6.02.2012

New House Progress

We are slowly but surely getting moved in and settled into our new house. There is still a lot of work to do, but I know these things take time without the magic of HGTV. So I just wanted to stop in and post some pictures of the progress we have made thus far. 

WARNING: Longest post ever

Our family room is one of my favorite rooms in the house so far. Probably because most of our money and work have been used in this room.


I love love LOOOVE the couch. I am so happy we went with the big sectional. It's so comfy and pretty! We got the coffee table and blanket at IKEA, the medallion pillow at Garden Ridge and already owned everything else.


My mirror was one of my favorite HomeGoods finds. I found this way before we moved, but I knew it would be perfect here. I also paid around $60 for it, as it was on clearance because the frame on some of the bursts(?) was damaged. Unless you take it off the wall and look closely you can't see it and since I don't have plans to do so, it works for us.


We made the tv unit. The bottom is an old bookcase turned on its side and Jacob made cabinet doors for it and a shelf for the cable box. The side bookcases were given to us from my Grandma. We painted it all, frosted the glass, added door knobs, and used silver rub and buff on all of the brass. It was a pain in the butt and took us 3 weekends, but oh so worth it. You would think I measured and planned for it to fit in the space (which I of course did not). Apparently I am lucky! Somone needs to order the TV mount and then actually mount it to hide the outlets and the cords...


These curtains are the newest addition to the living room. They are a housewarming gift from my parents. I think they make the room a little more fun and interesting. We found them at Z Gallerie, the chairs are Target, and the table was TJ Maxx.


Moving on...the curtains are also on the sliding door in the kitchen


This picture was actually taken a few weeks ago and things have changed a bit. There are now plants in the window, different accessories, a new rug, pictures, a big clock, and a new cabinet. One day I will paint those bar stools. I would take a new picture and post it, but my kitchen island looks like a bomb just went off. Just keeping it real.


I can, however, take close ups of some the new things without being mortified.

The rug was a Garden Ridge find. I'm debating going back and buying a bigger one for elsewhere because I love it.


My two loves deserved a spot in our home...food and wine


That cabinet needs painted all white, but it will be perfect for cookbooks. It was also given to us by my Grandma. Notice a theme? She was downsizing at the same time we were moving into a much bigger house that we could never possibly furnish, so we inherited a lot. Luckily my grandma doesn't have "grandma" tastes so I got great stuff that I actually love! Our house would be half empty without her giving us so much and we are so very thankful.

The clock was from Hobby Lobby on sale.

The lower level also hosts our dining room, furnished from the store of Grandma Takayoshi. I have big plans of reupholstering one day.  I'm also on the hunt for curtains.



The half bath downstairs is another favorite space in the house. Is that weird?



Last, but not least the office/den is downstairs. I have tried very hard to get a good picture, but the paint color is not true to real life in any picture. It is a much prettier blue. I believe it is Benjamin Moore Blue Herron based on the paint cans in the trash can when we moved in.




I cannot even tell you how hard it is to get a picture without Penny photo bombing. Diva.

This room is definitely functional but in progress. I have big (read: $$$) plans. Fun curtains, adding trim to the bookcases to make them look like built ins, new floor lamp that was not in a dorm room at one time,and a new couch. I am also hopeful that that desktop computer will die one day and I won't have to have the desk against the wall, but don't tell J. Oh and I need to hang diplomas and pictures.

Time to head upstairs


That dark brown paint has got to go. I don't like that there are three(!) different paint colors on the staircase walls. Plus the brown paint was not applied very evenly. Also I think I need another row of pictures, but the frames are currently out of stock.

Once upstairs, the loft is the first room. One of the many reasons we bought this house was because the loft was big and cozy. It's more like a second family room really. We have made it into a media room. J calls it his man loft.



Down the hall is the first guest room. It's coming along, but needs pictures hung.



The second extra bedroom is known around here as the Japanese Horse room. The previous owners had horse decals on the wall (it was a little girls room) and just painted over them when they left so you can totally still see them. There also also random Chinese or Japanese symbols on the walls in pencil. We need to sand the walls down and paint, but I'm growing kind of attached to them now. No matter what this will always be known as the Japanese Horse Room.

I love the bed in this room and I think I want to make this room kind of girly. Priority number one is paint. Then I want some pillows to made it a daybed, art, and curtains.


I hope to get to this room soon because it is probably the least done, other than the master bedroom. The master needs some major TLC as it is the weirdest shaped room ever and huge. It currently looks sterile in there and I don't even have a picture. You're not missing much. Just image a big blue room with a bed plopped in the middle.

The outside is also coming along. We cleaned it up a little, mulched, added flowers, and put down some grass seed. We are also currently battling the weeds in the grass and I think we may finally be winning!




Writing this post and looking at all the pictures made me realize how far we have come and how far we have to go. Other than the master I would say we have all or the furniture we need, and what is left to do is most curtains, art, accessorize, paint, etc. The fun stuff!




4.11.2012

Procrastination, Easter Egg Hunts, and Chocolate Cake

Creative title, huh?

Who thought it was a good idea to move in the last two weeks of grad school?! My motivation to finish up the 23 page paper, the 12 page paper, 2 presentations, and a final in the next 13 days is at an all time low. And that is saying a lot.  In a weird way I wish I was freaking out more so I would actually work on stuff instead of daydreaming about decorating the new house. I need to finish up/START some of this stuff before we do the big move Saturday. Basically I need to stop procrastinating. I know this intellectually, but I can't seem to stop myself.

So in an effort to procrastinate even further I wanted to share some pictures and a recipe from the weekend.

On Saturday we celebrated Easter (eve?) with my parents and siblings at my parents' house.I made a yummy cake that I can't stop eating because 1. it's yummy and 2. carbs and sugar are my cure for stress. Since food is always my priority numero uno I took an overexposed picture of the cake but nothing else.



 I found the recipe via Pinterest from The Nonpareil Baker. I copied the recipe exactly from her blog and it was the best cake I have ever made. It's basically the Hershey's chocolate cake recipe with a cream cheese frosting in the middle and chocolate buttercream frosting on the outside. Yum! I would definitely recommend adding the chocolate chips on top because in my unprofessional opinion there can never be enough chocolate. The cake was a little time consuming but so worth it.

On actual Easter Sunday J and I spend the morning painting. Fun right? We painted the kitchen and living room Sherwin Williams Amazing Gray and I am very happy with it. I need to finish my school work so I can get my booty over there and take some pics of the paint in the daylight. But instead I'll write a wordy blog post.

In the afternoon we went to J's parents' house for Easter. There are tons of little ones on his side so I actually remembered to take pictures of the egg hunt.


Our niece, Bella got to get a head start.

Another niece, Shelby looking cute in her Easter outfit. 


And her sister Taylor hanging out with her candy stash.


Chloe is our oldest niece who never stopped long enough for me to get a good picture. She took this Easter egg hunt seriously.


Hubby playing basketball with his brother and dad


My beautiful sister in law Kiara and Bella Boo


And we will end with a cute baby pic. How can you not love that face?!
4.09.2012

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. 
2.29.2012

Couch Fabric

I got my sample fabric in the mail for our newly ordered sectional today. Woohoo!

As promised, I had to share!

  

I think it is actually a little lighter in person than this picture, but not much. I LOVE it, so that's a good thing! It's so soft. I think it will look just the way I wanted and be super cozy. Can't wait!

 

The blue and white fabric is the pillow fabric. The couch comes with a couple pillows and I actually have some to mix and match with them already. I may or may not have spent the last 30 minutes lining them up in the way I want them to go and comparing them with the samples. I'm so cool. Don't hate.

What do you think?! 

Tired of hearing about my couch? I'm just so excited and I just can't hide it. If you think I'm obsessed now just wait until it comes in...
 

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