Start at the beginning...

 

  My interest in interior design started with visual merchandising at a clothing store I worked at when I was 19 years old. I loved all the colors and textures and coming up with the displays. This led me to getting a job at an architecture and interior design firm as an office assistant and I began taking classes at our local college for a degree in interior design. It didn't take long for me to tire of the office assistant job and I switched my degree.  I then got a job working at Merle Norman Cosmetics, which is where my love of makeup and doing makeup began. I have a great business doing makeup for weddings, tv, and special events but when I have time, my home is my hobby.

  The house that I live in now with my family, we bought 2 years ago. Before then, we lived in the home that my husband grew up in for the first 15 years of his life. It was a great starter home for us when it was just us. Then we added 2 dogs, then came 2 kids and well, we outgrew it very quickly. Before we sold it though, we did some major renovating of the kitchen and added a 1/2 bath.  I feel like that was the beginning of where my love of DIY began.  Give me a hammer and some paint and I am a happy girl!

  Now visualize a small kitchen with original white painted cabinets on one wall.  There was a 12" drawer, a dishwasher, the sink, and a 24" drawer.  And that was it.  On the right wall in an L shape was the stove and the refrigerator with no countertops or drawers.  It was a small space to work in.  So when we decided to gut the kitchen, I had the chance to change things up a bit.... my husband added a doorway and it made all the difference.  These are the pictures of our home that we lived in for 12 years and began our family in.  This is what it looked like when sold it FSBO (For Sale By Owner), in less than 2 months.  We barely had time to enjoy the new kitchen and 1/2 bath but the sale of this home led us to our new home.  Our (most likely) forever home!


                                                            The front of our first house

Wow, I really hate that light!!  In between the fridge and the stove is the doorway that my DH made.  It was awesome how just adding that doorway opened up the kitchen in way that I could not have imagined.... and that granite countertop.  Oooh how I loved it thee!

(it was October, so that's the reason for the Halloween display)

The half bath that we had a contractor come in and do, made all the difference with 2 children!!

The view you would see if you stood at the end of the dock.  I know my DH had a difficult time leaving his "waterfront" property but I think our new home has made up for what we gave up.

So I know this is a really long post but I wanted to start at the beginning before I begin with what my life is now.  Next I will post about our new home and show you some before pictures of what it looked like, and what we have done to make it our own!