Books in 2016

I've got a big goal this year to read 3 books per month. I've always loved reading but in the last several years haven't made it a big priority. This year I'm setting new goals for myself. I have a lot of books that have been sent to me by publishers and given to me as gifts so I already have a great list going. Here's the books I've got on my list as we enter 2016;

Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist

Leading and Loving It by Brandi Wilson & Lori Whilhite

Good News for Weary Women by Elyse Fitzapatrick

Through the Eyes of A Lion by Levi Lusko

Believing Jesus by Lisa Harper

Make it Happen by Lara Casey

Breaking Busy by Ali Worthington

Just Rise Up! by Sarah F. Martin

What books are you reading in 2016? I'd love to hear your thoughts and add them to my reading list.

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Coffee Date | 01-15-2016

Happy Friday friends! It's the first coffee date of the new year, I hope to be just as consistent with these as I was last year. Remember I do this LIVE every Friday on Periscope so if you aren't following me there please do @andreamworley to catch them live.

What are you guys' up to this weekend? Any fun plans? Enjoy your three day weekend!

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Our Kitchen Reno | Tile Backsplash

I've been hinting and talking for a while now that the first major project in our new home would be updating our kitchen! We've been saving our pennines, pinning and planning since we moved in 7 months ago. We knew that this would be one of the things we tackled in our home for 2016, so today I'm sharing with you the first project we tackled in our kitchen; tiling the backsplash.

While my step-dad was in town over Christmas he helped my husband and I work on the back splash in our kitchen. My mom even stepped in and helped, it was a family affair. He and I went to the store a few days before and I picked out the tile and all the supplies we needed.

I'd been searching online for a while, and visited both Home Depot & Lowes to see their tile options up close and personal. In the end I chose this 12x12 white subway tiles with these glass tiles for fill in areas around the corners and ends.

This was a project we were able to complete within a weekend, but it didn't come without some trial and error and a run to the store for more supplies. Overall we were pretty impressed with ourselves as first timers doing tile work. My step dad helped us a lot especially with all the tile cutting around the outlets.

We budgeted $300 for this portion of our kitchen update. With tile, supplies and the rental of the wet saw we came in at $215 just under budget which makes us doing the happy dance!

Seeing it all come together was so fun. Next step add grout, seal and clean up!

Our kitchen is the biggest home DIY we've attempted so far. What I've learned already is measure, re measure and then do it again just to make sure everything is correct. Also allow for more time than you think to complete a project. Whatever you think it's gonna take, double that. I thought we'd knock this out in a day, but I was wrong. After a few trips for more supplies (hence re measure) we were back on track. It was more realistic to tackle this within a weekend. Which is what we did. Let's take a quick look at the before and then the beautiful after.

My kitchen feels so fancy to me now! This has for sure been such an awesome upgrade to this space and we love how it turned out and can't wait for more projects in this space! The next thing we want to do is paint the cabinets. Our main two goals for this space was to brighten it up and add value to our kitchen, I think we've got a great start on accomplishing our goals!

DONE:

update light fixture ($40)
tile backsplash ($215)

TO-DO:

paint cabinets
add hardware

Thanks for letting me take you on a little tour and show off parts of our kitchen!

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Goodyear House Tour

I'm excited to share a full before & after home tour of our Goodyear, Arizona home. We've had so much fun over the past several months making this home ours, it's completely different than our other home in so many ways which has made it challenging and fun to decorate. The first thing we did when we moved in was paint the entire house! We painted all the rooms (except bedrooms, bathrooms and laundry) Grayish by Sherwin Williams.

Join me as we go on a tour! A thing to note is the “after” pictures are from when we listed this home. We’d already been in the process of downsizing during this time. I’d already sold my beloved chesterfield sofa.

After 3 years in this home, we put it on the market and sold it in less that 24 hours. We are currently building a home in Buckeye, Arizona. I wanted to remember this house, we have so many great memories in this home and truly made it ours. This was a project house for us for sure, we made so many changes to this home that made it ours.

living room

We knew when we first saw this home that we'd turn this downstairs living area into a more "formal" living room. It's been a great space while entertaining for the adults to gather while the kids play upstairs. Which has worked out exactly as we imaged it would. I've been able to bring to life some of the ideas I've had in my mind for a while. When we first moved in this room sat empty for several weeks while I shopped for and picked out the perfect furniture for this room, here's a before:

kitchen & dining

We made a lot of cosmetic changes in this space. We painted the cabinets and added new hardware. I also painted the pantry door a dark gray and we added a new light fixture above the dining table.

family room

Our family room has become our gathering space. We watch t.v. here, the kids play in their little corner nook I created for them. It’s become a great versatile space for us.

ava's room

Ava’s sweet little room is full of all the things she loves. It has a cute little window bench and build in cubbies. One of the things I loved so much about this space was all the built ins, and amazing closets. Ava’s room has all those things, and she asked for it to be pink!

zane's room

When we moved into this house this was a nursery, and over time we’ve transitioned his room into a big boy room full of all the things that remind us of Zane.

guest room/ office

kids' bath

primary bed & bath

The primary bedroom is located on the main floor of the home. We loved this change having our room separate from the kids’ rooms. I painted the bathroom vanity a dark grey chalk paint, and put new hardware on the cabinets.

guest bath

backyard & patio

laundry room

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Zane's Third Birthday Party | Super Hero Style.

We celebrated Zane's third birthday a couple weeks ago before Christmas. It's hard to believe he's already three, not my baby anymore and daily growing into such a big boy. This year was pretty big for him; getting a new big boy bed, his first hair cut and potty training success!

His birthday is 9 days before Christmas and I never want his BIG day to be overlooked because of the holiday. I always try to plan my kiddos birthdays around a theme and try to incorporate something they are interested in. Zane has been really into all things super hero lately so I decided to throw him a super hero party.

I used a lot of his toys to decorate for the party, after scouring his room for all the super hero toys I could find I placed a few on the table for decoration.

A super hero mask for each kiddo that attended the party. Table cloth and masks were found at Target, they have a great supply of super hero stuff right now.

The dessert bar was one of my favorites to put together for this party. Cupcakes & cake were the way to go, plus I added these super cute 'Hulk' pudding cups they turned out so adorable.