Duggar Master Bedroom Facelift

Big families love big projects! If you follow our blog about the Bates family, stars of the reality TV show Bringing Up Bates, you've seen the Bates kids do multiple redecorating projects as surprises for their parents. They redecorated the entire first floor of their East Tennessee house, as well as Gil and Kelly's master bedroom.

Now, it's the Duggar siblings' turn to surprise their parents with a redecorating project. This one was very involved and took a week and a half. If you notice, they had to do quite a bit of actual renovating around the window to create a window seat. The Duggar brothers made the cabinets from scratch.

Before...

After...

 Duggar master bedroom

Duggar master bedroom

 Duggar master bathroom

Duggar master bathroom

Photos courtesy duggarfamily.com/Jana Duggar

37 Duggars and Counting

 Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar

Last week on our Bates blog, we posted a breakdown of Gil and Kelly's ever-expanding family. Since that post, one of the kids announced a pregnancy, so the Bates are now 34 members strong.

In comparison, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar celebrated 33 years in July and are quickly approaching 40 family members. They have...

6 married kids (Josh, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, and Joy)
0 children who have announced courtships or engagements
5 unmarried adult children (Jana, John-David, Josiah, Jedidiah, and Jeremiah)
4 teenagers (Jason, James, Justin, and Jackson)
4 kids ages 7-12 (Johannah, Jennifer, Jordyn, and Josie)
9 grandchildren ages 4 months-8 years
1 grandchild on the way (Joy and Austin)
6 children-in-law (Anna, Derick, Ben, Jeremy, Kendra, and Austin)

Photo courtesy duggarfamily.com

Duggar vs. Bates

While visiting the Bates family in Tennessee, Jim Bob goes head-to-head with Lawson Bates, the fourth oldest of Gil and Kelly's 19 children, in a basketball challenge:

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Recap: "Bates & Duggar Reunion"

This evening on United Bates of America "Bates & Duggar Reunion"...

• The episode opens as the Bates begin preparing for the Big Sandy homeschool conference. Kelly gives instructions, and Michaella bustles around packing everything into an estimated 50 bags.
• They end up leaving later than expected and hit a roadblock along the way...Zach accidentally slams the family's van into their bus (driven by Gil). "Zach felt so bad," sympathizes Kelly.
• After an eventful night, the Bates pull into a Nashville motel at 3:00 AM to catch up on sleep. 
• When Gil and Kelly and the kids finally arrive at Big Sandy, they are welcomed by the Duggars with hugs and dinner. "It's always fun when we get together with the Duggars," says Alyssa. 
• In the evenings, the Duggars and Bates meet up with other homeschool families for music, games, and fellowship. The Bates kids agree that conferences are a great place to meet people, including future spouses. They have used the term "courtship" in the past but now prefer to call it "dating with a purpose."
• At the conference, the Bates have the privilege of singing, and Gil and Kelly speak to fellow homeschooling parents. According to the kids, hearing their parents speak is the highlight of the week, and Gil and Kelly agree that their kids are their biggest encouragers.