Sunday, May 15, 2011

House Flip (Before And After)

We (Scott, Dave and myself) recently bought a little house in Bentonville that was in desperate need of some TLC.  We spent the last two weeks fixing up the house before it is going back on the market.  I  have learned a lot about renovating and I really enjoy "getting my hands dirty" and seeing the results.
I thought it would be fun to take some before and after pictures, so that we can remember all the work we put into this house.
Before
After
Landscaping, fresh coat of paint on garage and front door
Before
After
New Hardwood floors, new light fixtures, fresh coat of paint and fixing the hole in the wall

Before
After
New stainless appliances, granite countertops, added backsplash, fresh coat of paint (and of course fix the hole in the wall), new faucet, new light fixtures
Before
After
New toilet and sink, new faucet, granite countertops, fresh coat of paint (I am aware that it looks purple, but it is supposed to be gray. Ha), new light fixture
We also put new carpet in the bedrooms, painted the bedrooms and added new light fixtures.
  The backyard needed a lot of work as well and the garage was filled with trash.  We still have a few finishing touches to do, but overall I am very happy with the way it turned out.

Friday, May 13, 2011

The Voice Contest

We have a new favorite show: The Voice.  Scott and I have never gotten into watching American Idol, but we are hooked on The Voice now.  Scott came up with his own contest for the two of us.  We have "official rules" and had a draft last night.  Both of us had to pick singers to be on our team and we will get points for how far they make it in the competition.  We get one point for each singer making it into the next round, two points for the following round and so on.  Most points wins the contest and has to take the other out to dinner and cover all expenses including babysitter.  This makes watching the show even more fun. 

Here is my team.  I am very happy with it.
TEAM KATRIN
Javier Colon
Angela Wolf
Jared Blake
tim mahoney
serabee
Kelsey Ray
Tyler Robinson
Dia Framton
Justin Grennon
Julia Eason
Curtis Grimes
Elen Owen
Raquel Castro
Casey Weston
TorandTyler
Casey Desmond


And here is Scott's team.
TEAM SCOTT
Jeff Jenkins
T j e Austin
Nakia
Tarryln Ramsey
Patrick Thomas
Rebecca Loebe
Vickey Martinez
Xeina
Beverly McClennon
Devon Barley
Emaly Valentine
Frenchie Davis
Cherie Oakley
Sara Omoachi
Nikki Dawson
Lilly Elise

I like my chances.  We haven't watched last nights episode yet.  We are getting ready to watch it now.  So fun!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Downtown House And Easter (better late than never)

While we were in Germany a lot happened in our downtown house.......they painted the inside, put down the wood floors, tiled the bathrooms and now the lights are hung as well.  It is really coming together and I love everything about it.  The house will be completed over the next few weeks.  Enjoy the tour!
Kitchen

Dining Room
Living Room

Powder Room
Master Bath
Master Bedroom
Guest Bathroom
Bonus Play Room

Staircase
Outside

I just realized that I didn't even take any pictures on easter morning (but I videotaped it all).  So, I only have a few pictures of us coloring easter eggs and Hannah's easter basket.  The Saturday before easter we had a few friends over to color easter eggs.  I don't even remember the last time I colored eggs.  It was a lot of fun!
Hannah just wanted to put the stickers on her face....
We had a fun and relaxed easter sunday at home.  Scott used his smoker for the first time and smoked some ribs.  He was very excited and they turned out great.
I hope everybody had a great Monday.  We have been spending lots of time outside since the weather has been beautiful

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Zoo, Bunnies and Playtime

My mom, brother and I took Hannah to the zoo in Cologne.  It was a really nice and warm day and we enjoyed seeing all the animals and eating some ice cream.  I have always really liked the Cologne zoo.  They have an awesome area for the elephants and they just had another elephant baby a few days before we were there.  Unfortunately we did not get to see any of the elephants.  We are not sure where they were....it is kind of hard to hide a bunch of elephants :)
Hannah really liked most of the small animals the best, because they usually moved around a lot and fast.  The big tigers, lions, giraffes and hippos don't move that much, so they were pretty boring to her.


Watching the seals being fed...the best seat in the house



Hannah got to play with our friends bunnies and she was in heaven.  She keeps talking about bunnies.....I think she talks about bunnies more than dogs now, which is hard to beat!



Hannah loves to play all day long.  It was nice for Hannah to have my mom, dad and brother there to play with.  It gave us a little break :)
Reading books with Volker
We made a flower necklace in the backyard....
I am finally caught up with all my pictures from Germany.  Next up is Easter.
Happy Mothers Day !