Impulse Buying – Updating the Living Room

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I’ve been on a bit of a buying binge.  For the most part they been pretty “small” thing, but they make SUCH a difference around the house.  The new tidbits are great additions to the condo decor and only make me want to buy more details for the house.  The husband has been joking that he might have to take the credit card away if I keep this up LOL.  All joking aside he has completely agreed with all my most recent purchases.

The library table (as the husband calls it) from his bachelor days is definitely on its last leg.  This side table has held up well and successfully made it through three or four moves.  The table has a number of sharpie pen “paint touch ups” and kind of rocks if you even slightly touch it.

Around Christmas time I was browsing Overstock.com and came upon a black table I thought would be the perfect replacement.  With my 10% off coupon in hand I convinced the husband we “needed” the table.  Like so many other pieces of furniture we own it came dissembled and the husband was responsible for putting together our new table.  It didn’t take him too long despite assembling the legs backwards on his first attempt. :)

The next day I went ahead and took some after pictures.  I really like the curves and character of the new table.  The fact that it doesn’t shake when I pick up the photo album is a bonus hahaha!

The new table also has an extra level of storage at the bottom.  The only problem with that shelf is it seems to collect dust and dog hair. Maybe that means I need to vacuum more … hmmmm ;)

Have you done any impulsing buying lately for your place?

Happy Decorating!

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Calling the Guest Bath a Wrap!

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It is no surprise our guest bathroom is the first to be completed.  It was the first room we painted, purchased an accessory for and probably the smallest “area” within the house.  Before we moved into the condo my mother took me shopping at Home Goods for the VERY FIRST time ever!  Can I just say I love that store?!  I purchased a little vase and fake flower arrangement I thought would be perfect for the back of the toilet seat.  It was the first accessory for our new place and a first for the bathroom as well.  The bathroom came together slowly, but when we hung the final picture behind the toilet and the guest bathroom project was officially a wrap.

A few weeks after painting the bathroom I finally went to Bed Bath and Beyond to purchase a shower curtain and bath mat.  We had guests (my family) coming into town and we couldn’t very well have them shower without a curtain or mat!  While my family was in town us girls went on a little shopping trip.  We went to Pier 1 Imports and purchased the balcony furniture, but before that we hit up Home Goods.  At Home Goods we found the bathroom accessories!  Slowly but surely the bathroom was coming together.

The Son of Man painting like so many other things was sitting in our spare bedroom waiting for us to find  the perfect place for it in the new house.  In our first apartment together it hung in the living room and in our second apartment in the hallway near the front door.  Now it has found a home in the second bathroom!  The green apple ties in perfectly with the light green paint.

All we had left to do was find some painting or picture for behind the toilet seat above the little fake flower arrangement.  After we hung the hallway pictures the husband and I decided to purchase the another picture frame from Amazon for the bathroom.  My husband actually made the suggestion as to which picture should populate the new frame.  I was well, pleasantly surprised!!  He suggested we use a picture of Sophi, our dog, from our engagement session.  She looks so cute and happy in the picture.  I used PhotoShop to turn the colored picture to black and white.  Uploaded the picture to Shutterfly, ordered and a few days later we were in business.

So the guest bathroom if officially decorated!  BUT here’s the things as I started writing this last paragraph I realized there were other things needed for the bathroom … seriously decorating never seems to be really finished.  So what else could we possibly need you might ask?  New towels that match our new fancy bathroom.  Towels are at the bottom of my home shopping list, therefore I still feel comfortable saying the bathroom is a wrap!

What was the first room you finished decorating in your place?

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Adding to the Photo Gallery

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Right around the time of Super Storm Sandy the husband and I hung three photos in our hallway.  The other weekend my friend and I took a trip to Michael’s to purchase stuff for my friend’s baby shower I am throwing in February (more on that in the next couple of weeks).  When we were there we did a little extra curricular shopping as well!  It’s hard to go to Michael’s and only buy things that were on the list.  That place has so much fun stuff it’s crazy.

I love the look of “floating” photo frames and with the 40% holiday sale in full swing at Michael’s the justifications of purchasing them was complete!!  I picked out two 5 x 7 and one 11 x 15 frame.  I guessed on what sizes would look nice as add on(s) to the hallways photo gallery.  The husband and I hadn’t even really talked about what other pictures we might add to the wall.  Either way I figured three was a good a number.

For the big frame we picked this 8×10 wedding photo.  I feel slash felt really narcissistic putting up this photo, but I really just love it.  It’s a real smile (not just smiling for the camera in fact I think I was laughing at the husband doing something off to the side) and you can see the whole lobby of the St. Regis hotel.

Source

For the smaller frames we did a 4×6 of our honeymoon in Positano, Italy and a fun picture from the wedding.

I think this picture is probably my husband’s favorite from the wedding.  I had always promised my husband we would find a spot for the picture and a little over a year later I did!  My sister did the details for this after the photographer made the little stick figures.

Source

And can I just say that taking pictures of the hallway is kind of hard … I mean really hard to get a good shot.  I think I need dimmer lights in the hallway to help with lighting for pictures.  Ohhhh husband I have a new project for you hehehehe! =)

I’m not really sure how many more photos we are going to add to the hallway gallery, but I really like the new additions.  This will probably be one of those decorating projects that’s not ever 100% completed.  So we shall say phase 1 and 2 are complete (for now).

Phase 1:

Phase 2:  The extra three pictures make the big wall look a little fuller, which is good.

So what do you think? Do you like the mix and matching of frames?

Happy Decorating!

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2012 Highlights

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Like any year 2012 had its ups as well as its downs, but all in all when the tidbits are added up it was a great year.  As the year draws to a close I started thinking of how fast this year has gone by.  I’m not sure if I am just getting older or if life has just been so busy, but in a blink of an eye we went from January to December.

In no particular order tidbits that stand out are as follows:

Trip to Mexico to celebrate our 30th birthdays.  Being only 11 days apart and having Valentine’s Day smack in the middle makes for a very busy February.  Sipping piña coladas on the beach, reading and relaxing was the perfect way to begin our thirties.


Buying a condo was a HUGE highlight. I cannot believe we are home owners!

My first rodeo!  And I think the highlight of the rodeo was the mutton busting.

Passing the PMP exam.  This test had been on the to-do list for years.  It was nice to not only check it off the list, but to have passed the first time taking the exam … Plus my dad will finally stop bugging me about when I am going to take the test!! :)

Thanksgiving – As my favorite holiday it is no surprise that Thanksgiving is one of the highlights from this year.  Like every year the week/end was jam packed with food, wine, family, friends and laughter.

First Christmas Eve alone with my husband in our new place.  I’ve always spent Xmas Eve with my friends/family or with the in-laws.  This year we flew out to Kansas City on Christmas Day.  We went back and forth about sending the evening with friends, but in the end decided to keep it low key.  I loved staying home and celebrating just the three of us (the husband, me and of course Sophi).

2012 was a very fun year!  But now there is much to look forward to in 2013 and it isn’t even here yet!

So far there are a few fun things on the docket for 2013 …

  • My sister is coming to visit for a few days. I am even taking a day off so we can have a sister day!  It isn’t often we get time just the two of us anymore so I’m super excited for her visit.
  • Throwing a baby shower for my girlfriend and then arrival of her son!
  • A trip to Seattle to see my friend (HOPEFULLY)

And then of course there is … Surprises!  No matter how much of a planner I am life always throws in big and little surprises.

What were your favorite parts of 2012?  Any exciting plans for 2013?

Happy New Year!!

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Hallway Decor

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Before the husband and I first moved in together we decided we wanted three black and white photos for our bedroom.  We narrowed our personal photos down to a picture from the cherry blossom festival, a trip to mexico and one we took while in New York on the Brooklyn bridge.  My friend helped me use PhotoShop to make modify the color pictures to black and white.  I uploaded them to Shutterfly, clicked purchased and we were in business!

These are the pictures we chose …

The husband and I went to a couple of framing stores to get quotes on getting the pictures matted and framed.  We were looking at ~$200+ per picture for custom framing … WAY too much!  The three pictures then spent the next 2 years in a photo album.  From time to time we would revisit the idea of having the pictures framed, but never made any actual progress.  Last week we found a new location for our pictures … the hallway!  I found this post on Young House Love and was inspired.  Although I am not ready to take on the whole wall I do love pictures and have some other items that would work for a wall collage.

In any event we decide these three black and white photos were a good place to start with hallway decorations.  Since Amazon Prime is like my favorite thing I decided to see if there were any nice 8×10 matted frames on Amazon before going to Michael’s or a custom framing store.  I quickly found these picture frames and $17-18 per frame was totally justifiable and the wallet was way more comfortable with it as well!!!

After preparing for Hurricane Sandy Sunday (filling the cars with gas, getting food/water, laundry, dishes, charging every electronic we have and all that good stuff) we took some time out to hang our photos in the hallway.  It took a few tries (three to be exact) but eventually we got the two lower pictures level with each other.

It’s nice to see the hallway starting to come together.  Whether or not we decide to pursue the whole collage look for the hallway is still TBD, but at least there is something on the wall for now :)

Next up is to purchase a runner for the hallway!!

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