Spring is here! (And so is our living room makeover)

I'm in love, I'm in love and I don't care who knows it!

(name that movie)

Wahoo, it's SPRING!

I know it's supposed to snow tomorrow, but I don't care.

It's SPRING.

The tulips are starting to come up, the grass is turning greener, some trees have started to bud.

Yes!

Can I make a few spring resolutions?

Who says January 1st is the only day you can do that?

Spring resolution #1: try not to go three weeks without blogging.

Spring resolution #2: Continue with the resolution I made three weeks ago to stay away from this blasted time-sucking computer and be more present with my kids... but still blog.

Spring resolution #3: Keep my new wood floors clean. So far so good thanks to that handy ole swiffer and the fact that Makenzie thinks swiffing is the best chore ever.

Ok, so are you guys ready??

I'm finally posting the big living room reveal.

Let me talk about the fireplace first. 

You have no idea how fanatical I was about the ideas you guys gave me.

But after a lot of deliberation and going over budget on the floors (not to mention a four-day weekend of slave labor), we decided we were going to have to do a free-99 effort on the fireplace. I decided to embrace what I can't change, and I think it worked out just fine.

Okay.

First things first.

Remember a YEAR ago when we had to cut a big hole in our ceiling to fix a roof leak?

Well, since we weren't able to match our ceiling paint, that corner of the ceiling has looked like this for the past year:

 That's embarrassing.

 And here's a final look of how our living room basically looked before, with carpet:

We finished painting the ceiling in the morning. Then Justin pulled all of the old baseboards out in a snap:

Then we ripped out the carpet and pad, only to reveal what Makenzie thought was the prettiest floor ever underneath- green and gold linoleum tiles! haha so gross

This is when the real labor began. In the afternoon, Justin's awesome brother Devin and his awesome wife Candace came over to help. Those guys were animals! They totally tore it up, and we were so grateful.

Candace laughed hysterically at this picture and said she looked like a serial killer. I just thought she looked pretty, but after pointing that out... I was kinda scared. Hahaha just kidding. Love you, Candace!

Getting late, getting close:

If you'll look at the fireplace in this last picture, you'll see we took the ugly brass doors off. Devin was more than happy to help me remove that eyesore. I was immediately happy.

And here is the finished room:

 What a change, right??
We even had an aspen tree fall over in our yard so I got some cute logs for the fireplace right out of our own yard! Now I just need a coffee table.

Here's a better view of the floor. 

Kyle can really get around on his wheels now.

And here's the spring mantle that I shamelessly copied from the website Lisa sent me. I am so obsessed with that website now! It's right here. I added a few ideas of my own, but mostly I just copied. :) The chalkboard is just a giant $5 frame from DI (chalkboard spray paint right on the glass!), the nests were 60 cents at Roberts, the eggs are paper mache eggs that Makenzie and Jarom painted, and the "wreath" is a roll of grapevine garland. It comes wound up like that and I liked how thick it was. I literally smashed some Spanish moss on top- it took about 30 seconds to make, and I like how messy it looks.

And that's about it!