left knowing I only had three days to work on it and it took me all three days, working a few hours each day. I have always wanted to try this and the small bathroom seemed like the perfect place to try it. Are you ready for this?

Our half bath went from this:

to this beautiful thing:

 and this!

can I say that it is amazing looking even though I am the one that did it?
and I love the little peak inside going from this:

...and last but not least I did this last project last night while watching some Friday Night Lights (Ben and I just started Season 1 and LOVE it!)

Project Three: Laundry Room Light

Our laundry room had no light except for the one from the hallway so I decided to fix it Young House Love style.

It went from this, right after we moved in.

To this:

I painted it back in June. But I did not make the light until last night! Isn't it so cute? Here's another look at the light.

Made this whole thing (including the Ikea light kit) for less than $25! (Here's the DIY instructions for those who are interested :Young House Love Clothespin Light

So that's what we have been up to the past month. Crazy right? Hope you made it to the end of this marathon post. Because I think it was worth it!

I am going to go take a nap now to prepare for the Wood's arrival :)