New House

On Saturday evening we took possession of our first house!!!! I can't believe it yet. I love it more than I thought I even did which is great. Before we did anything to the house or moved in I took some before pictures of our house to share.

Ready?!

The family room is so open and bright. I can't wait to put our new furniture in there. We also painted it yesterday because although this color isn't horrible, I didn't love it. I still need to take pictures of the new color.

The kitchen is what sold us. This picture doesn't do it justice. I need to take a better one. It is huge and bright and open and SO MANY CABINETS! I might actually not be able to fill them all. Guess it's time to go shopping. We painted this room the same as the living room yesterday. Pictures coming soon!

 Love the countertops!

The formal dining room is in the front of the house. 

View from the front door

This is the loft. AKA Jacob's man area.

 Other side of the loft.

This is the biggest of the extra bedrooms and the one we will make a guest bedroom.

Another soon to be guest bedroom. This room needs some paint. And the walls need sanded in some places. You can't really tell in this picture but there are clearly pictures of horses that were painted over. Not really our style ;)

 

When we have kids this will be their bathroom. The shower and toilet are behind a separate door.

One day this will be the nursery. It is the room closest to the master. 

The sitting area in the master. These pictures aren't good representations of the wall color at all. I think it's way prettier in person and plan to keep it.

The other side of the master.

Our bathroom

MY closet! I don't have to share with a boy (who has more clothes than me) anymore!

Hubby's closet.

I can't believe it but apparently I forgot to take pictures of 2 of my favorite rooms, the office downstairs and the half bath downstairs. They both have beautiful woodwork. I will have to post pictures soon.

We are so excited about the house and can't wait to move in next weekend and start living in our first home! I have to admit that there is part of me that is a little sad to leave our current house though since it was the first place we lived together. 

More Living Room Dreaming

After we decided to finally commit to a couch I got motivated to figure out how to best layout the furniture. Most people would have done this before they bought a big oh sectional, but apparently I'm not most people.

We have dreams of entertaining more often once we have the new house. It's a big house for the two of us and Penster considering there will be no human children to fill it for a while, so we want to use the living space for spending time with friends and family. Have I mentioned Jacob is one of 12 kids? We will need seating.

Plus, I really like furniture. A lot. I'm weird.

Anyway, so here's where I'm at. I got sucked into Urban Barn's Room Planner  last night for longer than I want to admit. I had some trouble on my MacBook using it, but I think it was because I don't have a separate mouse (although it may have been user error) so I used the big huge desktop in the office and it worked like a charm. It was so easy. You just plug in your dimensions, add your furniture, and can just drag it all around.

I think this layout is my favorite. Jacob also agrees. Sorry the quality is bad. I saved them too small.

I also considered moving the sectional a few feet back since the living room opens right into the kitchen. There isn't really a wall where there looks like there is in my amateur floor plan.

 

I also moved it against the wall

And took away the side chairs

I like the sectional alone in the middle of the room, but I don't know how I feel about it not being centered on the entertainment center. I also like the extra chairs. But I don't want there to be too much furniture and feel crowded.  At this point I am between #1 and #4 and leaning towards the first one, but if you know me at all you know how indecisive I am.

Lets be honest, it will probably look nothing like any of these pictures in real life.

My Wild Saturday

My how my Saturdays have changed in a few short years.  Not so long ago, my favorite Saturdays consisted of sleeping until noon, laying around in my sweats all day, sushi dinner, followed by 32 oz. Tie Dye long islands at Sports and then some Square Donuts on the walk home. Sushi + drinks + donuts. What was I thinking? That just sounds like bad news.

Oh! And then of course there was studying all day and into the late hours of the night Mom and Dad.

My Saturdays still usually consist of a lot of sleep, sweatpants, and actual studying, but today we went shopping for the new house. And guess what?!

 I made the commitment! We bought a sectional today!

Source: kittles.com via Kim on Pinterest

We saw this at Kittles a few weeks ago and actually agreed on it, but decided it was a little to expensive so we tried to forget it. Of course, we didn't forget it. After my cry for help the other day, my aunt sent me tons of pictures of what I said I wanted and again this was the one that stood out to me. She pointed out that they were having a sale so we checked it out again and low and behold it had come down the couple hundred dollars we wanted it to. Still pricey for us cheapskates newlyweds, but we LOVE it and figured it would hopefully last longer. 

I've also convinced J I will save it other areas. 

No really, I will!

So after the drama of picking the couch, now I had to pick the fabric. The sales lady handed me 6 huge binders of fabric and then pointed me towards another huge display. Awesome and not so awesome all at the same time. I narrowed it down, silently freaked out, then couldn't commit so we went to lunch. 

Sidenote: We went to On the Border. Way grosser than I remember.

While at lunch, Jacob sent out an SOS message to my aunt (who does this for a living and happens to live nearby the furniture store). He was over my indecisiveness apparently. 

So after lunch we met up and she saved Jacob's time and my sanity.

We actually picked out a tan microsuede or microfiber or whatever it is. I know I said I had ruled it out, but we found one that doesn't look like it will show butt marks (technical term) as bad as some of the ones I have seen. What persuaded me was a) comfort and 2) durability/cleaning.

Here is where a good blogger would insert a picture of the fabric swatch. Of course, I didn't take one of the one I actually picked. I ordered a sample that should be here in a week-ish, so maybe I'll show you then. Or maybe it will be a surprise when the couch is delivered when we move in. 

Sorry for the suspense ;)

Way more than you ever wanted to know about this dang couch? Just wait until you see what I did all evening. However, I think that's for another post for another day.

Furniture Dilemma

I have been planning how I want to decorate our next place way before we even considered moving. Weird? Totally.

So this weekend J and I went shopping to find what I have had in my head. We started off with some living room furniture. We have been to every furniture store within 45 miles. Come to find out, what I have in my head does not exist. I haven't even been able to find one I like that is above my price range which is typically my problem.

I thought I wanted a sectional for the living room. However, I cannot find one that I love.

The closest I have come is this one:

I like the size, shape, chaise, relatively tall back, comfort and fabric BUT I think it is too dark for what I want. And of course that is the only color it comes in.

After looking at what felt like every sectional ever made I decided to start to looking at buying a couch and loveseat instead. I love this one, except for the color. Notice a theme?

It's hard to tell in the pictures but these are actually gray and since I want to paint the walls gray I don't think it will work. I am looking for more of a tan color.

Then at the end of the day I saw this one

And again, closer.

I almost bought it. I still like it. But looking at the pictures just now in comparison, I wonder if it looks cheap. I also am trying to avoid the microfiber that I will go insane trying to erase butt prints. Does that even make sense?

I think we are back to square one. I may be being way too picky.

I am definitely being too picky.


I feel like I keep finding what I want almost. I want to combine the first two with the color of the last one. Well, maybe a little darker than that. But much lighter than the first picture. Ahhh!

So for now, the search continues. Luckily I have plenty of time since we don't move until April!

Did anyone notice that J is "testing" the couches in every picture? Does anyone have any ideas? I'm sure the couch I want is out there somewhere!

Guess What...

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

Sorry to yell, but I'm so excited!  We had the inspection today which went great and the financials are all locked in so hopefully everything else will continue to go smoothly. We close in April when our lease is up. I can't wait!

Master Bedroom Dresser

Since I'm on Christmas Break from school, I finally had some time to style the dresser in our master bedroom.

My dear husband bought me the mirror that's leaned against the wall. He got it at Kirklands, and I know this because I bought it and told him that it was what he was getting me for Christmas.

 
The white lacquer tray, orchid, and both of the gold vases I got from Homegoods.  The picture frame was from TJ Maxx. Clearly I still need to put pictures in it, but I was too excited not to share. The books in the tray I stole from the living room, but I got them a while ago for $1 on clearance at TJ Maxx. As you can see, they are pretty substantial hardcover books. A good find, if I do say so myself.

Linking up with Serenity Now

Go out on Black Friday? When pigs fly...

We went out on Black Friday. Kinda.

We didn't hit our first store until around 9am because I wanted to get my normal beauty rest. I hadn't planned to go out, but those adds always suck me in. That's the point right? Well good job, it works on me.

We went to several places, but Menard's was really where we really cashed in. We went there for these table Foosball, air hockey, pool games for J's little brothers. They were out when we got there, but we asked anyway and they said they didn't have any. Later on in the store the guys we asked brought them to us! They were $6.99. Pretty awesome, considering they were originally $40.00 and the lowest I found in other ads was around $12.99 I think. I also got some other toys at great prices for our nieces there. Weird place to go toy shopping, but we got great deals and no crowds.

I can't share the details of what else I got there and other stores because who knows who will read this, but I am excited about my finds!

I got everyone on my list done, except my parents, the hardest people to buy for ever. Well, my mom's not so hard because we pretty much like the same stuff, but my dad is impossible. (I hope you read this and tell me what you want!)

I also bought myself a little something. This something is something that I have been thinking about ever since I saw it a week ago. I even talked about it at Thanksgiving dinner, which told me I needed to go back and buy it for myself.

A ceramic flying pig! I know, it's kind of weird but for some reason I am in love with him. Oh and we have decided it is a him. I texted my mom and my sister about the pig and they both called it, "him" so it was decided. I don't know exactly where he will land here yet, but I am happy he made it home with me! He was from TJMaxx so waiting a week can be risky, you know. It was fate I tell you. (or maybe no one in their right mind fantasizes about a flying ceramic pig). I'll let you decide.

Life Update via Cell Phone Pics

I have been MIA and I am so mad at myself for slacking already on this blog thing. I have no excuse, so I'm not even going to try. I start class and my internship again on Monday and only time will tell if that will lead to more or less posts. My guess is more. After all, I am the queen of procrastination.

I really don't remember where we left off last or what I have been up to, so I figured the best way to do a quick update was to go through my phone to remember what I did.

I thought about editing and making pretty categorized collages but there are way too many pictures and I am way too lazy, so here we go!

We went to King's Island with my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and niece. We decided to go when it was super hot like crazy people, but we didn't let that stop us from having a good time.

My niece did awesome on the roller coasters and I am pretty sure we got to all of the ones she was tall enough to ride.

I finally got around to painting my $12 dresser. To be honest with you, I finished it weeks ago, but it is still sitting in the garage just like this, but white. Once I convince the husband to help me bring it inside, I will take after pictures.

I also got new pillows for the living room. I need some more to layer with, but so far I'm a fan. (Notice catdog on the back of the couch)

The new bookcases are also a work in progress at the moment, as you can tell by pile-o-accessories in the bottom corner of the picture. I want to change the pictures, paint that wooden thing on the shelf 3 down from the top, and add something to the square vase (maybe a candle and a cool filler?) I'm sure it will change at least 30 bazillion more times.

I also realize that the brass pig doesn't really match anything in the rest of our house, but it has sentimental value so the pig stays. 

My dad's birthday was also in the last few weeks. We went to Buca di Beppos and it was delish as usual.

Mom went a little crazy with desserts, huh?

Speaking of Mom, her birthday was yesterday! We went out to celebrate this weekend, but I forgot to snap a picture or two. Opps!

Penny has become a momma's girl lately. She has to be touching me 150% of the time. I love it and hate it all at the same time. I sure will miss her when I go back to school/work Monday!

Last weekend I headed up to Chicago to visit my friend Diane. I took 1 whole picture and it's blurry.

Fail.

More pictures exist, I'm just waiting very impatiently for someone to send them to me or post them so I can steal them and tell you all about the trip. Becca, this means you!

In other news, my friend Courtney and her husband Matt bought their first house. I am super excited for them and they had their housewarming party this weekend. 

The obligatory man and his grill shot from the cookout.

This is only half the food. Ridiculous.

Their dog Dexter is decidedly a dog model.

The newest addition to their house is this enormous horse dog. 

Internet, meet Yogi. 

He's a 120-ish pound Newfoundland they just adopted in the last week or so that actually is a little malnourished and needs to gain some weight.

He really is the epitome of a gentle giant.  Such a sweet boy.

I mean, how could you not love that face?

That's all folks.

Pretty exciting stuff, huh?

Let there be light

As we have been decorating our master bedroom, I have been on the lookout for a chandelier for the space. In my head, I had imagined a chandelier like these in my inspiration pictures from Pinterest.

Source: None via Kim on Pinterest

Source: blog.urbangrace.com via Kim on Pinterest

 

Source: weheartit.com via Kim on Pinterest

As much as I would love to be able to go to an antique store and buy a crystal chandelier, that just isn't in the cards for us right now so I was thrilled when I found this one for $50 (!!!) at Home Depot online.

It was originally $99.97 It was marked down to $77.00 and I was sold. When I went to check out, I noticed the price in the cart was actually $49.99. I was so excited!

It came in a million pieces, but that's what you get for $50. Jacob put it together Saturday morning before I was even awake, but he says it was time consuming but not hard.

 

I may be obsessed. Just one more. Promise.

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