Wellman Weekend Warriors!

Happy Monday everyone. 

I think this song runs through my head at least once this day every week. It's just so dang catchy, and especially true sometimes: "Monday Monday, can't trust that day...."

Nope, can't trust it.

I think one of the reasons I'm especially sluggish this Monday, is because of all the work we did over the weekend. We got a TON of stuff done! I give credit of our progress solely to the fact that Eric's parents and sister came down Saturday and helped us ALL DAY LONG! They were seriously warriors. Eric's dad brought down a trailer full of tools and big boy toys that made everything so much easier. 

One of the biggest things we Eric and his Dad did was tear up our backyard. It was looking a bit sad when we moved in. 

Note all of the brown/patchy/dead spots. Eric's original plan was to just spray and kill a portion of it, mow really low, then reseed. But by around 4pm Saturday it looked like this!

It is now seeded and covered in hay. Luckily we found a sprinkler in the shed so we can easily water it. 

Another project we got rocking on was repainting the cabinets. This will be a long process, but we were able to take down all of the doors, remove the hardware, and sand everything. This was messy beyond all reason, and I cringe when I think about having to do it inside the kitchen, but the hand sanders made it go a LOT faster. 

Sanding the drawers and remaining cabinets will be done another day. As well as priming and painting. 

We now are sporting the "open cabinet" look. Sometimes I think about keeping it this way, especially when I see pictures of kitchens like THIS, but then I think OMG all of the DUST! And change my mind. 

Another "cross this OFF the list!" moment was replacing our foyer light.

You may recall this post about me walking away from a sweet antique chandelier and then having a "Dang it why didn't I snatch that up!??!??" moment. 

Well a couple months ago I went to the Valley Thrift Store (which now is JUST down the road from us!) and found a cute little chandelier for $4.00. SCORE! I bought that bad boy, and it sat in our apartment dinning room for...well...a long time. But I just KNEW that someday I would have a purpose for it and it would be magnificent. And you know what? That day was yesterday! I grabbed that $4 lamp, some spray paint, and went to town. 

First I lightly (and evenly) sprayed it with 2 coats of Rust-Oleum primer. 

Yes I am quite proud of my rigged up painting system. 

After the primer dried, I sprayed it with 2 coats of Rust-Oleum yellow spray paint. 

Eric helped me hang it up in the tree so I could make sure the bottom was completely covered. I thought this was important since that's the part of the light that people will see most often. 

After a few hours of letting it dry, Eric took down the original light fixture, and rigged up our new chandelier! I bought 5 globe bulbs from Menards  since I love the look of exposed light bulbs, and thought it would be a nice touch. 

Needless to say I'm OBSESSED with how it turned out. *insert HUGE smiley face*

We do have a ceiling cover to hide the wiring, but I guess Eric was just too excited and decided to hook the lamp up without putting the cover on first. Oh well, I'm still super pleased with the how much brighter our entry way is! 

While on the high of a new light, we finished decorating our dining room. The china cabinet is filled with dishes, the table is all set up, and we even hung some pictures on the wall! 

This is the table from my grandma I was talking about in a previous post. It's made from a tree from Valley Forge, which I think is pretty amazing. And yes we only have three chairs. One broke in the move to our apartment last year, but it's perfect for that awkward 3rd wheel date! 

Some close-ups of my little accessory arrangements. Putting these together are another thing that keeps me calm. Eric is pretty much convinced he married a crazy person at this point. 

Whenever I am overwhelmed by how unorganized the rest of the house is, I come in here to sit, and take in the happiness of a complete room. :) 

Phew! 

Sorry that was so long, it's just so much fun sharing our progress! 

Were any of you able to cross off a few things from your "To-Do" list this weekend?