Basement Cabinets! {Pinterest Challenge}

Last weekend we made some great progress with the built-in cabinets. They are definitely still a work-in-progress, but it’s nice to have made it this far! 

Here’s how the basement cabinets looked mid-afternoon on Sunday:


Yes, the base trim and crown has not yet been installed, nor do we have cabinet doors or shelves, but this is progress!

If I back up to the beginning of the design, I have to give some design credit to Pinterest and the many blogs that I follow.  It seems like so many people are painting their woodwork – trim, kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities, etc. white, and it took some time, but white cabinets have definitely really grown on me.  If you have been to our home, or looked at pictures, you know that the upper two levels of our home are full of traditionally stained woodwork, 6 panel doors, etc., so we looked at the basement as a fun opportunity to do things different.  We decided the design could be extremely different from the rest of our house – it’s our house, so as long as we like it, it works for us!  I initially kept trying to describe white cabinets with stained wood “countertops” and a chunky mantel to handy hubby and it took some time for him to “see” my vision.  Then I started finding some photos on Pinterest and blogs that provided even more guidance. 

LOVE the look of this mantel!

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Then Sarah of Thrifty Décor Chick started blogging about her built-in cabinet project.  THIS was the cabinet style I wanted and had in my mind – it was PERFECT to have an example for handy hubby!  White cabinets with stained wood counter-tops!

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Then Kate from Centsational Girl painted her built-in cabinets and left the hearth with a stained wood top (which initially was part of our design plan).

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As you can see, all of these pictures have definitely become inspiration for our basement cabinets! 
While the work is definitely not done yet, we are getting extremely close to installing the stone on the fireplace (eek!! wish us luck!!)

Here’s a few more (iPhone) pictures from last weekend:


Since these photos have been taken, prep work has been happening to install the stone on the fireplace.  Given our lack of experience (we have never installed stone before!!), this will definitely be an interesting DIY project for us. Sometime in the next couple days the fireplace will get its scratch coat in preparation for the stone installation.  Right now this makes the barn beam mantel installation look pretty easy!


You might be wondering Why is there already a TV in there??  Great question. We found a great deal on a TV at Costco and decided to take the plunge now, instead of waiting a couple months for the basement to be ready.  We HAD to set up the new TV to make sure it works well, so the new TV is currently upstairs getting used daily, while our old TV is currently hanging out safely in the basement.  Plus, it’s nice to watch while we work!

Remember where we started?  No?  See the beautiful photo below. Wow. Embarrassing, yet I showed it once again. It's so rewarding to see how things have changed! The new fireplace wall is just to the left in this picture (behind the little trampoline).  I didn't get a good photo of that wall when we first started cleaning out the basement.  I still can’t believe all the junk that was (and is) still stored in our home.  It feels like we have purged and purged, but we definitely have more work to do! 



As I was getting ready to share this latest update on basement progress, I saw that Young House Love and Bower Power were doing their seasonal Pinterest Challenge. This challenge they are teaming up with The Remodeled Life and Decor and the Dog.  Even though this project is not done, and has been in progress for months, I thought it would be fun to share how the design morphed from a few photos on Pinterest and from some great blogs that I follow.

I’m THRILLED that we have the cabinet installs completed, even though that means it’s now time to move on to the stone installation.  Eventually we will finish these cabinets (add doors and shelves), but since they are not required for the basement inspection, handy hubby has informed me that those finishing touches will just have to wait. Maybe this summer??

Here’s one last look!



What do you think??


Update:  Want to see how the fireplace looks now, 8 months later?  

Reporting the News

Anthony’s Cub Scout troop recently visited a local news station. I think the adults may have been more interested than the kids, but you can see that Anthony also had a great time!

Faces of other children and adults have been blurred for privacy (except for the local news staff because they are regularly in the public eye).


Learning about the weather from the local weatherman!


 It was a COLD day!


 Anthony “doing the weather” - taking his turn in front of the green screen!


 He looks great on TV, huh?  Oh, and check out his arm – his green shirt against the green screen made it so you could pretty much see through his arm!


 We enjoyed a great tour. The only thing that would have made it better is if our friend Jess worked afternoon hours and was there during the tours!

Countdown to Disney {Disney World}

We are headed to Disney World next month and the excitement for a big trip like this would definitely not be complete without a countdown!


I used my Silhouette to make the Mickey Mouse ears – 3 circles welded together – no problem!  Then I pulled out all of my scrap pieces of red paper and went to down cutting out Mickey’s – no scissors required.  Then I just attached the Mickey’s to a black paper chain.  Easy peasy!






 Whenever I have made a countdown like this, I have always torn off a link every day so the chain can get shorter as we get closer to leaving on the trip, ending the school year, etc.  Anthony is insisting that we keep the black chain intact because he likes it as a decoration, and has decided we will just take off a Mickey each day instead. 

Details, details!

Oh yeah, in case you haven't guessed, we I have Disney on the brain!  More posts to come!

We are also very open to any recommendations you might have - send me an email or leave links in the comments. Thanks!

We are going to DISNEY! {Disney World}

After MUCH consideration, we made the decision to take our first big vacation in years and travel to Disney World next month!  We are SUPER excited to take Anthony, and we know that he will love every minute.

We decided to share the surprise with Anthony on Valentine’s Day, which we celebrated early at our house since I had to work a LONG day on Valentine’s Day. 

Of course we had to capture the moments of the surprise on “film”.  This first photo is BEFORE he saw the Mickey card on the front – he just knew it was a “big” surprise and was excited!


 He doesn’t know yet – he has to flip the card over and read to find out…


Figuring it out…


He already has some ears from when hubby went to Florida for a conference, so he had to go get them immediately!


 Quite honestly, I’m not sure who is more excited!  It just might be ME.  Ha!

Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby {Batmobile}

This is our second year of the Pinewood Derby and Anthony is much more interested and prepared this year.  Click here to see his car from last year.  Initially his design for this year was modeled after a Lego Ninjago car, but once he had the idea of making the Batmobile, he was sold!  No turning back!


Yes, that’s a Lego Batman glued inside!


Here they are ready to paint the logo on. Handy hubby is showing Anthony where to paint – if you look closely you can see the Batman logo in vinyl (thanks to my Silhouette).


Not the best photo (hubby’s iPhone pics), but I had to document the little painter at work!


Anthony was worried that he was putting too much yellow paint on and that we wouldn’t be able to see the bat.  He was THRILLED when we peeled the vinyl off!


They decided to put the weights on like body armor.  Tomorrow night they are headed back to the post office near our home to weigh the car one last time – hoping to get it all set for this weekend since hubby will be at a basketball tournament while Anthony and I go to the Pinewood Derby (this has been their project, not mine!).




They did a great job!  The best part – Anthony says the important part of the Pinewood Derby is to just have fun.  He’s not even worried about winning!  Love him!

Click HERE to read more about the Pinewood Derby.

A Month in Photos {January}

The month of January always feels a little like the calm after a storm. The holidays are over and the shopping is done – it almost feels like we regained some control over our lives in January!  Haha…

Sledding with a friend
Waiting for the school bus
Visiting the local NBC news station
Mall of America
Break from school
Polar Cub Camp
Swimming, Basketball and Piano Lessons