Our new kitchen!

Other than wishing a happy 27th birthday to my husband Mark, I'll cut right to the chase today, people!

When we left off, we were here:

UPDATE:  Here is a REAL flashback to just four months ago when we bought the house:

And now, four weeks later (half of which were spent on the rug which must not be named), we're HERE!!!! :

I am LOVING the new kitchen. As soon as we started bringing in the counter tops and putting the tile on the walls, I became super giddy. I have had so much fun moving things around and decorating the new and improved space!

So, we spent half of the last four weeks waiting on 'the rug' that I had ordered towards the end of the kitchen renovation. Bad timing on my part since the 'icemaggedon' hit directly after I ordered said rug and it ended up taking 15 days to arrive. Plus, now that it's here, I'm not sure it's any better than the previous rug!

Here are the two rugs, I want your vote! Tell me which one I should keep in the kitchen:

Should I keep this old rag rug that gives it sort of an Anthropologie vibe?

...Or should I continue my love of stripes with this black and white rug that lends itself more to the East Coast casual vibe?

(it has been rainy for a while so the images with the black and white rug are more yellow due to the fake lighting...please don't hold that against the rug or these photos!)

And of course, here are some more photos of my new favorite place in the house:

Taking on this project was stressful and tiresome, but I'm incredibly proud of Mark and I for doing it so quickly and without any major breakdowns. We had the help of Mark's dad Ian and I couldn't thank him enough for the knowledge and elbow grease he's contributed just so I can have a pretty kitchen.

I'll be doing a price and project breakdown here later to let you know how we did it and how much it cost. But for now, we have a beautiful kitchen. Except for this eyesore below...her time here is quickly coming to an end!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

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One more thing! Please be sure to check out my Etsy shop! I've added lots of things, tweaked some things, and lowered prices on many of my handmade custom items. I hope you can find something you like and I always welcome your feedback. Thanks so much!!!

Thanksgiving recap and renovation updates!

oh.

whoops.

Sorry to go all MIA on you guys last week! It was CRAZY. I worked for two days, which means BUSY, and then Mark and I jetted off to Mineral Wells to do some camping with my family for Thanksgiving. We sped back to DFW on Friday and have been slaving away on our kitchen ever since!

Here are some photos of the last week:

ready for Thanksgiving, Bennett style! 

(bag courtesy of my one and only SIL Andrea! check out her blog!)

We got to the campsite on Wednesday night and we had to immediately open Noah's birthday presents! He turned 5 on the 27th! Big boy!

Motley would not settle down and kept pacing behind our fire circle. Eventually we put her on a leash and encouraged her to lay down by our feet, but she went and jumped in this chair and curled up and slept for an hour or so. Poor baby wanted to sit in a chair like all of the OTHER people! #mydogthinksshesaperson

We went on a tiny hike by the lake and came upon this fishing pier. After Motley managed to face her fears and make it down the bridge, my mom noticed there was 'something' in the trashcan!!!

A sleeping (yes, sleeping and breathing hard) raccoon!!!

We took a hike to the 'cliffs' on Thursday.

Baby Audrey!

The cliffs reminded me so much of my grandparents Christmas tree farm in the Ozarks! It was a fun little hike and we got lots of exploring and rock climbing under our belts. :)

After a yummy breakfast on Friday courtesy of my sister and her husband, we raced back to town. The following three days looked like this:

I had Mark take photos of me since I am usually the one behind the camera, but I couldn't keep a straight face while posing for this one.

We've been living in squalor for a week now!

Sorry, that's all you get to see of the remodel! Be sure to follow me on facebook or instagram  @buchanandiana for sneak peeks this week. I'll be back next week to post the finished product - hopefully!

Five on Friday

Happy Friday!

-one-

If you saw my post yesterday, I'm doing a follow up today! I really appreciate all of the comments and the comments are still open! Please let me know your opinion, whether you like the idea or not! 

I did some research and it seems that painting the window frame is kind of a trend right now, and for good reason! Check it out:

-two-

I met my friend Macie for dinner at one of my favorite places last night. She is notoriously late so I passed the time by purchasing these below. Oops! :)

-three-

Texas weather. That's all I'm going to say:

-four-

I'm so proud of my hair growth....I sent this "selfie" to Emily yesterday and she was in pure shock that my hair was this long. My hair has a story of its own...I cut it three years ago into a bob (at my then-boyfriend/now husband's request) and I have mourned my long locks ever since. I still have a long way to go (thanks slowest growing hair EVER) but I'm finally happy with the length!

-five-

This isn't our house, but it will hopefully have something in common with it after this weekend...a ripped out backsplash!!! I'm crossing my fingers we get this far tomorrow so when we start the process after Thanksgiving, it will go quickly! 

Share your five things and link up with my favorite Red Raider blogger Darci!