The Reading Room - Mini-Makeover and Plans

When you walk into our front door, the first room you see, besides the entry you'd be standing in, is the formal living room.

Or at least, that's what we think it was intended for and probably was right after the house was built.  For us though, it was a space we didn't really know what to do with.  We were looking for houses in the 2000 square foot range when we were hunting and well, this one rang in at 2400 and a big chunk of that extra 400 square feet is this room.  So, extra space?  Great!  Except, what do we do with it??

A Kitchen Progression

A few people have either come up to me in person or messaged me in the past few weeks and asked me if I'm still blogging and I have no clue why!!!  HA!

Yes, folks.  Not only have you few made me feel like a million bucks with your gracious cares but also, don't worry.  Typing just isn't a priority at the moment so I might take a few weeks off here and there (particularly around this wonderful Christmas season), but this blog will never die.  It is my virtual home away from home and you can always expect at least one post a year.  ;)  While we're on the subject, let's just squeeze one right in before the year ends...

The kitchen!

Those two words have so much of a punch behind them.  A punch of excitement for how far our kitchen has come plus that glorious vision of where it's going (see the original plan here) and a whole 'nother punch for how slowwwwwwly it's going.  And I know that kitchen remodels aren't typically the hare in the race but I guess I have high (now squandered) expectations after the quick,  jaw-dropping makeover in our last house and after watching a couple of awesome bloggers makeover their kitchen in two weeks...I won't name any names.  #coughcljcough  So, needless to say, there have been a lot of good opportunities for patience and prudence heaped on top of perseverance and persistence over here.

But this, this post will make me feel good about where we are right now, I just know it.  It's easy to feel like you're semi-stalled with halfway mudded ceiling joints and a plywood counter top but when you bring it all the way back to the start... 

darn, we've made some good progress.

Let's see it.

Breakfast Nook "Reveal"

Or really "Breakfast Nook So Far" because, as you'll see, we're not done in here.  There's still painting (doors and ceiling) to be done, furniture to find, and decorating to do but HEY, we have come a looong way from here:

And here:

'Hidden' Paperwork Organization Station

I have been on an organizing kick.  I think it's just being in the guest room/office purging and organizing this past week that's lit a fire under my bum to organize allthethings.  (If you've been watching via Instagram, that room really, really has needed a good pare down.)  And really, while myself and my house can get quite unorganized at times (#blamethekids), I'm overall a pretty organized person...or at least, I try to be.  I function 1000 times better when things are where they should be and there's nary a junk drawer in sight (or not in sight for that matter).  If I'm high-maintenance at all, there's where the bulleye is.  When there's material chaos around me, there's generally a lack of productivity.  I admire those of you who, when surrounded by life's chaos, can still function at a high level and keep your cool.  Truly.  There's a freedom in that that I certainly don't ever achieve.

Anywho, like I said, I've been scooting along in the guest room.  Some things, specifically my organization station at the side of my desk in our rental, got moved into this guest room without a rhyme or reason and I needed to make that right to feel organized again.  One of those things was getting those clear plastic folders* functioning again.  There wasn't a place in the current guest room/office that I could think to put them (there's no desk for them to hang them near) so they just got tossed into one of the wardrobes and all of the paperwork they used to hold got moved elsewhere for the time being...which really wasn't working at all.

But then I had a light bulb moment last week while I was pulling some brown sugar out of our newly made-over pantry.  I COULD HANG THEM ON THE INSIDE OF THE PANTRY DOOR!

Our Fresh Pantry Makeover

You know, I have blog dreams of posting on the every-other-daily - giving the internet a new DIY project often to quell the monotony that daily life (especially that of stay-at-home moms...am I right?) can bring.  BUT, being one of those monotony-living moms means there isn't much room for projects AND blogging everyday.  So, in saying that, I just want to apologize for being absent here for almost THREE WEEKS!  It's not because I don't care but mostly because I've been painting, and painting, and painting some mo...and mostly keeping us all alive and thriving of course.  ;)

But, finally, I have something to show for all the painting.  Huzzah!

Our new and improved pantry:

I don't know that I ever shared what it looked like before but I definitely took a quick pic before I started and...