From Old to New

Brad and I FINALLY moved into our new apartment last week (yay!) and we are just starting to get settled in. Moving is such a drag! We have moved so many times in the past year that it feels so good to finally be settled down! We are still unpacking some things, trying to figure our storage space for all of our clothes and shoes, AND still figuring out what we got rid of in Florida that we need to replace! It's been a bit stressful, but hopefully we can figure it out soon.

One thing that we did do is revamp some old furniture! It was really fun/REALLY STRESSFUL to redo these pieces and make them our own. I got some inspiration from pinterest and a cool blog called Better After, and I am really happy with the way they turned out!

We first bought a highboy and a dresser from this guy on craigslist. Turned out that he buys old furniture and redoes pieces all the time, so he gave us a bunch of helpful hints. For anyone who is thinking of redoing furniture, Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is your best friend! It is not like the paint you buy that is like a chalkboard...it is just this really cool paint that is a thicker, chalkier consistency that requires NO sanding and NO primer! It really made our lives so much easier. It is a bit spendy, but a small container goes a really long way. We painted both the highboy and dresser in Aubusson blue, and we still have about half of the can left!

We did have to buy some wood putty for these pieces because they were really old and had some damage, so we did have to sand down those little parts. But sanding a few places versus sanding the whole thing is a HUGE difference. So, what do you think?

Dresser Before

Dresser After!

We decided to use the dresser as a TV stand. It is the perfect length for our living room and it has great storage space! We love how it turned out. I forgot to get a before picture of the handles, but they were pretty rusty. I used this awesome product called Rub n Buff, and it basically is a gold paint for metal. There are a few different colors, and it's really easy to use. They are nice a shiny now!

Highboy Before: (sorry, I didn't get a picture of the Highboy, but it was the same color and style as the dresser. Here is a picture of the drawer!)

Highboy After!!

Side note: The guy who sold us these pieces also had these amazing milk glass lamps that he was getting rid of too. I love milk glass because Grandma Teresa has an awesome collection of it at the farm! I just bought a more modern shade for the two of them. The other one is on my vanity!

While the dresser and highboy were a pretty simple job, our dining room table was a NIGHTMARE. We weren't sure that we wanted to use chalk paint on the top because it's not as glossy as other paint. Our first THREE attempts were different kinds of grey stain that we thought would look nice. WRONG. The stain never spread right and the color was always off. We seriously tried so many times! We ended up using a high gloss paint for the legs and chalk paint for the top. We are still figuring out what kind of cover to put on the top (chalk paint uses a soft wax on top, but its not very shiny), but the table looks really nice! We did the chairs in the same way.

Table/Chairs BEFORE: (pictured with leaf and also in our old apartment)

Table/Chairs AFTER:

I think they turned out really nice, but they are kinda bland right now with the colors of our room. I am planning on getting some brightly colored placemats/table runner to brighten up the space.

The last picture I wanted to share is our awesome new bed! We didn't do anything to revamp it...we bought the bed and comforter from Costco and our sweet headboard on Craigslist. But I think they are both so beautiful! Yay for Craigslist and cheap deals!

So that is what we have been up to for the past while! I will post more pictures of our apartment once we finish getting all of our furniture and putting up our pictures! 

Triplet Time!

Brad and I were lucky enough to spend time with Jen, Peter, and the triplets for the triplets' first birthday! They just happened to be going to California the same week that I had spring break from school, so Brad and I drove down from Idaho for the week. We had such a great time playing with the babies, going to the beach, enjoying good food, and enjoying the good company. Thanks for letting us crash your vacation Jen and Pete!

We got to go with the triplets for their first time at the beach! We had fun just playing in the sand and laughing. Tay tay made this funny scrunched up face EVERY TIME we went to the beach, so we labeled it 'Beach Face.' What a funny girl!

Taylor Kay's infamous "Beach Face!" She was so fun to play with!

What a sweet girl in her super cute suit and hat!

 Cruz and Carder's first time in the sand! What fun!

OK, so I have to go on a little bragging rant about Mamma/Grandmamma Bell. She threw an AMAZING first birthday party for the triplets! We had a Dr. Suess theme, and she went all out. She made cute cat in the hat cake pops (seen below), "Green Eggs and Ham" pretzel and M&M sticks, and all the other red, yellow, and blue sweets and decorations you can think of! We also had some really good dips, breads, and various lunch foods in the kitchen as well. We all had such a fun time, and I know she felt so good that she could do this for some of her grandkids. She loves all her grandkids so much! I am excited for her to spoil our kids one day too :)

 

Awesome setup! Everything was so good!

 All about the triplets first year (written by Jen) and a Mini cake for each of them!

 Happy Birthday Tay Tay, Carder Boy, and Cuz Cuz! We love you!

 Opening gifts! What fun!

 Carder annihilated his cake!

 Yay for cake!

 I am in heaven with these three babies!

 Cool Cruz and his glasses!

 We can just pretend that Carder is laughing and enjoying himself in this picture :)

 Cute shades Tay!

Tay Tay was sooo funny to watch in the water. She LOVED the ocean! Every time you put her down, she was start crawl-racing towards the water. When the waves would come in and hit her, she would just laugh and smile. Then, when they went out, she would hold her ground in the sand until she could start crawling towards the water again. She was fearless! We had to keep a close eye on that one :)

 Mommy, Daddy, and Sister

 Cruz enjoyed the sand too!

One of our favorite families. We love you guys and miss you already!

 Brad and I had an amazing spring break with everyone it was fun seeing how much the babies have grown and also spending time together at the beach. We were also able to stop in Provo on our way home and spend our Easter Sunday with the family. We played games and stayed with night with Josh and Karee on Saturday night, then got up on Sunday and made our way to Provo to hear Kata sing and church. Kim and Andrew met us and I couldn't help but get a cute Bell sisters Easter Pic!

After church Kim had to leave, but Kata, Brad, and I got together for and Easter Sunday meal at Kata's apartment. Bryce even came and ate with us! We had a fun time just catching up and hanging out with our siblings. Love you guys!

All in all, it was an amazing trip. Coming back to reality was hard! However, our lives are about to change drastically. Brad and I are moving to COLUMBUS, OHIO, in TWO WEEKS!! Ahh! I can't believe it. We are fitting in a quick trip to Boise before we go, but it's just so soon! After that we are basically vacationing for the whole month of May (tough life, we know). We are excited for our new adventures. We are also so excited that Brad's brother Darin and his was Linsy and their kids are moving to Cincinnati next year so we will only be an hour away! Fun times.