Blog illiterate

Okay, so what does everyone think of my new fancy, smancy blog header picture? This is the only cool, artsy picture of me. It's from the wedding.. just don't think I'm one of those gals that obsessed and still obsesses of her wedding. Just liked it.

Do you want to know how long it took me to figure out how to put that blasted picture up there?? You don't even want to know because it would confirm my blogging stupidity. Pre-Darcy-bloggin', I surfed through blog-land and was so impressed by everyone's blog. I thought, "Man.. they must make that blogging thing easy!" I seriously thought that I would fill out this form that said, "Cute header picture here" or "Enter in the blogs that you stalk here"... heck no!!! Setting up a cool blog is not so easy. So, all of you that have uber cute blogs, kudos to you.. you are geniuses. I need to email Mr. Blog so that I can tell him my cool blog form idea. I am sure that he cares.

Okay, I am now off my lil rampage to take you on my house tour! (My cute hubby won't let me use our last name cuz he's afriad I'll have a real staulker.. not just a blog staulker like I was to a few of you before I SPENT HOURS WORKING ON MY OWN BLASTED BLOG) Let's do one room a day so that I don't bore you. =) Actually, this will only take a few days then! We've got a very quaint house. When I say quaint, I mean little. =)

Darin loves to buy homes that need love (aka junky homes) and remodel them. I came into the picture on his home remodel #2. Even when we were dating he let me make decisions on the house so I knew he was a keeper... or I guess he knew I was a keeper! (Or the fact that we only dated 9 weeks before he proposed... that may have had something do to with letting me pick out things!) Okay, here is the before picture of our kitchen/family room. (The 2 rooms kinda blend together.)
GROSS! This was even after Darin scrapped 5 layers of discusting floor and tore the kitchen cabinets out. It smelled of rank cat pee as soon as you walked in the door. The girl going cross-eyed is one of my old room-dogs.

Now.. for the after picture...
A little different, eh? Darin made new kitchen cabinets, put down wood flooring, added the track lighting in the corners, put up shelves above the windows.. etc. He let me pick the fun red. The big pantry looking thing holds my stackable washer and dryer. Here's another head-on pic...
My stove is over to the left with a fun shelf over it to hold my microwave. The man is amazing and makes me anything I want. Yes, I am very spoiled. =)

Okay, here's the before pic of the living room. It wasn't as bad as the kitchen. Just some FAB wallpaper... Remember, this picture is even after some work scrapping flooring off.

Here is the after pic... More wood flooring and some other decrotive touches. See my fat cat, Bailey? (He kinda blends in with the rug)

This is (one of) my favorite parts of the house. We had a big open area on the wall in our living room and I knew it needed something amazingly cool. I loved the mantle shelves at Pottery Barn but didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on them. So, I showed the picture to Darin and he made them for about $4 each! I did a frame collage in mostly black and white and this is what we got...

Stay tuned for more before and after pictures tomorrow. =) Bad news is that this house is finished.. good news is that we are in the process of buying a new one! When I say new, I mean new to us.. yes, this one need love (is junky) too.

Okay, last picture I promise. This is a picture of my cat, Bailey. Just a disclaimer, I HATE CATS. Yep, all but mine. That's because he doesn't think he's a cat and I pretend he's a dog because I want a dog. Some blog day I'll blog about Bailey, the super cat. Here's his Christmas picture. Not so happy I'm making him take a picture by the tree...