Singing praises

I was able to get the majority of my photos back yesterday. Turns out, I WAS using my backup hard drive wrong: I thought it was wireless (blonde moment) and that it updated itself. Turns out, I was wrong (go figure), so the last time it was updated was when my dad gave it to me: almost 8 months ago! So until I find a file restoration program that is cheap or free...I have lost the past 7 months worth of photos. Thank God, I have all the baby pictures on websites, so those are safe. Any other important photos have been posted to Facebook, so they are not lost either. I really can't remember any other photos that might have been so lost, so I'm not that bummed about losing some. I guess they weren't that important!

If I had never went to enter a photo contest on pioneerwoman.com, I never would have realized my photos were gone! That website, by the way, is brilliant. I wish I had enough interesting things to write about like she does. But I'm hoping that the next couple months will bring some new interesting changes about, as we move into the big house.
The "big house" is my father-in-law's house, next door. Since I am pregnant, again, we will not have enough room in our house for both babies to have their own room. And since my FIL Curtis, is single, he doesn't need a 4 bedroom house all to himself: we get it! Hubby would have inherited it anyway, after his father would pass, but we had always planned to move there if our family got bigger.
I'm really excited about designing it to my tastes. Curtis is in the progress of redoing a lot of the rooms anyway, so now I can help pick out paint colors and such. All four bedrooms are done but the rest of the house is looking kind of rough.
The kitchen, for sure, needs the cabinets redone. I want to paint them white, with new silver handles, then paint the walls a stone kind of grey. I'm not sure what is going to be done about the countertops. I hate them. I don't even know what kind of material they are made of, but they are old and black. Not smooth black either...they're rough and textured. Hard to explain, but trust me, they are UG-LY. The appliances are black, which I hope to eventually upgrade to stainless steel; but that is a long term goal. I also want to remove one section of the counter and replace it with a curved island. It would make the whole room flow better into the den. Right now, the kitchen is in the shape of an "n". The opening faces the dining room doorway, but if we could take out a section it would face the den as well and open the entire floor plan up. Curtis said it was a good idea, but he didn't have the money for that kind of remodel right now. Hopefully, it will be able to get done in the future.
I want to continue the grey wall color into the den and make the kitchen/den one cohesive design. I will rearrange the furniture to allow better traffic flow into the hallway and create a conversation area with an area rug and a coffee table. Right now, it is a total bachelor pad, with mismatched furniture and old dusty picture frames on the coffee table. I want to use cool colors with green and white accents.
The dining room, I want to paint a warm tone of brown that will make the white crown molding pop. I plan to have a round dining room table, a buffet table along the wall, a mirror above that, and to use white and blue accents.
I want to continue the brown wall color into the living room but to use more earthy colors as accents. I want to move the tv from the den to the living room, and to have a lot of kid friendly ottomans that double as toy storage. A big area rug with break up all the wood flooring, and warm colored curtains will really make the room look roomy and inviting.
I'm not sure about the hallway yet. Right now it has a wood covering the bottom third of the wall, so I'm not sure what color to paint the remaining space. It's kind of narrow, so I want it to open up and not feel so small. And there's also the entryway to the front door. I want to add some more storage by using some sort of built-in or cabinet. But we'll see how the living room looks and I might continue that design into the entryway.
Overall, I am REALLY excited to get started. I know it won't be done in a week, it will take a lot longer since I am pregnant, Hubby works night shift, and Monkey will probable be walking by then. Since we plan to paint ourselves, the progress will depend on how much me, Hubby, and Curtis can get done at a time. I've been holding back on buying decorations lately since I don't want to start decoration without knowing what kind of furniture we will need and what color exactly we will be putting on the walls. But that doesn't stop me from drawing up plans and daydreaming about what I want it to look like!