This is a follow up post following a sponsored post The Thome Home hosted a few posts back 🙂

We announced the Giani Countertop Kit giveaway a few posts back, and since then I have loved every single comment, every single entry and adore the fact that you guys are just as crazy over this product as I am!

With the help of Giani inc. array of products, we were able to do a complete transformation of our kitchen.  The fact of the matter is, you do not need to spend a ton of money, or time, to give your kitchen an entirely new look!

The ability to be able to take your kitchen from this ….

To this ….

It’s no joke! PAINT can do amazing things you guys!

I was fortunate enough to host a giveaway, giving away ONE kit each to TWO lucky winners.  The Instagram winner will be announced on that platform later today, and the blog winner is …..

ERIN O’NEILL 

Erin, you had the most entries to be placed into the hat chosen at random and it apparently paid off! Thank you so much for taking the time to share the giveaway amongst your social media outlets! We love that you spread the love!!

Email me your shipping address @ thethomehome@gmail.com

Thank you ALL for entering, and we have some fun self-hosted giveaways happening in the New Year that you should all keep your eyes open for!

xoxo, abby

Me: “Oh boys I am so excited for this fence!”

Brody: “I know, privacy! We can pee back there all the time now!”

The boy knows whats up 🙂

Our backyard has been such an uphill battle.   Tackling a neglected yard is like me attempting to tackle a sumo wrestler — while we both may look good in that get up’ it’s best I leave it up to the professionals.

So, that’s what we had to do with this good ol’ yard of ours.  We tackled as much as we could with our own hands (and with the help of family, and alcohol) and left the rest to the pro’s.  Thankfully, we are at a point in our lives where hiring out help isn’t a big deal, where as with our first house we felt the penny pinch of doing it ALL ourselves.  And let me tell you a key to a successful renovation, hiring out help when needed.  It’s an essential.  Not only saving you time but SO much frustration.

Let me walk you through a bit of a jungle journey with our yard –

If you have been an avid reader of this blog for years now (we <3 you) you have more than a general idea of what we’ve been going through with our front and back yard.  We haven’t been shy, we’ve shared all of the details.  But here we are, nearly two years out and with all the time and $$ spent, we are still a work in progress.  Why? Well, even if you get a great brazilian wax done, it will still come back to haunt you weeks later, right? Grass grows, weeds grow, and years and years of  debris can be a mother to get rid of completely.

The fastest way to catch up —

We bought a jungle – I’m Yellin Timber – Landscaping 2 – We bought a Jungle 2

And if you’re a picture person like myself here’s our journey in a few pictures

Our backyard as we bought it.  A beautiful overgrown jungle.

Dan couldn’t handle it, so he went at it.

This is just for cuteness overload, look how tiny my men are.  (Not you Dan, don’t worry.)

This was after the entire family helped chop down the rest of the trees.  Following this step was hiring help to grade the land, lay fresh soil, and plant grass seed.

Ah, let’s all soak it in.   And next is where we are at.  In between we had HUGE trees removed from the front yard, and the guy tossed us a killer deal to remove the huge ash tree in the backyard, so we trashed the back again.  Agh! The story continues.

SO this is where we are left.  This shotty fence with chicken wire is just gorgeous, isn’t it? And the grass has been torn up’ with weather and more work being done back there.

We know it will take a few years for the grass to really settle its roots, so we’re not worried about that at all.  But one of the biggest pet peeves of our yard is the lack of privacy!

Oy.  This jagged fence and the “open” look just isn’t for us.  So TODAY we have our AMAZING fence crew ripping out our entire fence to start a brand new fence that will make you weak in the knees.  We have about 1,000 square feet of land that was jipped when the fence was built years ago, so we are gaining it back.  Which means a BIGGER yard for the kiddos.  AND, more of a mess to clean with the land we gain.  Agh, you can’t get it all folks.

This kid is pumped about it all.  A 6 foot privacy fence will be complete by next week, all done by hand – each piece of wood (no panels for a more even look) and we are OVER the moon about it all.  Sure, we set ourselves back with the land we gain and have to clean up all over again, but the thought of the privacy we are going to have just leaves me full of joy.

I’m going streaking the day it is finished.  Hands down.  (wink. relax.)

This is a sponsored post with Giani Inc.  A big thank you to Giani + all of our readers for supporting The Thome Home! 

The NEW Thome home is coming up on it’s 2 year anniversary this spring.  It has all just swooped over our heads ( time that is ) and we are so glad we took the plunge into another fixxer upper.  But, let’s not act like it’s been all roses here.  I think there have been at least 20x since buying this home we’ve cursed it, said it was causing us great anxiety and threatning to put it on the market and buy a brand new house.  Through all of those tough times of making this house a home, Dan and I are both so glad we hung on tight.

We are hooked on all DIY shows +networks.  Not only for inspiration, but for techniques and lessons to be learned.  The only thing I have against it all is the perception these shows give for the fixer uppers.  If you fork over the funds, 4-6 weeks later not only will you have a completely remodeled home, but one that is now decked out with the best home decor.  I think a ton of average folks watch, and get swept up thinking it would be the perfect idea for them to purchase a home in need of TLC, only to quickly find out that it is not how the story goes.

Now, if you have $$$ ready to roll out and hire contractors and such, you may be way ahead of the game.  But, if you’re an average family like ours, the reality is far from what they show on t.v.  We never have our blinders on when on the market for the worst house on the block.  And this house was no different.  The list was SO long, and so overwhelming, but exactly what our craziness craves.  It took weeks upon weeks of battling price, and even more tears trying to close the deal on this place.

Once we did, we had to tackle many projects that were not on either of the tops of our lists, but HAD to be done.  $8,000 to fix basement repairs – $2,500 to replace the front porch – $3,000 in paint.   These expenses were just in the first few months of home ownership, and only the beginning of where money had to be shuffled out too.  Where would I have liked to see $13,500 cash go towards? The kitchen! Take a look at a realtors picture of what our kitchen looked like on our first walk through ..

So, for someone in the market for a fixer upper, they may imagine that $13,500 going straight into a kitchen gut.  When unfortunately, that dream has to be washed away and the reality of doing “what’s important” first must.  Being a responsible adult sucks.

We decided that with all of the other rooms in the house that still needed just as much attention we had to pick and chose at first how we were going to make this kitchen more livable.  And by livable, I mean sanitary 🙂

We tore off the top cabinets that blocked the view into the family room – (made a huge difference in lighting as well) and, can you believe it …. left the rest of the kitchen like that for MONTHS.  Months and months of apologizing for this space when guests would come over and cringing when first time guests would walk through.  We were just embarrassed, but we did not know exactly what we wanted for this space, just yet.

That is until we came in contact with one of our most favorite sponsors on our blog — Giani Granite  They are amazing company, with even better products, helping homeowners like us bring the best out of our homes, ourselves and for an affordable price! Our first collaboration was to refinish our orange countertops with their amazing Giani Granite Countertop paint.  Not only was the entire process a cinch, but the results are outstanding and have stood the test of time.  Which is a lot to say coming from a mom of two messy boys – I am constantly cooking and cleaning those countertops!  So we took the first step into making this kitchen feel more like us –

Huge difference right?! The old kitchen was so dark and depressing – we used the White Diamond Kit to give our countertops new life.  The best  part of these countertop paints are that you are in total control of its outcome.  We knew we wanted more white than black showing through, and we aimed for more of a marble appearance rather than granite.

An entire year later, we decided it was time to give this kitchen another face lift.  We know a huge kitchen gut is about 5 or more years down the road for us.  In the mean time, we want to try a few different looks in our kitchen so that we find the exact style and fit we want when we do dive into a huge gut.  This time around, we wanted to utilize their Nuvo Cabinet Paint  line and give our cabinets a new look.  We used basic painter-grade paint for the above look, which was a mistake.  Not only did it fall apart much quicker, it just lacked the shine and coverage we needed.  We of course loved what it looked like in comparison to the old kitchen, but my heart has been longing for a tuxedo kitchen for a while now.

Two toned cabinets, black lower cabinets and white upper.  New hardware, new rug and new kitchen set up.  Of course we are crazy and decided to do this 3 weeks before the holidays again, but we are SOOO glad we did.  Dan was the man behind the painting this time around, unfortunately I wasn’t feeling so swell to bust out the project.  But, having him do it this time around and truly experience the product was so fun.  He loved working with the cabinet paint, and could not believe the turn around time.  He painted on day one, and on day two we put on the new hardware.  That fast you guys — I spent WEEKS last time around with the painters grade paint.

Here is the new and improved kitchen with the gorgeous Nuvo Cabinet Paint !

If you could see me on the other side of your computer screen you’d see a 19 week prego-chick doing the happy dance all over the place.  This new look has left me absolutely giddy and so glad we switched things up!

It is amazing what a little paint can do, and just goes to show you that you do not have to do a total gut to achieve an entirely different look.

To think this kitchen just under two years ago lacked every ounce of style and function.  SO glad we saw the potential in this space and Giani has helped up get there!

Let’s do a back to back before and after, shall we?

(insert all of the heart emojis)

This holiday season we will welcome our guests into our home and not apologize for the space.  We are so proud of our new and improved kitchen!

The best part? We are hosting a giveaway!! Wahoo! You can enter here, and on Instagram as well so make sure to stop at both social media outlets to enter!

The prize? TWO of my darling readers will have a chance to win a Giani Granite Countertop Kit in Sicilian Sand.

I adore this color kit, and the variety of style and color you can achieve with this kit leaves me feeling all warm inside for whomever the winners are!

TO ENTER::

One winner will be chosen from right here – on the blog.

Second winner will be chosen on Instagram, and you can check out my account  ABBY_THETHOMEHOME to see the details!

For an entry here, it does not get any easier than leaving me a comment telling me what countertops you would bring new life!  Your kitchen? Bathroom? For an extra entry,  share this post on  your facebook page.  Spread the love for an additional entry!

Contest is for U.S. residents only, for shipping purposes.  Contest will close out December 26, 2015 and prizes will be shipped January 1, 2016.  

I hope you all had the happiest of a face stuffing holiday last week.  Ours was spectacular, and the fun spilled into the weekend, leaving us feeling like our friends and family had to roll us out of their doors.  My favorite dishes for Thanksgiving consisted of my aunts salad (don’t ask, it’s just always magical), my cousins brussel sprouts (holy shove my face I literally could have choked) and my sweet potatoes.  Food makes me a happy happy lady.

 I love the holiday haze when it kicks in – I really do my best to ignore posting to my social media/blog.  Oh, trust me, I’m still stirring around others  – but I feel like there is a place time where it’s okay to be busy, and not share it all when everyone.

SO, we had a lovely holiday and now we are full fledge back into fixing things up around here.

The babe is growing so well, as is the belly.  And our desire to do quick changes seems to be growing just as rapidly.  Dan is painting the kitchen cabinets (AH — I LOVE THEM) with the amazing Nuvo Cabinet Paint  – I mean, they really think of it all at Giani.  It’s been only a few hours into the painting process and Dan is already on coat number two.  I’m just smitten by the new color choice.

So, in the mean time – I had to hit up these “Cyber monday” deals, in which most companies drag them out a few days later, because, let’s face it, they’ll never say no to more sales and more money.

Rugs Usa is running a killer deal, 80% some of their rugs! If you are in the need for some new floor treatments, now is the time you guys! We just purchased a new master bedroom rug that has me weak in the knees and two kitchen rugs to go with our new look.  A 9×12, 5×8, 4×6, all for $300!

pinch me now.  If I knew the sex of the baby I would have tackled the nursery, but I’ll hold myself back for the big gender reveal christmas morning 🙂

First I snagged this beauty for the master bedroom –

You can find it HERE 

This rug retails for over $800 and I snagged it for $174.  I am a fool for shag rugs, and what better room to shag in then the bedroom? Am I right? 🙂

These simple ladies are for our kitchen — Oh how I wish I had pictures of the kitchen process but I am trying to steer clear of the paint (yes, it’s safe – but mama’s got a headache)

You can see these rugs here – The gray 5×8 was originally $429, I got it for $86!!

You guys, jump on it, jump on it.  FREE shipping.

Just had to drop in and let you all know of this deal, heck, even if you buy a back up rug just incase you pet or kids decide to ruin one, it’s worth it!

Much love to you all!