Curb Appeal

Our home is starting to look home-y! We have been spending time outside working and doing small things to make it beautiful!

We have put up hanging baskets with flowers, added white folding chairs, and potted flowers on the steps!

Our potted petunias!

Our purple petunias in the beautiful basket!

Show Us Where You Live Friday: Guest Room

My guest room is nothing special, in fact it is a very small room but I think it is a beautiful and welcoming room for our guests! This room was the first room we painted when we bought our home. My sister-in-law Jill helped me paint the room and even gave me a painting lesson because she had a lot more experience painting than I did!!

Here is the guest bed, the bed was John David's great grandmother's bed & the side table my mom's (we love hand me downs!) I can't say I am completely happy with the room, I would really like for the floor lamp to go (it was our living room light in our college apartment). My current bedroom lamp will be perfect in this room but before I can do that I have to purchase new lamps... I will one day!!

Here is the view from the bed to the door (& you can see the closet). The room is small but there is some open floor which I like!

My bookshelf and the closet door (it is a pretty nice sized closet that is currently lacking shelving & has painting supplies & sale/give away items tucked in there!!)

Bookshelf closeup! My mom & I made this together when I was in high school!! My treasured childhood books (Little House on the Prairie, Anne of Green Gables & American Girl books) are on the top 2 shelves. The bottom 2 hold children's books that were my husband's when he was young! And then there are the toys (so when we have friends with kids over or babysit the kids can play!) The doll on the 3rd shelf is wearing a dress my grandma made, my mom made the little doll beside her, the Cabbage Patch kid in the basket was my very last baby doll & there is a blanket beside him that my grandmother crocheted....memories!!

Show Us Where You Live Friday: Livingroom

We have lived in our home 5 months and have done a lot of work around the house!! We are still not fully completed with decorating the living room but it is our home and we are enjoying it!!

Here is the before of the living room!

Our living room is really big (like our first apartment could just about fit in it!!) Our front door is in the very center of the room so it has been somewhat challenging for furniture arrangement. I currently have the room divided in 2 spaces, our "living area" where our couch & TV is and a sitting/sewing area. The arrangement works for now with our furniture!

The view from the hall.

The view from the dining room.

The sewing/sitting area. The barn star is from my mother-in-law, my daddy made the quilt rack for me, the Singer sewing desk was my great grandmother's and the rocking chair was my Christmas gift from John David our 2nd Christmas! The rocking chair is 1 of 3 pieces of furniture we have purchased new since we have been married!

Left side of the room. (There is no plate over the electric switches...we have to do some electrical work still!!)

Our couch (which was John David's prior to marriage) we really like our leather couch!

The living area! Our coffee table & bookshelf are from John David's parents and the "entertainment stand" was John David's when he lived at his parents home. I would love to have a beautiful entertainment armoire...but there are more important things to pay & save for right now but one day we will have one!! :)

The view to the dining area. You can see how much open floor space is...this is a perfect spot to play with the dog & spread out quilts & patterns when I am sewing!

So that is our living room & our dog (he was in 4 pictures...he is a little nosy & wouldn't let me take pictures without him around!!)

Also, I would love any layout suggestions....with the center door & the sectional sofa I am having a hard time finding an arrangement that leaves an open path to the door!

Basement in Need of Organization

I really can't believe I am going to be sharing this! I wouldn't let anybody who visits see my basement yet I am going to be publishing these pictures for anybody to see!

However, I am sharing first of all for accountability since we plan to tackle this space and have it completely organized by the end of April. I am also sharing to hopefully motivate you for your own spring cleaning...it couldn't be worse than this daunting task!!

Here is the basement:

To the left is my laundry area which would definitely not be there if I had my choice but that is where the hookups were. I would like to make that space a little nicer! To the right is all our stuff: Christmas decorations, camping supplies, hunting stuff, crafting stuff, boxes, etc. We need to purge some of this but also put up shelves and organize the things we are going to keep on these shelves!

Close up of the stuff! See the awful two-tone walls?? We have purchased some cinder block paint and need to go ahead and paint the walls and have that job over with too!

On this side of the basement is my husbands toy tractors which we need to go through and decide what we are keeping and organize them, there are also piles of tools & car stuff which we need to organize, these things will probably be organized in the garage instead of the basement area. Notice the doors? Well, they have been down there since December...we took a few doors off the hinges to paint & brought them down to the basement...however it is so much easier to just paint them on the hinges! These doors are to the studio closet & guest room....I am sure our guests love that! These need to be moved upstairs and put back where they belong! We also need to sweep and mop the floor!

So here is the basement to-do list:
*Bring doors upstairs
*Paint the walls
*Sweep and mop basement floor
*Purge "stuff"
*Go through toys & organize
*Organize tools & car stuff & put in garage
*Organize laundry area
*Put up shelves for the stuff we are going to keep

Hopefully on or before May 1 we will be able to report that we have accomplished each of these tasks on this list! I definitely think we can do it, it won't necessarily be fun but it will be well worth it in the end!!

Our Clean Garage

Wednesday I spent a few hours in my horribly unorganized and cluttered garage (sorry there are no before pictures but believe me it was awful!) I am so glad I did! Since the day we purchased our home, we have just been putting stuff in the garage/basement with no rhyme or reason as to where it went because we were focusing on the upstairs of the house (which is more important). But after almost 3 months of entering the house through the garage and thinking 'I have got to do something about this,' I finally did. I had been dreading this day for months, telling myself we have to do this on a weekend because John David has to help but I finally took action and after just a few hours I felt so much better!

This is where John David parks (it's only a 1 car garage :( but that's better than no garage I suppose!) Notice the hole in the dry wall & the 'A'?? The beautification of this space will come later!

My handy freezer & our old refrigerator that is taking up space...need to do something about that!

My dream for this space is to put up a wall where the columns are and create a mud-room type entry here; paint the walls, paint or carpet the stairs, have a nice tile floor, rugs, a storage bench, coat hanger and place to put our muddy shoes!

Tomorrow I will share what lurks on the other side of the door...the scary basement and our game plan for that space!

Things are Coming Together

Well, it's been almost 2 weeks since we moved and things are really coming together in the house!! Our master bedroom is organized,we just lack hanging our mirror and the small decorative touches. Our living room is set up and only lacks hanging a few pictures on the walls. My kitchen is mostly finished, I have to figure out where to hang my spice rack and my gadget rack and it will be done. In the studio we need to put cords where they belong (fun stuff) and our guest bedroom has some miscellaneous items that I need to find a spot for! With all this progress I am feeling pretty productive! We haven't painted all week which has made us more productive! We still lack trim work in the living room and have to paint all of the doors. Our dining area is still a disaster with tools and paint cans still in the floors, our guest bath is also a disaster with paint cans and drop cloths covering the vanity! We plan to work all day today and hopefully next week I can start posting before and after photos :)

And we have enjoyed playing with our sweet little dog! Here is a photo of him:

The window sills in the master, living room, and guest room are the perfect height for him to look out!! It is so cute!

Home Update

It has been a crazy few weeks. We have been working on the house almost 3 weeks and are tired but things are coming together and we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel!

We officially moved Saturday and turned in our apartment keys Sunday!! We spent our very first night in our new home on Saturday night! Sunday after church we started slowly putting things where they go.

Here is what my living room looked like:

It's looks much better now, there are still a few things out of place but we are getting there. We still have to paint trim, windows, and doors in every room so that has slowed us down! The master bedroom is 90% finished so we have a "sanctuary" in an otherwise chaotic home!

Moving so close to Christmas has also has not been fun, Sunday my parents spent the night on their way to visit my dad's parents and they were here amidst the chaos! We even put my mom to work! Our Christmas was pretty relaxing, we slept in until 10:30 without feeling guilty but we still did some work! Next Christmas will hopefully be a lot different and less crazy!

Our first picture in our new home!

As we finish getting each room organized and decorated I plan to post before and after pictures so you can have a grand tour of our home!! So stay posted for those photos!!

Productive Monday

Today has been a lovely "workday" for me! I woke up early and got straight to work. I have washed and dried 4 loads of laundry, washed dishes, and cleaned out my desk. I also planned our meals and made a grocery list for my grocery shopping tomorrow...it amazes me how I think we have nothing to eat and then with a little planning I find out we have enough food to last another week if I just go get milk and other staples!

I also began making a list of things to take camping this weekend. We are going white water rafting on the Ocoee this Saturday with Adam and Katie and then camping!! I can't wait although I must admit I am a little scared about the rafting!!

The big project for today was de-cluttering! I began with my bedroom closet last night and pulled out several things to give away! This morning I cleaned out my living room closet and my under the stairs storage area and found several things that we don't need! I love when I am successful at de-cluttering and it makes me feel great about having a clean, organized house with only the things we need in it!

This is what I have gotten rid of from my closet thus far:
1 winter coat
1 hoodie
1 pair of capris
2 pair of pants (khakis and jeans)
1 skirt
1 pair of pj pants
2 dresses
4 shirts

Moving

Monday, May 5th we moved from Cookeville, our home for the past 2 years. John David will be working for Farm Credit Services of Mid-America. We had a very busy weekend with graduation and packing! Thankfully we have amazing parents who helped us moved things and pack boxes!



Our bedroom during the moving process!



John David expertly packing a box! (Nothing was broken during the moving process!!)



Boxes, boxes, boxes



All of our belongings loaded up in the moving truck!

I soon hope to have pictures up of our new home!

Our Little Apartment

After writing my last entry I realized that we have been living in our apartment a year and a half and I have never taken any pictures of our first home! I want everybody who has never been here (especially our grandparents) to see our cute little apartment!



Here is our living/dining room! It is not really big but it is plenty of room for us!




My favorite part of the living room (minus the television!) My beautiful rocking chair, my sewing box, and my great great grandmother's Singer Sewing machine (the machine is really in there and when we move the TV will not be on top of it!)



Our table where we eat every meal!



My tiny little kitchen! It is nothing special but I can still cook yummy meals from there! (And it is easy to keep squeaky clean!)



My stainless steel pot rack! John David and I found this at a Goodwill the summer we were married and both really like it! I love it because it is a solution for the lack of cabinet space!




Since this "The Grand Tour" of our apartment I had to include the teeny, tiny bathroom!



Our bed with my beautiful quilt my Mama gave me as a wedding gift!



John David's boots at the foot of our bed! (A great cute storage solution!)



John David's favorite part of the house! His "studio" area! He can't wait for our new home and a room for all of his technology!



My work area, where I do Co-op work, homework, and where I am writing this! (I guess you could say it doubles as a vanity because my "makeup mirror" but I don't use it for makeup. It is a beautiful mirror and makes the area very girly!!)