Ready, set, keep waiting a bit longer & a new dollhouse closet

We are getting closer and closer to the renovation.  Thankfully, I am running after 3 kiddos or I would not think about anything else. But like most big events in my life, I try not to think about how I am going to handle the difficulties until the day arrives.  I was telling my best friend that I wasn't worried about what we would do during the reno because I had bought a $40 toaster oven at Costco.  She looked at me sideways and asked if that was I all normally cooked in at home.

It went something like this:
"have you decided if you are going to move out during the renovation?"
"No, I bought a toaster oven."
"What?"
"At Costco, for $40, it is great"
"What?"
"So I can cook and we can just hang out in the basement"
"What?"

It made me realize that I will be much more disrupted that I had thought and we are going to move out for a couple months. Hilton has a branch that owns apartments in different buildings in the area-they are fully furnished and there is a set daily rate that includes insurance, cable, internet, electricity, etc. I am not going to move our furniture.  So if we can show up with our clothes, I will move out.  Billy is so excited that someone else was about to talk some sense in me and I can stop talking about this magic toaster oven.


A month ago, I took Nora Kate to the American Girl Doll store as a celebration of potty training.  We had a blast. My parents gave us my Samantha doll when I was growing up.  We had her cleaned at the store and she is as good as new.

We also bought a "just like me" doll that we named, Molly.  Nora Kate was obsessed with the doll house at the store.

I knew we wanted to buy her this doll house, but I have a weird thing with their rooms being clean. I feel like if you have a clean clutter free sleep space, you sleep better.  I came up with the idea of transforming her closet into a doll house.  Her closet has existing built ins but I never felt like they were a good use of the space.  There were a lot of cubbies but not a lot of space to hang her clothes.  Billy's work partner's sister does faux finish so I called her and we came up with a plan. We are completely gutting her closet and going to start from scratch. I am having new built ins put in and Holly, the painter, will come and make the inside of the closet look like the inside of a dollhouse. She is also going to paint a print on the low hanging wall due to the dormer in her room.  I do not know what exactly to do on that wall, so a paisley print and her name will be put there.  I cannot wait!

This should all be done mid September, so i will post all the pictures when it is completed!

BUT I have plans for the kitchen and I am meeting with the cabinet people next week when the kids are back in school...ohhhh it's getting closer and closer! More on that later!