NapTime Projects - the White Door edition

Y'all I miss blogging. Like I miss writing in this little space of mine, but lately I've been lacking in inspiration. One thing that I haven't been slacking on is making more improvements in our home. 

Y'all I'm doing it again!! I'm utilizing Nap Time to complete some projects around the house!!  Last time I checked in with this I made a much needed change with the interior of our front door by painting the awful stomach lining color it was (previous owners) to white!!  Now that Ellie and I are at home - I'm not currently nannying right now - for naps I have my hands full. Which also might have something to do with my lack of posting...too many home projects. 

On Monday while we were driving home from church I decided that I would just paint the door jams white so they would match the doors. 

But first lets go down memory lane and see what all of our doors looked like before they got replaced. Warning 1989 at its finest!

Orangey-brown wood trim and faux wood hollow core doors.  I have to admit that this is not an old picture....we still have yet to replace our closet door in our master....

About a year after we moved into our house we had to replace two of our doors (the bathroom doors) because our Husky locked herself in the bathrooms and I had to kick down the doors to get them opened.  And then another year went by and replaced the bedroom doors too.  So for about 4 years this is what our hallway and doors have looked like:

A white door with orangey-brown wood trim.  Y'all it seriously gave me a headache every time I looked at them.  I loved the white of the door but was so disgusted with the wood trim - I wanted to move because of this!!!  But then I started painting.  I painted the door frame of Ellie's door in her room, the bathrooms and most recently the nursery.  I loved the look of the inside of the room that I knew if I could just paint the hallway side I might be a little happier in this place we call home!

So like I mentioned, on Monday I decided to do something about it.  I couldn't wait for Ellie's nap to begin so that I could get started on my project.  We have a total of 9 doors in our hallway, kitchen, living space that I needed to paint.  Each door frame will take at least 2 coats and I only have about a 2 hour window to get this painted and I've learned giving about 24 hours of drying time between coats is the best. 

I broke the project up into groups of 3.  And I really didn't do any prep-work.  I just wiped down the frames and then got to work.  I used the same white paint (Valspar Crisp Linen from Lowes) that we have used elsewhere in the house.  I put some old paper grocery bags on the floor to protect from paint spills and then I just started painting.  The first coat looks a little rough but once you get the second coat on (after waiting 24 hours to dry) it looks fantastic.

So here is an after of one of the doors: the nursery.

And then the hallway all completed!!  Our hallway is super dark when the doors are closed and it was even worse with all the dark woodwork...now its much brighter (can't wait to get the baseboard painted!!) and I am not so embarrassed!!! haha

Another view of the hallway, you can see I still have some paper bags down on the floor...

and one more with a little photo bomber (love you Cooper!!)

Yesterday I tackled the two biggest doors: our chalkboard pantry and the slider door.  Here they are with just one coat - can it be naptime yet????

I did have to tape around the slider because I knew my cutting skills are not that great.  I actually did the taping in the morning yesterday so that as soon as I put Ellie down for a nap I could get right to work!!

I still have one more door to start, the front door.  I am not sure why I didn't just paint the frame while I was painting the door last year but I cannot wait to get started on this today!!  I just have 4 coats of paint left.  One on the pantry and slider and then two on the front door.  My NapTime painting project has taken all week but it has been well worth it!!

Seriously y'all even with just one coat it looks so much better!!! I have no idea what was keeping me from doing this 8 years ago, except that maybe all the carpet was a little daunting.  Now that we have replaced the floors I seriously am falling in love with this house and maybe we won't have to move for a while!!  I know it's silly because it is just such a small thing but painting the woodwork white has totally changed the way I view and love my home!!

What do you like to get done during NapTime??? I'm thinking next week I deserve a nap!!!

♥ Ashley

linking up here

a day in the life - March edition

Y'all!!! I can't believe how on top of things I am right now.  I "documented" this last Friday for this post and I am getting it up today!!!  WOW!!!  I actually tried this back in February but then totes dropped the ball, so here we are again.

It's still just the three of us and I really wanted to try and get another day in before our sweet baby girl arrives.  

Date: March 18

Ellie: 2 years and 10 months

We woke up in the morning around 6:30 and girlfriend was in good spirits.  We had our morning routine of breakfast (cereal) and watching a show.  I was feeling extra cuddly and decided to sit with Ellie on the couch during her show so we could just be together.  It was then that I decided to snap a picture and document the day!

After Ellie's show was over she was begging to go outside to feed the animals.  I don't usually take her out with me because I am mean lazy.  If you know me I am not a fan of getting dirty and a farm is anything but clean. But sometimes we have to get over ourselves and give our babes the experiences they desire.  So we got changed and I figured that we would also have an underwear day at home.  Thanks to Daniel Tiger, we should always try to use the potty before we leave the house: so girlfriend obliged.  And then she decided to get a little wild before we went outside.

Sneaking her paci out of her bed and playing with her necklaces.

Finally putting them away (after I told her to like 5 times)

And then she wanted to climb on her bed...Ellie if you want to feed the animals we need to go NOW!! (exhibit 376 why I prefer to just feed them by myself)

Oh she found her mittens and insisted they be part of her farm apparel.

After about 10 minutes of messing around we finally made it outside!!

Why use the step when you can just climb off instead??

Ahh there they are!! (from front to back: Penelope, Annabelle, Delilah, and Stella)

In the barn and it looks like today is "Hay Day" scraping up the last bits for their breakfast and now I need to schedule in a trip to the feed store to get more today.

Making sure the Chickens are still kicking.  We are down to 2 now.  They are 6 years old, not laying and just holding on for as long as possible.  The two we have left are Ma and Solo.  I know it sounds terrible but I am just waiting for the day that I go out there and they are no longer with us...we need to do a major overhaul on the coop, but since they are still vibrant in life I can't seem to just end their lives, so we are waiting for it to happen naturally...  Then we are going to revamp the coop and get new chicks next year.  I think it will be nice to be chicken-less for a little while.  Ellie loves them though and they really are great animals to have.

Our shadows...

When we get back inside we have to try to go potty again!!  She seems pretty pleased.

Now it's time to start getting ready for Gymnastics class.  I let her watch a show on my bed while I get ready.  I was SUPER annoying because I asked her every 2 minutes if she needed to go potty because I was NOT about to have her pee all over my bed....

We got all ready (Ellie in a diaper) and out of the house around 9:00am to head to Gymnastics.  Doesn't she look adorable with her backpack on?  Gosh it makes our babes look so old when they have these!

She helped to put my shoes in as well...one in each cubby, four spaces apart!

LET"S GO!!!

Her favorite is the tumble track...

And she found her bravery again to jump into the foam pit.  Every other week she is too "scared" to go in.

running around with a 3lb medicine ball...

And building blocks...

After Gymnastics we had to get gas.  I am showing you this picture not because of the price I paid ($1.89) but because of how many gallons I got...my tank holds 15...talk about living life on the edge!!

After gas we stopped in the store to get some groceries and Ellie wanted a pudding cup.  I don't like pudding and was a little leery of getting it but I obliged.

We got home and the weather was beautiful so we had a picnic in our front yard.  Ellie loves picnics and I think they are pretty fun too.

We got to FaceTime with Dada during our lunch and we had some front row entertainment with our neighbors digging out their driveway.  Ellie loves all things vehicles; Fire Trucks, Ambulances, and Construction vehicles so she was a happy camper.

I changed Ellie's diaper and got her down for her nap around 12:30 and went outside to do some yard work. 

Hello Spring!!! 

A few weeks ago I picked up some primroses at the store because they were on sale for $1 each!! so I filled int he holes where they didn't come back from last year along our front pathway.  I also got some fritillaria because I have been pining for them for 5 years!!

After yard work, I watched some old episodes of Fixer Upper, read some blogs, and then thought it would be fun to look for my own fixer upper (because a girl can dream).  I found three contenders, but I think we will stay put for a little while ;)

Ellie woke up and she got some milk and a cereal snack.  What baby wants baby gets.  "I want more Rice Crispies...they're my favorite"  She hasn't said that before!

Then into the truck and off to the feed store to pick up some hay.  While we were at the feed store they had baby chicks and ducklings and the staff member was so nice to let Ellie pet them.  She was enamored with their feet...it was so cute.

When we pulled around to the back for the hay to get loaded baby girl loves to get out of her car seat to watch...poor picture but you can just make her in there...

When we got home we parked the truck and then before heading inside sweet thing wanted to swing...sure thing babe!

When we got inside we still had some time to kill before Dada got home so we went for a walk to the neighborhood park...something that Ellie has been begging to do for the past 8923 days!!

There was a kid playing "basketball game" - forget the park - Ellie wanted to join.  He was so nice to give her a turn but then she started kicking the ball and we had to leave because that is not nice.  She apologized and thanked him for being kind and we went back to the jungle gym.

It was getting near Thomas home arrival so we headed home.  When we got home it was "underwear time" and we had some fun being super dangerous on the bed...

But then she found a book and we read it through a few times.

I was ready for a "break" of sorts and we went into the living room and the babe wanted to watch Cars - her favorite.  So we just got that started when Dada got home!! He brought us dinner - KFC because it's the dinner of champions on the way home and Ellie ate all her chicken!!

Watching more Cars and decompressing after work.  

We had family time for a couple of hours and then Thomas was so nice to put Ellie to bed and I hung out on the couch watching another episode of Fixer Upper before heading to bed.

A day well spent!!

I know I have to relish these "easy" days because pretty soon here we're going to have a newborn and life is going to get cray cray!!!

♥ Ashley