Q & A with Michael | The Husband Tag

Happy Wednesday! I had a request from one of my blog readers to do the husband tag (some Q & A with my husband where he answers questions about me from his perspecive.) I thought it would be a fun post where you could get to know a little more about us! Meet my handsome husband, Michael! We have been happily married for six years. Michael works for our family's ministry as product manager, which is amazing, because we get to work together everyday! Over the past few years we started flipping houses together as well (I do the design work, and he does the real work haha).

So, let's jump right into the Q&A!  Michael's answers will be in black and my commentary will be in pink. ;) Also, thank you to my lovely friend, Joanna, of Joanna's Photography for these Fall photos she took of us last year! They are some of my favorite photos of us to date! Outfit details are listed at the bottom of the post. 

Where did we meet? Indiana at a Youth Convention.

How long did we date before getting married? I don't know, how long did we date?
(Ha! We met when I was only 14, so we weren't technically dating right away. I'd say 3-4 years. I was 20 and you were 23 when we got married.)

When did we get married? June 4th, 2011

What is your favorite feature of me? I like your eyes, because they smile.

Favorite quality? Very caring, creative, and determined.

What is my favorite color? Blue

What is my favorite food? Italian

What is my favorite sports team? UK basketball

What is my favorite t.v. show? Forensic Files
(This is definitely my current obsession, but it could change anytime. I love watching documentaries as well! HA)

What kind of salad dressing am I most likely to get on my salad at a restaurant? Ranch

What food do I not like? Panda Express
(HAHA! Yes! I feel like it is always stale)

What size shoe do I wear? 8

What is my favorite type of sandwich? Turkey

If I could eat/drink one thing everyday what would it be? Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee.
(Caramel iced coffee with cream and two splenda, please! ;) Michael is a gem and shows up frequently with my favorite coffee!)

What is my favorite cereal? You don't eat cereal.
(Also correct! I have probably had only one bowl of cereal in the past 6 or 7 years!)

What is my favorite music? Michael Buble or Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir
(YES!)

What is my eye color? blue

Who is my best friend? Julianna Mast
(Yep! Since we were kiddos!)

Where was our first date? The mall... It wasn't really supposed to be a date because you were only 16, but your dad let us go to the mall and go shopping for about 2 hours! HA!

When did you meet my family for the first time? At a church convention.

Do we have a tradition together? We always decorate the Christmas tree together and listen to Michael Buble's Christmas album.
( I will decorate the entire house, but I always wait to decorate the tree until Michael is home to do it with me. )

When was our first road trip? Our honeymoon! 

What was the first thing you noticed about me? I saw you walking down the sidewalk, and I thought you were pretty! I think you were wearing a white outfit. (Wow! I can't believe you remember the outfit! That was almost 12 years ago. Good memories!)

Who said I love you first, and where was it? I did, I think it was at a gas station. I was about to go home for the summer from college, and I wasn't going to see you for a while. It was about a year and half after we met.
(HAHA! I totally forgot about this! We were standing outside the car, and my sister was waiting to drive me home. We were just kids! :) So funny that he told me at a gas station! Still crazy about this guy over 10 years later!)

What’s my job? Singer, photographer, interior designer, and fashion blogger extraordinaire. Haha!(LOL! I guess I like to dabble in a lot of different jobs!)

What drink do I order when we go out to eat? Diet Coke

If I were too collect anything what would it be? Clothes. Ha!(Ummm, yes!)

Where am I from? Indiana(Born in Indianapolis, and moved to Cincinnati when I was 6.)

Would I prefer to stay in or go out on Friday night? Stay in.

What could I spend hours doing? Looking at Pinterest for design ideas.
(Guilty! :P )

What is something you enjoy doing with me? Relaxing together... watching a movie or playing a game. 

Why did you fall in love me? Because you're beautiful inside and out.

(Awwww!)

I linked the exact same dress above. It's on sale for only $12.50! I had the sleeves and length hemmed a bit, but this dress is adorable as is, and super affordable! I also linked my exact boots. They are on an amazing sale! I received them for a Christmas gift, but they were originally $150 and they are only around $30 (price depends on your shoe size). 
Leave a comment and let me know what else you would like to see on the blog!

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Blog Launch & Flip House Reveal

I am so excited to launch my brand new blog today! Over the past several years, I have developed a love for interior design and fashion. I started sharing some of my home decor/projects and outfit ideas on my Instagram account, and was surprised to find out that so many of my friends and followers enjoyed these past times as well. Over time I began receiving lots of direct messages and questions about design ideas and where I get certain home decor and clothing items, etc.... A lot of the questions I have received have been about the little house my husband, Michael, and I purchased almost a year ago to flip and sell... it has been such a fun project over the past year, and since I have received so many questions about it I thought I needed a personal space to share some of the projects we're working on, fashion ideas, etc... So, I decided to launch, Classically Courtney.... And what better way to begin than to reveal the finished flip house?! So, without further ado...

Here is what the house looked like one year ago right now... I seriously cannot even believe how absolutely hideous it was... but we saw some potential in it....  

Aaannnddd here is what the house looks like today! We started out by painting the brick White Dove by Sherwin Williams, painting the trim Dovetail Gray by Sherwin Williams, rebuilding the poorly constructed porch, adding a stone foundation to the porch, building new wooden shutters (my cousin Andrew built these), new exterior lights, and fresh landscaping! Since these photos were taken we also had the driveway re-paved and it looks fabulous!

 The porch is one of my favorite features of the exterior. The stone added so much character! We stained the beams and shutters Espresso by Min Wax.

The black light fixtures are also a favorite! They are from Wayfair.com!

This is the entry and formal living room when we first bought the house. The golden oak color of the floors and yellow walls were definitely NOT my favorite! The dining area is behind where the photo is being taken.

And here is the formal living and dining area AFTER! One of our first indoor projects was hiring out the refinishing of the hardwood floors. We chose Espresso by MinWax. It's more of a medium brown color though. Definitely not espresso in color. We went with a satin  polyurethane finish instead of high gloss. I absolutely love how it turned out. The floors still have a nice gleam to them, but they don't look wet, which I love!

Here is a view of the dining room from the living room while the floors were being sanded. There was a half wall around the staircase to the basement, but it really closed off the space. There was also a super awkward space behind the staircase by the window...

I still can't get over this transformation! We took out the half wall and hired my cousin Jamie who is a custom carpenter to install the wrought iron railing. He also added the custom trim on the wall.

I hated the awkward space behind the staircase, so I had my cousin also build a custom built in china cabinet to make the dining space more useful. If you look closely, you can see we did a gray shiplap detail in the back of the bookcase. You can find the dining light fixture HERE. 

The previous owner took the kitchen cabinets with them, but I wasn't a bit sad about it... Their taste in colors made me think I would have hated them anyways! HA!  Plus, it made starting fresh a whole lot easier! 

The kitchen is by far my favorite transformation in the house! We removed about 2 feet of the left wall into the kitchen to open it up. We installed all new white shaker cabinets, crown moulding, black granite countertops, new stainless steel appliances, black cabinet handles, under and over cabinet lighting, and a custom backsplash.

 We did a simple white subway tile backsplash with warm gray grout. It matched our Silver Dollar by PPG wall color perfectly! Love how it turned out!

Since there was no window in the kitchen for a sink, I opted for a smaller cabinet above the sink and had Michael put a little "fancier" tile behind the sink to add a little interest. It turned out even better than I could have imagined! Also, love this faucet! 

On the other side of the kitchen was a small nook.... Once again, who chose these paint colors?!

I can't believe this is even the same kitchen! I love the tall pantry cabinet and upper cabinet surrounding the fridge! This nook in the kitchen was perfect to put the fridge in . It maximized the space and made it feel MUCH larger. 

The main bath on the first floor only had a large jacuzzi tub and no shower. It was fairly new, but was not a good use of the space. We sold the tub and vanity and decided to start over with the layout. 

We decided to install a shower bath combo to make the home more appealing to families for resale. We installed custom tile in the shower, all new tile floors, new 48" vanity with marble tops, chrome fixtures in the shower and vanity, all new recessed lights, and a new light fixture.  

 I'm loving this white vanity! The mirror is from Kirkland's.

We spent a very long time in the tile store picking out the tile for the showers. ;) Just ask my husband! HA! For any Cincinnati readers go check out Floor and Decor ASAP!

The master bedroom in the house just needed some cosmetic updates...

We refinished the floors to match the rest of the first floor, installed new closet doors, installed a new ceiling fan, painted the walls Silver Dollar by PPG, and painted the trim white!  We did the same updates in the two other first floor bedrooms. 

Here is what the basement looked like BEFORE... Wow... It was in such bad repair that we pretty much gutted it and started from scratch. In the right corner you can see where the laundry closet was.

AFTER! Once again... is this really the same house?! Fresh drywall really transformed this space. We added lots of recessed lighting to brighten it up. We also changed the laundry closet into a full laundry room since the space in front of the closet wasn't usable anyway! 

This was the laundry closet before we turned it into a room.

After!

 New drywall, tile floors, trim, paint, appliances and utility sink!

BEFORE view of the basement looking towards the stairs.

AFTER! We went with a simple beige/gray carpet. It is so soft, and really made the space feel larger! 

This was the basement bath... Needless to say, it had to go!

 AFTER

 Love this vanity from Lowes! The mirror was purchased at Kirkland's.

Another amazing custom shower by my handyman! My brother in law, William, also helped out on this project. 

This was the basement bedroom. It was right next to the bathroom, but did not have a door into it. We decided to make it an ensuite bed/beth. 

Finished bedroom!

The back yard needed a major face lift. The pool liner was ruined and needed replaced. Also, the privacy fence was falling down in certain places, and was mostly rotten.

AFTER! I am proud to say I actually helped build part of the fence.... and by building... I mean I carried the slats to Michael who nailed them into place! ;) 

Here's an in-progress photo of the work on the pool. We found out in November that some of the plumbing to the pool had burst, so Michael, his dad, and my cousin Andrew had to dig out the old pipes and replace them... in freezing cold weather! 

And we're DONE! We worked off and on on the house for a year, and can hardly believe it's over! It was so exciting to see all the transformations. Let me know what you think!

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