Family room

Our family room has undergone some changes recently. This is what it looked like when we moved in:

And here it is now: 

The only major things we changed about this room (besides adding our furniture and decorating) are we painted it (Wheat Bread by Behr), we got new white faux wood blinds in the three windows, and we painted the trim. 

I just recently purchased these curtain panels from IKEA, for a total of only $20. They're thin and sheer, but perfect for this room. I love the back tabs. 

The dresser is one I've had since childhood that I added new knobs to. It holds table linens and lots of serving pieces. Above it is what I like to refer to as our "mantle". It is a beautiful piece of cedar from Aaron's mom's property that I added some metal brackets to. 

It has an old mirror I've repainted a few times (currently gray), a succulent and pot from IKEA, some gardening books, three votive candleholders with quatrefoil cutouts from the thrift store that I spray painted, and a capiz picture frame I got on clearance at Marshall's.

I love the raw edge on the shelf, you can see it in this picture. 

The vase on the dresser was hard to photograph because it is all white, but I absolutely love the texture. When I found it the other day at my favorite thrift store, it looked like this: 

 It was $12.50, and like I said, I loved the texture so much. It reminded me of the very popular hive vase from West Elm. I sprayed it white, and I'm happy with the find. I've been on the hunt for some accessories for the dresser for a while, and I love how it is a little larger scale than the usual things I find.

Our bedroom

When we first moved in (almost a year ago, oh my goodness!), our bedroom looked like this:

The photo only makes it look dark because it was taken at dusk right when we got into the house. We actually like the paint color, so not much has really changed in this room besides adding blinds, curtains, our furniture, and new carpet. We do have plans to paint the room this summer, though! Here's a picture of how it looks now from the same view, from the double entry doors.

All of the bedding I've actually had for years. I love our white organic bamboo sheet set from Target. The only problem is how dingy they get, so I may need to buy a new set soon! The quilt is from Marshall's a few years ago and is reversible. We don't need much else on the bed during the hot Texas summers.

I love how the gray and white striped body pillow cover looks with the plain bedding. I found it at Target.

This is looking to the other corner of the room, where you can see the bathroom door. In the corner is a vanity I'm working on for myself.

The gallery above the bed is one of my favorite parts about our room. I love the different frames I've collected over time and how all of the pictures tell a story of us. They're mainly pictures from our wedding or engagement photos. There are a lot of photos of our family and friends there as well. I love the framed lyrics to a song that was played at our wedding.

This corner window was a little bit hard to "dress", because as far as I know they don't sell any curtain rods that connect in the corner for windows like this. So I just kind of makeshifted this solution, which was just to take the finnials off the two ends and make it look like the rod comes to a corner, even though it really doesn't! The curtain rods were found at Marshall's and the white curtains a bargain from Home Goods.

This little ledge is actually a really special DIY. We found the old wood board at the old home where Aaron's grandmother grew up. I just attached L-brackets to it and then attached it to the wall, and it now holds some frames with more pictures, tealights, and a little jar with some fake flowers and our cake topper.

This little corner is what I'm working on turning into a vanity. I first need to get a nice big mirror for the area. I love being able to fix my hair and put makeup on right here, where I keep all of my products in the little drawer. It works so much better than our drawer-less bathroom. I recovered that chair from a garage sale and gave it a coat of paint. 

 And last but not least on this little tour of our bedroom is this beautiful quilt at the end of our bed. Aaron's grandmother quilted this for us as a wedding gift and it is so colorful and lovely.

Thanks for viewing this little tour of our bedroom! There will definitely be a few more updates to come!

House Tour Updated

Just popping in to say if you are curious to see some before and "progress" shots of spaces I haven't shared on the blog yet, you can now do so on the page above you labeled "Our Home" or by clicking here!

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?