It's the little things....

You know they say it's the little things in life that makes you the most happy- for example, Josh got a 2,000 square feet of insulation for our attic for free (those hilarious pictures of us trying to roll it out will follow). But seriously, made my day today!

I made homemade chicken pot pie on Sunday- yes me, I know, I know, I can cook! Josh loved it, I thought it tasted great and I am shocked! I also made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for the fun of it, I have no idea what has gotten into me! But it made me happy to try something new and succeed- although Josh did help me as I get easy frazzled in the kitchen.

But best of all, this is what made my day yesterday...engagement pictures. Just a few to tease, and if you're wondering, yes, Griffin photographs better then the both of us! :)

He asked and well...the rest is history

Ah, I have been slacking on my blogging lately... I have been a smidge busy with something else. Cough Cough...

Hopefully, this doesn't completely stop my decorating and maybe I may even throw in a blog or 2 about the big day. For now, just know to Save The Date of 9/17, the big day will be held here:

Pros/Cons of a Clawfoot Tub

Our house was built in 1911- yup it will be 100 next year- and it has a lot of great old features: built ins, original floor, baseboards, and of course a clawfoot tub. Josh loved this feature, I don't really know much about it at all, but I figured it was asthetically pleasing and didn't really think much of it.

The first night in our house after the LONG day of moving I jumped into the shower for a nice relaxing warm wind down from the day. Little did I know, I would be sucked into a vortex of shower curtains surrounding me. For some reason, when the water comes on the curtains just suck in and stick to you. Very annoying and not pleasing for me a girl who loves her showers!

So I have looked up solutions and well, there really aren't any. The only thing I can find is to add extra magnets to the bottom of the curtain. So I am going to add the extra magnets on the bottom and try it out....otherwise it'll be a many longggg years of sticking to the curtain! Anyone have ideas or know of anyone that has a clawfoot tub to get advice...sign..

The Great Curtain Debate

When I first went out on my home buying decor trips Josh always said, I trust you just get something that will not be too feminine. I kept this in mind when I bought all of the plain linen curtains, as well as photos for the house. However, I knew I wanted something in the master bedroom to punch up the colors. We only have my dressers and our plain comforter, so there needed to be something else. I knew Cost Plus World Market would be the place to do it and was I right. They have the CUTEST curtains ever. If I were a single gal I would dress my place up in their curtains. Look at all these awesome patterns and colors:

Number 1:

Number 2:

Number 3:

Number 4:

Number 5:

The best part about this is that their curtains are under $30 dollars a panel for good quality- there is lining backing them and some are gromat tops. I didn't think any of them were too femine, but Josh on the other hand was none too pleased. I sent him pictures of the 5 above and he was not sold. He didn't like all of the pasley, and 'flowers' (none of which have actual flowers on them). One day I found myself at Cost Plus World Market and decided you know what I am buying the curtains, putting them up, I know if he sees them he will like them. I figured this tactic was a good move and also the option of 'we can always take them back if we don't like them'. Which one do you think I chose??

If you guessed number 5 you win! The color scheme goes exactly with the whole house- dark chocolate brown, smidge of blue, greens, burnt red.

So I put them up and what do you know- it's been 3 weeks and no complaints! :)

Curtains, blah

Curtains- never been one of my favorite topics. When we saw the house, we loved the design they put into the curtains, nice tall windows (about 84 inches and 95 inches on others) with linen so that light can still come in. Well of course, they said, nope we're taking curtains. Thus it became my mission to find similar (and cheap) curtains.

I spent practically the entire month of August looking for these curtains- mind you curtains are not cheap at all! I knew I wanted the gromet top (something new I learned about) and I knew I wanted linen. So I found some good ones from Pottery Barn, West Elm, but they are all so expensive. For the dining room we need 6 of the same- that is a lot if they are expensive upwards of $40-$50 dollars a piece.

I love these:

But as I said 50 bucks a panel times 6 panels, not in this girl's budget. So I decided to shop around some more and found these awesome sheer white gromat topped for the dining room.

I found some awesome ones from JC Penny for $20 dollars a panel! Woop, totally doable. JC Penny's actually has some really great curtains for cheap, I was very excited. They offer to order them online, they have extra long length which is what we need for 84 and 95 inch windows.

I got white for the dining room, white for the office and brown for the guest bedroom- since the house is so open I wanted to keep things similar and consistant throughout the entire place.

I was so proud of my purchases and ready to move in...we walked in and poof. They left the curtains!! HA all of my hard work for nothing! I ended up taking the 6 white panels for the dining room back and keeping the linen ones they originally had (they had full linen set from Pottery Barn) a smidge nicer then my JC Penny's purchase! I switched out the curtains in the den and the guest room. Welp, that's what I get for being proactive ;)

GRATEFUL!

I am extremely grateful that I have a beautiful new house! :) Closing went great last Friday and we even got the keys early, the sellers are wonderful and so fanastic to work with! It is such a blessed time, crazy time, but so fun to be a homeowner! So here is what I am grateful for:





Josh...if it wasn't for him I wouldn't have been able to afford such a wonderful house by myself. I am so happy to share this new experience with him.







Griffin!! He absolutely adores the house, he runs in and outside and around all the rooms. He is still trying to manage the wood floors, but luckily is able to manage them when it comes to bed time..hmm.

My parents and Josh's ( I don't have a picture of them digitally!)...my parents have helped us move, my mom lined every drawer in my kitchen (never something I would do) she has taken days off work to just help empty boxes, bought us all new bathroom ware! My dad has given us blinds, paintings and restoring our dining room table. Josh's mom bought us an awesome housewarming gift of a new flatscreen! Yes, I will finally be able to see the scores! :)

I am grateful for very many things in life and over the past week with things at work and the house I realized I need to really count my blessings! :)

Laundry Room

Never thought I would blog about my laundry room but here goes nothing.

We have a laundry room in the basement where the sellers are leaving their 2 year old washer and dryer (SCORE!). The rest of the room is currently just used as storage but Josh is turning this large open area into his 'man cave' with storage for our yes count 'em 5 pairs of skis and 4 bikes. (I account for 1 of each!) We have a laundry chute which is right outside our bedroom and bathroom which goes right into the laundry room and there is a little inlet on the side so when I saw this little extra space Josh was so kind to give up some of his 'man cave' space for a proper laundry room.

I have been searching and searching trying to figure out what I want for this look nook area. I have searched the internet over and over and I found some great pictures, but none of them depict exactly what I am looking for. So guess what I did? I sketched something up. Anyone that knows me well I am sure is going to laugh at this chicken scratch of a drawing, but hey I have the perfect image in my mind! :)

Here are some pictures of what I like in the laundry rooms:

I really like this little unit- I want a rod which can hold drying clothes, a folding table and a spring board iron. I don't need to have closed cabinets or drawers so I like the lower shelving unit below to hold baskets, detergent,etc

I like this option for around the laundry unit- however less ceiling to floor shelves. I am tall and I really don't want to be placing baskets, etc on bottom shelves.
Last, but certainly not least a spring board ironing board. I can tell you why I don't iron right now- I HATE taking out the ironing board and setting it up for 5 minutes of use. This little baby will solve all my problems! Now spring board ironing boards are actually pretty expensive - around $200 dollars- so we are going to design our own. I figure a business major and engineering major can figure something out?!

Now to the awesome picture you have all been waiting for, my own drawing. Now please don't compliment me too much on the level of detail. I spent a good 5 minutes of work time on this. Look at that beauty- obviously W and D stand for washer and dryer. There are Josh's shirts hanging up on the rod above the folding table. I couple of shelves above the units for extra stuff and below the folding table.

Josh has seen this sketch and is ready for the challenge! This will probably be a winter project, but I will update with how it all comes along :)