Master Bedroom Gallery Wall

Hammering the first nails into our house's walls was nervewracking. I was so scared of making a mistake, which isn't even something I worried about in our apartment. There's something about the house that seems so permanent, though... but the ironic thing is I know in the back of my mind that any changes CAN be made!

So it took a while to hang things on our walls. In the downstairs I'm still not sure where I want to put a lot of things. I am an extremely indecisive person to the point where it might be unhealthy. In our bedroom, however, I knew how and what I wanted to hang.... it was just a little scary.

I knew I liked our mini gallery wall above our bed in our apartment, but I didn't like that we had so many things hanging so many places on almost every wall. I wanted to combine things, so that's just what I did.

I've never tried the method of cutting out paper the size of the frame you're using, taping up, putting a nail through it, and then hanging the picture on that. It sounds lovely, but I wasn't patient enough to sit and measure out and cut paper for all of my frames. My method was lazy and different but it worked for me.

First, I laid all of the frames out in the arrangement I wanted, on my bed. It took some moving around, but I finally got it just right.

Then I measured out how long and high that was, and figured out where I should start to position on my wall. Then I one by one, took frames and hung them with thumbtacks where they were to go. I hung everything in our apartment with thumbtacks, and Aaron was sooo mad! He's one of those people that only likes to hang things perfectly on the studs. I however, don't really care and I will hang whatever, wherever (unless it poses a safety risk). 

Eventually I went through and replaced all of the thumbtacks with nails and used the tiny pinhole as a guide. It worked so beautifully.

I'll also share the other progress we've made in the room. This is the view from the door. The curtains are very makeshift, we just threw ours up there on the rods that were in here. We hate that they don't fully cover the windows, but are still deciding what to do about that.

The rug was $19.99 from Ross. It is great and covers a stain.

We actually really like the paint color, so that will be staying for the time being. Next up for this room: curtains!

Bathroom Update

So I've totally been bitten by the oil-rubbed bronze spray paint bug. I used it to paint this lamp and now I've used it several more times in other areas of our house.

One of the things we really didn't like about our bathroom was the hardware (ie towel racks/rings). They appear to be spraypainted a very almondy color and it was just a little strange. Maybe just because it isn't a color you've ever seen on a towel rack. Here is what they looked like, before the oil-rubbed bronze spray paint got the best of them...

It was as easy as unscrewing this teeny little screw on the bottom of each:



And then taking them in the garage and giving them several light coats of the paint.

Here's how they looked after a few days of drying, reattached to their homes.

A few pictures of the progress made in the bathroom, with the addition of some rugs from my mom.

I also hung the free botanical art I made.

After I took these photos, I found a great ORB toilet paper holder at Marshall's for $7.99 to replace this very modern IKEA one: 

I obviously still need to patch up some holes on the wall from where the old one was attached!

These small changes have made an impact in our bathroom so far.. we still have lots on our wish list but for now, any progress is good progress!

A Next to New Lamp

The Next to New shop on Burnet Road is one of my favorite thrift shops in Austin for furniture and home items. It is a mix of donated items, consignment items, and estate sale goods so it is a refreshing change up to the Goodwill or Salvation Army scene or any other shop I've found in town for that matter. Some things may seem overpriced at first, but if you look closely at the tag you will see they operate on a discounted "schedule" where on a certain day the price drops by 50%, and then another 50% which is great for true bargain hunters that can control their impulses! Everything there is very gently used and there isn't a bunch of crap to rifle through. They have nice vintage furniture pieces, amazing china sets, beautiful silver items including some incredible tea sets I always lust after, a good selection of oriental rugs that are in good condition, and lots of milk glass and pottery.

I've had my eye on a dresser there this summer, so I'll be going back next week to see if it's still there. If it is I'll get quite the bargain :)

Last week I visited specifically for a lamp to make over. After continually checking my Home Goods for the perfect lamp for months I have given up. I found a lamp with a great shape and size at Next to New and it was marked down to $7.50, the lowest it would go. This little guy had been sitting on that shelf for quite awhile!

Never mind that lampshade and that the scale is totally off... I knew a new lamp shade was in the cards.

I got a can of Rustoleum's Oil Rubbed Bronze at Home Depot for about $6...

And I gave my lamp two quick, light coats...

Then I went to Target and came away with a new shade. I got this one from Target, about $15. Target sells shades for lamps without harps, so I had to take the harp off my new lamp. I was happy about that because the harp was unusally large and it looked funny. It was as easy as pinching the sides of the harp to get it off.

Here's my lamp in it's new home!  

When I was at Target I saw similarly sized oil rubbed bronze bases for $34.99 just for the bases! So happy with my decision to upcycle a lonely old lamp from Next to New!

Our Home: The Outside

Happy Wednesday! I promised to come back to share some pictures of the outside of our new home.... and here they are!

First, the view from the driveway. Please notice, I have now unpacked enough boxes and gotten things settled in enough to park both of our cars in the garage! That was a nice little surprise for Aaron when he came home from work yesterday...

We have two somewhat large trees on the right side of the driveway. By the way, we are tucked back in the corner of a little semi-circle drive, that is sort of like a mini culdesac. It's very nice and lots of room for parking.

The walk up to the front door. Aaron would like to do something different with the landscaping there, but that is probably quite a way into the future. We love that there is a screen door on the front, if and when it gets cool enough to use it....



We've also got a patch of strawberries and mint growing up by the fence!

On to the backyard! I did a little rearranging of some of our patio furniture....

We have a few brown patches in the grass we will try to fix, but that's quite hard with the water restrictions we're under. Here you can see that we have a view to the neighborhood park.

And on our way to the little fenced garden area...

The sellers were so kind to make us a booklet of information on each plant as well as a map of the garden and what plants are there. As you can see, we have asparagus, peppers, lots of tomatoes, sweet potatoes, soy beans, green beans, basil, okra, thyme, and chives. It's quite a challenge to keep these plants happy during the 100+ degree weather every day, especially the tomatoes. I used some of the thyme last night and it was so great to just go out to the garden and snip some. The asparagus won't be ready until 2012, did you know it takes 3 years to harvest?

Hope you like the outside of our home. We hope to spend lots of time outdoors and with friends and neighbors, but boy are we ready for some cooler weather or even a few drops of rain!

Our Home: The Before Pictures!

I'm so excited to finally share these photos of our house. It's so great to be here and slowly but surely starting to feel like home. We had quite a delay with closing, so I rushed in to take these pictures as soon as we got there, before the sun set. Due to the lack of light some are a little blurry and grainy so I apologize, but I promise the after pictures will be much better :)

Not only have we been so blessed with this great house, we are also very very very blessed by our great friends and family. A bunch of our friends showed up on Saturday morning to help us move, and my dad not only helped us move but also mowed the lawn (and it was in the 100's!) and gave us wise counsel on caring for our yard. My mom showed up and helped me clean- and I mean scrub- every surface in this home. She was down on her hands and knees, scrubbing the baseboards! She also helped me unpack and organize the kitchen. My parents are so great!

So let me take you on a little tour of our home!

Here's what you see looking back at the front door. We love the high ceilings and the big
window brings in a lot of natural light!



To the left when you walk in, you'll see a linen closet and a tiny little powder room.

And then the staircase. 

Straight ahead, is a little step down to the big family room. 

Which leads into the breakfast area and kitchen. 

That door leads to the laundry room and pantry, a large closet, and the garage. 

Now we will go upstairs... At the top of the stairs is this great loft with a big closet. 

To the right of the loft is the master bedroom and bathroom. 

To the left of the loft are two bedrooms. The first one will be Aaron's office, and the second (western themed!) room will be one of the first to be painted... and will be the guest room. There is also a bathroom upstairs. 

So that concludes the tour of our home. I'll be back tomorrow with pictures of the front from the outside, the backyard, and the garden... yes, we have a fully functioning amazing vegetable garden! You'll love it. Also, stay tuned for a list of things we want to do to the house! 

So what do you think of our house?