Tears in Heaven, RIP Brandon

"Beyond the door, there's peace I'm sure...And I know there'll be no more, Tears in Heaven" - Eric Clapton

Life is so precious, you never know what may happen....always remember to tell those you love how much they mean to you. You never know when it may be the last.

This weekend was a rough one for us. On Friday afternoon, Sara received news that a close family friend was in a horrible car accident earlier that day. The report wasn't good at all and we spent most of the weekend at the hospital waiting with Christine, one of Sara's closest friends, who we have always considered family. Christine is an amazing person, her strength and compassion are unmatched, and it is so hard to undestand how one person can be dealt so much heartbreak and loss at such a young age. She is and will always be in our thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.

At a little after midnight on Sunday morning, Brandon's heart gave out and the world lost a great little fighter. At just 19 years old, he left an imprint on so many people's hearts and lives and we will always remember him as that bright little kid that loved KU Basketball, playing football and making people laugh. There will be a lot of what ifs and if things had been different, but we can all take comfort in knowing that you are home with Mary and smiling down on everyone. Rest in Peace, Brandon, we love you...

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It's hard to transition, but we did want to share an update on our front room renovations. Brain has got the trim almost complete, and we decided on another suprise makeover...

Windows are done...trim is almost complete

Remember this door on the right?

Bam! The second coat is drying and we are already loving it...

We like the black so much, it may be a recurring trend in our household...but as Brian says, one thing at a time...

Love and hugs to you all...

XOXO,

Sara, Brian & Tequila

Back to Work - Entryway Revival

We're back to remodeling! One day after Sara's MRI results came back without any major issues, we got right back into working on the home. First project on the list...entryway & front room. As most of you that have attended an event at our home know, we have a lot of varied dark wood, including railroad tie-esque trim in our home that we inherited. We had a contractor come in and look at it and even she was a bit baffled on why anyone would use railroad ties inside a home, so we knew we would have a bit of a challenge.

When you enter our house, you are greeted by a large obstruction just to the right which seperates the little entryway and the large front room...


View from the main room...not sure what the purpose ever was

Another view...notice that we are also painting the trim and windows white...multi tasking at its finest

Not really sure what we were doing, we decided to jump right in. Brian borrowed a sawzall from his boss, Kenny, and we got set up for the action. We have mentally gone over the best ways on getting this beast down for months, and luckily during our overview we noticed that the ties weren't connected to the wall except for a few nails angled at the very top. That being said, this was our first time using a sawzall and not having my dad with us directing us on what to do...we may not have had too much confidence.

After the first cut with no major accidents, Brian was able to knock out the tie and much like everything else in our house, the previous handiwork was a little decieving. These weren't railroad ties at all...but wood posts that were painted to look like it (who does that?).  They were super easy for Brian to haul down to our trash and the project took a lot less time than we thought.  So much faster than we thought that Sara felt we had plenty of time to add another layer of paint to the windows before the new episode of Hard Knocks started.

Now for the big reveal (ok Part 1 Reveal)...

Boom...not too shabby

Ignore  the gold light fixture...we are only on part one

We're pretty excited about the end result, especially because we could call my parents to come over and check it out without asking for help on how to fix it. :) There will be a lot of touch up work, lots of new paint, trim, door, new tile (that may have to wait for a bit)...but we are looking forward to putting more work into it and making it ours.

Until the next episode....


XOXO,

Sara & Brian