The Move

We moved! Bought our first home in February, and have been lacking sleep every since. Amber has been hard at work getting the place cleaned up and painted. Tyler has been busy fixing leaking pipes and moving things from room to room. Here are some before and after pics.

Here's our little squeaker. We were packing up our old house and when we came in the dining room to add some more boxes to the pile, we found her & her make-shift lazy boy. She was a good little helper. We can't believe she is almost 5!

Bathroom BEFORE: Here is the view from our living room into our bathroom.

 Bathroom BEFORE: Closer view...

 Bathroom BEFORE: Vanity and tiny mirror.

Bathroom AFTER: Add an accent wall and my favorite IKEA shower curtain and things start to get interesting.

 Bathroom AFTER: Stain the vanity and add a mirror that you can see yourself in and ta-DA! A throne room to be proud of.

 Kids room BEFORE: You can kinda see the "Spearmint Green" cabinet we slapped in there during the assessor process. Needless to say, it did not classify as a legitimate closet. So we took a bigger one out of my friends house, attached it to the wall in this house (that we didn't own yet), had it re-appraised, and promptly returned my friends laundry closet back to her house. Now we are using the Spearmint Green cabinet to house tiny dresses & shoes for our kids. I'm sure we'll upgrade. Eventually. Please note the fashionable black commercial mop boards along one side of the room. Each room on the main floor had 1/2 commercial mop boards, and 1/2 nice, white molding.

 

Kids Room BEFORE: Here is the other side of their room. Also included was this gold trimmed gas fireplace. Not working.

Kids Room AFTER: Pumpkin spice wall. Love it. Elsie doesn't. But she says she will live with it. For now.

 Kids Room AFTER: Much better fireplace. My friend (Amy the Amazing) spray-painted the gold trim to silver, replaced the tile, and viola!

Kids Room AFTER: Here's a shot with their giant bed in there. I still can't believe it fits. We were pretty worried.

 Kids Room AFTER: See? That cabinet isn't so bad. In fact, I would say it's just right for a few tiny things. Also, please note the commercial mop boards are gone. Replaced with molding to match the other 1/2 of the room.

Master Suite BEFORE: More commercial molding in 1/2 of the room. Cream closet accents to go along with the stark white walls.

 Master Suite BEFORE: I do like this little nook in the corner. Although, I don't fancy having this one  window on the other wall... I think we'll fill that in. More horrible mop boards.

Master Suite AFTER: Matching molding & a wonderful grey color on the walls, that "turns periwinkle in the morning light"... Of COURSE there's a story behind that little treasure of a statement. We (as in my friend Amy & I) got all of our fix-it-yourself supplies from this great little store in Boise. It is called "RESTORE". The subcontractors, homeowners, etc. in the Treasure Valley take all of their surplus supplies to this place. The supplies are then sold at remarkably low prices, and all proceeds go to the Habitat for Humanity. We got all of our paint, molding, etc. from here. When I bought the paint to do the Master bedroom, the top of the can said "turns periwinkle in the morning light". So, of course, I had to get it. Because that's just fun! Turns out to be a pretty great color at other times of the day as well.

 Master Suite AFTER: Built-in. LOVE IT!

 Master Suite AFTER: And here's the little nook I mentioned earlier with our dresser cozied in. Perfect.

Kitchen BEFORE: Love the burgundy cabinet fronts with the lavender (that's right, really, really light purple) shade behind it. Don't you? Throw in the "Wine Country" K-Mart border along the back-splash and that hideous linoleum and this is just about the last place I want to be. Unless of course, this little boy is in there. Then I definitely want to be in here, because he is DARLING!

 Kitchen BEFORE: The one redeeming factor is the scalloped edging above the window. Maybe. Just...maybe....

 

Kitchen BEFORE: View from side door.

 

Kitchen MIDDLE: Add 4 layers of cheap white paint (don't buy cheap), and things start to look a little cleaner. My original plan was NOT to pull up the linoleum in the kitchen. It just kind of...happened? And after getting 1/2 of it pulled up, there was no going back. So, we pulled it up only to reveal the original yellow, pearly melanin linoleum from 1951. Which would have been okay. Had there not been a 2-inch seam down the middle of it. So, we painted it white too. Pretty white. For a kitchen. As for that bright yellow line along the wall - that is where we spray-painted where the boarder used to be. To "disguise" the disfigured wall we found behind said border. I like the splash of yellow, but we probably should have gone with tile.

Kitchen MIDDLE: Here we are after the official move-in. Tyler made this green bookshelf for me after we were first married & living in Arizona. It used to be whitish-blue (or, so light blue I always thought it was white). I painted it this fun green for our new kitchen. We were short on cabinets, and this has done the trick marvelously. Ironically, this is the ONE color of paint I purposefully chose, and had tinted. After seeing the new "key-lime" bookshelf, Tyler said to me, "You know, just because paint is cheap doesn't mean you should buy it." To which I promptly replied, "This was a CHOSEN color. I ASKED them to tint it this color!" The shock and awkward silence that followed before the GUFFAW of laughter were almost worth it. Almost.

 Kitchen MIDDLE: While white is very clean-feeling. It also shows EVERYTHING. So, we "combed" a grey paint on top of it...

Kitchen AFTER: Splashed on a bright blue stencil...

Kitchen AFTER: And I am LOVING it!!!

Although, Tyler had some complaints about the 4 days it took to dry & cure. But, now that we are back in & working in the kitchen again, I'm sure he is loving it just as much.

Those were all of the big projects. Here are more pictures of the rest of the house, that we haven't been able to get to yet:
Laundry Room

 Laundry Room

Storage under the stairs

Family Room (or, Creepy Family Room as Elsie likes to put it)

Downstairs bedroom.

 And that's all we've got for now, folks. Come and see us! We'd love to put you to work ;)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from the Archibalds!

 

It’s hard to believe another year has come and gone. 2013 was a busy year, and we are grateful for the many family members and friends who made it such an enjoyable time in our lives. We were able to go on trips to Colorado, Nevada, and California to spend time with those we love.

Elsie turned 4 this year, and was busy with swimming lessons, dance lessons, and preschool. She especially loved dance, and did a great job at her recital. She enjoys preschool, and loves to tell us all about the things she has learned. She is a huge help around the house, and now that Sam is getting older, and is almost as big as she is, she is pushing him around a lot less.

Sam turned 3 in October and has been asking for his next birthday ever since. Every night before bed he reminds us that for his next birthday, he wants a chocolate cake. He enjoys reading, spending time outside and pestering Elsie. He is looking forward to starting school - in two years, and is also quick to remind us of that as often as possible. He has a great sense of humor, and is an absolute joy. He especially likes to preface his jokes with, “This is gonna be funny!”

Amber continues to be an amazing mom and group fitness instructor. This year she became certified to teach a group cycling class and something called ‘PiYo’. PiYo is a combination of Pilates and Yoga. Or as Amber likes to put it, “Yoga for hyper people!” Towards the end of the year she started doing some stream-line consulting for a dental company, and enjoyed the thrill of running an office a few days a week while cleaning up some of their processes. Along with working in the office, she is busy at the gym teaching four days a week.

Tyler certainly had a busy year. He got a new supervisor at work, and has been working with him on getting Fort Boise Wildlife Management area cleaned up. The area is planning some major renovations in the upcoming year, and Tyler had the job of making sure everything is cleaned up and ready to go for the projects to begin. In addition to this, he took an online course for work during the first part of the summer. The whole family was relieved when he took his final at the end of July, and was able to turn his attention back to his darling wife and kids. He also spent a week backpacking with the Scouts in the Boulder White Clouds. It was an exciting trip, with a lot of rain. So, most of the time was spent trying to stay warm and dry.

We had the pleasure of spending our holiday season with our family in the Rexburg area. The holidays always seem to come too slow, and leave much too fast. It was wonderful to see so many of the people we love, and spend precious time catching up with everyone.

May this year bring you more joy than you anticipate, great laughter, and lots of time with family and friends.

Love,

The Archibalds

 Here are some pics from our 2013:

Sam turns 3!

We woke up early to make Sam's cake the morning of his birthday party. It took some convincing, but we finally managed to get him to hold up 3 fingers instead of just 2.

A few of his cousins were able to come and help us celebrate. We started the party off with a scavenger hunt. Using pictures, since there was only one of the cousins that is old enough to read at this point.

We moved on to presents...

Had some chocolate cake...

...and ended the night in tears because it was much too late, and he was much too hopped up on sugar. On the bright side, he woke up and first things first, got his new tool belt on and was ready to start the new day as a 3 year old.

We love this little guy. He is absolutely delightful. Happy birthday 'lil Sam!

Easter/Elsie's birthday

Amber showcasing Elsie's fabulous "E" cake.

The birthday girl, finally turning four.

Super excited for the Easter egg hunt!

Lil' Sam, getting after it.

How did an egg get all the way up here?

Time to make the donuts!

Elsie turned four this year, and had a fantastic party with lots of cousins and Easter eggs. For months, she's been begging to turn four. Now that her birthday has come and gone, she's already pining to be five.