Renters No More

In one week we'll be celebrating our first month in our first home. Or really our third home, but our first house (and the first we own!). But before we can celebrate our third (first), I want to give due attention to our second place. We only lived there for seven months, but it held a lot of special times nonetheless.

Our second floor flat had a lot of natural light, which I loved. When we moved back in November, our first project was to paint the master bedroom that was formerly red. Not pictured is the second bedroom that often just sat empty and the study turned leatherwork room. This place had some great character, namely the built in bookshelves in the living room, awesome wall of windows and great archway leading to the dining room. The kitchen was bigger than our first place and offered a lot more cabinet space. All in all it was a great home.

We had planned to rent this place for a year and a half, so the seven months that we ended up staying sound a little crazy now. But life's funny that way:) Anyway, the short time that we were there held some lovely moments:

• We celebrated our first anniversary the first day we moved in
• Our second Christmas together was celebrated with a lovely tree in that window-filled living room
• We adopted Clover and enjoyed many a game of fetch in that backyard
• I enjoyed my first working girl snow day
• We hosted our first big dinner party of 10 guests
• Friends and family visited
• Mom helped me spruce up the front porch and grow my green thumb

Thanks for the short but sweet stay, Linden.

Our First Place

Every couple remembers their first place. For some, it's a fixer upper they stay in for years. For others it's a tiny flat in an exciting city. Whatever the space, it's special and sacred.

For us it's been a condo in the charming historic Demun neighborhood in Clayton, Missouri. This is where we moved in the day after Thanksgiving last year, two weeks newlywed. It's where we decorated our first Christmas tree, hosted our first Easter, played game nights with friends, tried new recipes and created traditions. It's where I nested the first few months of marriage while I got acquainted with a new city and searched for jobs. Where we learned what it meant to be roomies, husband and wife, friends through thick and thin. Where we developed the Saturday morning tradition of breakfast at the original Kaldi's. Where Jonathan dreamed up leather goods and made them a reality. Where I spent late nights hunched over our kitchen table proofreading and being thankful that I have an outlet for my passions and creativity. It was a perfect first place, better than we could have asked for, so now that we're two weeks away from moving out, I'm left nostalgic and feeling bittersweet. And since I never did a proper house tour when we first settled in, I wanted to do one now.

Back door entrance

Master bedroom

Bathroom 1 

I would call this the second bedroom, but it's been much more than just that. As you can tell, it's our bike storage, our spare closet, an occasional guest bedroom and what eventually evolved into a leather/sewing workspace. We don't like to limit our rooms, you know.

Bathroom 2, and for the sake of keeping things real, 80% of the time this is what that bathroom looks like because in the spirit of not limiting our rooms, this was usually my air-drying room too.

Living room

Bar, leather storage, etc.

Reading nook (that was rarely a reading nook but that sounds like a nice description, right?)

Dining area

Kitchen 

If you'll notice, we have a golden retriever calendar but no dog. That, dear reader, is the foremost reason we're moving out of this great first place. We have dog fever, BAD. And perfect as this place has been, its biggest flaw is perhaps the fact that we could not have a dog. Flaw #2 was that we weren't allowed to paint the two random green walls. It's a good thing we like green. 

There you have it, our special first place. We'll miss the neighborhood, the cozy open lay out and plenty of other things, but we're excited for Chapter 2. Coincidentally, we'll start our second year of marriage the day we're moved into our new place. I can't wait for all that year two will hold (read: we can't wait to get a dog!)

Thanks for stopping by!

Get out your pumpkins

Happy first day of fall, y'all! Today was supposed to be the day I got out all our my fall decorations and went to town on our home. Then I searched the basement and realized, whoops, those are still in Houston...

So as I wait for my lovely mama to send me those things this week, these new additions are tying me over. The print is a page torn out from Midwest Living and I picked up the materials for the pendants and skull at Michael's today. Some burlap, twine, orange fabric, and white paint pen for the pendants (you can probably find a more creative word to spell out, I wasn't feeling adventurous). I tend to stay away from the morbid/scary Halloween themes, but when you add bling to a skull it kind of loses its scariness, right? Plus these glittery skulls at Pottery Barn inspired me, so I went for a gold paint pen and unfinished skull to get a similar look.

Voila -- fall is in the air!

Nesting: The Living Room

I haven't shared too many photos of our home on here yet because it's still a work in progress & we still want to need to get permission to paint. But day by day our little home becomes a little more us and a little more lived in. 

Last week we put the finishing touch on our living area. 

Eventually we'll make a big purchase of buying new couches or a nice chair, but for now two slip-covered old Ethan Allen couches are serving us just fine. This area is our neutral oasis in a room with green accent walls and navy borders (did I mention we reallly want to paint?) But it's a neutral enough backdrop that if one day we do throw in an accent color (like a different blanket or pillow), everything will be able to coexist. And lately I haven't been drawn to colors so much as to patterns and textures. Hence the chevrons, stripes, checkers, baskets, wood and wool. I think patterns and textures offer a happy compromise between a decor that is too girly or too masculine. If you're interested in throwing some patterns into your own life, here's a peak at the making of our living room.

pillows . rug . throw

Nesting: The Kitchen Table

Nesting is one of the most exciting parts of starting a new life together. It's a work in progress, but I can now say that all the big items have found a place in our new home. This weekend's latest addition was a big accomplishment in a drawn out decision: kitchen table + chairs.

The table itself was a big accomplishment. We bought one last weekend after months of indecision (I was the indecisive one, really; if it wasn't for Jonathan we'd still be eating here, which is a step up from the couch and coffee table we ate at the first few weeks).

I wish I had a "before" photo to show you the empty space that taunted me for two months saying "Fill me with a beautiful table that you can't decide on!" First we wanted something rustic, like a barn table, but then we started thinking we would get tired of the style or it wouldn't really fit in with our current space. When we decided on a basic table from Crate & Barrel it turned out to be discontinued and impossible to find anywhere (just our luck). Then we were on a mission to find a slate-top table, and we almost convinced ourselves to drop a small fortune on this gem we found at a local boutique.

We wandered through countless antique and consignment shops on a mission to give new life and a new home to an old find. I got pretty discouraged along the way, not really being able to pin down the exact "look" I was on the hunt for. Then we found this guy, an old library table, at Roots.

It caught Jonathan's eye right away, but I wasn't so sure (self reflection: I am very indecisive about home decor). So we left the store and carried on our search. A few weeks later, when we still hadn't found anything we liked more, we returned. Jonathan was ready to pull the trigger, but I still couldn't do it (the sweet sisters that own the store were very understanding about my indecision). The holidays came and went and nothing filled the table space in our home.

Until the weekend before New Years. I finally listened to reason (Jonathan) and was ready to make the commitment. With our luck, I prepared myself to the idea that the table would be gone. But it wasn't; we were meant to be its home!

The surface of the table had some scratches and water rings, but after Jonathan gave it some TLC (Old English wood polish), it looked good as new, while still retaining its aged character. I really do love it. The drawers are one of my favorite features because they offer extra storage (something you could always use more of, right?).

Next came the challenge of finding chairs. All along we wanted two arm chairs on the ends, a bench on one side and two regular chairs for the opposite side. We searched far and wide for such an arrangement with not much luck. We ultimately decided against the bench because we thought it would make the overall look too heavy and bulky. Instead we found four white chairs at Pier 1.

Mission accomplished! I love the white because it breaks up all the dark wood we have in our living area and it matches the white molding throughout the space. It's still the mismatched/complementary look we were searching for. Our next step is finding some seat cushions (or fabric to make our own). The end chairs aren't an immediate need so we'll table that decision for now (pun not intended, but I'll take it).

For now we're excited to start building memories around this table: nightly meals, dinner parties, game nights. And one day, when we're ready for a different table, I love that it can return to its original purpose as a library table or writing desk.

Stay tuned for more adventures in nesting.