Almost a Year Later and So Much Change!

Here we are, it's June again! At this time last year I was begging for my water to break and my sweet baby to come. By late July I was in the midst of PPOCD and scared, not knowing where to turn. By October I was past the worst of it, but still had a long road of recovery. Christmas came and I felt mostly normal, but not quite there. As summer begins, I can say with confidence that I believe my OCD "episodes" will now be few and far between. I don't want to brush my OCD under the rug and act like it doesn't ever bother me anymore, but for the most part it doesn't. Just a couple of weeks ago when the Josh Duggar sex scandal occurred my anxiety went through the roof! One of my biggest fears had come true in a family that I trusted! I know it sounds so dumb, but when my worries come to pass in other people's lives, I fear them again in my own. I'm now fearless again and feeling great. I thought this would be the perfect time to look back on my year of crafts and OCD and show everyone exactly what we have accomplished this year in our kitchen/dining room.
                                                                             
This is what our kitchen looked like when we bought the house. This is where my vision to redecorate and heal through crafts began. I felt like our kitchen was too dark and I really wanted to change it. So I bought a kitchen table off of Craigslist for $50 and began to paint. During this time my thoughts were dark and constantly racing. It was when my mother-in-law was in town watching the boys that I was working on the chairs and noticed that for a moment, I was thinking about something other than the kids. My first moments of relief during my struggle with OCD happened while working on this table. After I finished the table, we just kept updating our kitchen! We got our beautiful chandelier, painted our red wall tan, I stenciled another wall in our kitchen (which took watching the entire Parenthood series because of my racing thoughts), my husband put in laminate flooring, I painted the cabinets, we got new countertops, my husband installed our backsplash, and I redid our bronze bar stools! I cannot even believe the difference between the pictures taken from when we first bought our house until now, it is like a completely new space!

                                                        Dining Room Before                                                            

                                                              Dining Room After

                              Kitchen Before

                              Kitchen After




                       Refinished stools and underneath of counter painted same as kitchen table. 

 

This is my stenciled wall-one of the most time consuming, but fulfilling things I did during this project.

 

 I hope you all enjoy these pictures, seeing it in person is even more amazing. I really feel like this transformation really embodies how I transformed during this time. I started out scared to death. My heart and thoughts were always racing, I honestly never knew how I would make it through each day. This kitchen remodel gave me a way to redirect my attention toward positive and constructive things. I know that I need to blog more regularly, but I just want to show everyone all of the things I work on when I don't blog (on top of parenting)! Thank you all so much for reading!



Chels