A year ago yesterday I got a letter in the mail from Joanna Gaines. Yes...for real. The real Jojo.

In just a year, I am astounded at all that God has done in my life and my heart. God is good....SOgood! I cannot wait to see what this year has to offer.

So what’s a gal to do when she desires to have a beautiful home but doesn’t have to talent to make it so? Well through plenty of trial and error I’m happy to share with you the secrets of how I finally have the living room makes my heart happy.

With spring literally right around the corner (can't you just feel it?), I thought it would be fun to put together some of the ways I have begun to add spring decor to my home while also sharing a few decorating secrets along the way that have saved me a tremendous amount of time and money

I've had many people ask me to reveal this fun project, I thought what the heck! So without further ado here is our DIY barn door shelving unit from start to finish.

I was first inspired to write this blog when I walked into the Target "dollar spot" the other day (I know all you other moms are nodding in agreement to this statement) and with all the cute tin basins and trays, I could NOT resist! So I thought why not do a quick blog about how to create the perfect spring centerpiece to begin implementing those beautiful pops of green into your home; if we are being honest with ourselves, we all shop at the Target dollar spot so we can all accomplish this look!

To keep the fun rolling we thought we'd share with you the worst part of the renovation...demolition! My husband has put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into the removal of all those pepto pink tiles but I am NOT sad to see them go! Take a look!

I know what you're probably thinking...ANOTHER big announcement?! How in the world could they have ANOTHER announcement to make. Just shut up already Kirby family! But the truth is...this really IS a big announcement that I've been holding onto for a couple weeks now and I could not be more excited to finally share it with you all!

I wanted to be able to seamlessly tie in the winter greenery without overwhelming the merchandise that needed to be displayed. So what did I do? Well...I took a quick trip into the woods to see what I could scrounge up of course! And I'm glad I did too!

This 6 foot long, green-stained, solid piece of wood weighed a ton and needed a lot of TLC but all I could see was the immense potential that it possessed (and did I mention I snagged it for $50?)!

Last week I wrote about picking out the perfect paint color, so I thought I'd share one room in my house (my little boy, Justus's room) where this decision process was rather difficult for me. When picking out paint colors for my kids rooms I wanted to keep them rather neutral for a couple reasons...

If you are painting say a bedroom and it's rather small the LAST thing you want to do is make it feel even smaller! That's what will happen if you choose darker colors (red, brown, navy, etc). And I would even be leery of those brighter colors too (pink, baby blue, green, etc). It's important to know that in smaller rooms, whites and neutral tones are a MUST! Subtle is better!

How to save your old kitchen cabinets with a little TLC and paint. Learn just how we transformed our kitchen here!

Spray paint gives you options to make something look the way you want it to look in a price range you can afford. It can also be a great temporary fix to hold you over until you can buy something that you really want.

The one thing ALL of us DIY-er's have in common is that we all had to start somewhere. Not all of us had "experience" going into their first project and some of us may not even have been that creative but we all had to start somewhere! Here are some tips for all you out there that consider yourself to be the "average joe" of crafts and projects and how you too can become a DIY master!

When we renovated our split level kitchen/living room we got multiple people asking how we stayed on budget and ways we kept costs low. For fun I put together a list of some of the ways we cut our costs and stayed within our budget, all the while creating a beautiful kitchen and living room that is entirely ours!

This process allowed us the flexibility to create what we wanted, when we wanted and we couldn't be happier with the results. Giani Granite has given me such a good experience that I wanted to share it with the rest of you because come on, let's face it, whose countertops could use a little extra love these days? And for only $80 you can accomplish just what I have with little time and effort. Here is my step-by-step process:

So when trying to figure out how we were going to save money on new countertops (one of the larger expenses when renovating your kitchen) I got to researching right away! I came across this really cool/REALLY affordable way to totally reinvent your countertops without having to buy completely new ones and I was sold!

It’s been exactly 2 months and 13 days since we signed on our new house; 2 months and 12 days since we “broke ground” on our house; and 1 month and 3 weeks since we moved in to our house. Let’s just say that life has been a WHIRLWIND!  While each day seems to fly by, I can’t believe that we began this huge endeavor only a little over 2 months ago. Somebody asked us the other day, “So you guys have been living here for about a year right?!” I laughed and replied, “It sure SEEMS like it!”

Check out more pics from our photoshoot at our first home! To view the whole story check out my previous blog post "We Bought A House: Our God Story."