banquet seating dreamin'

yesterday my lovely friend and i were sitting at my kitchen table studying {no school hasn't started yet...we're just nerds} we of course got off the topic of reading interventions and began mastering up some plans to put banquet seating in the kitchen. why banquet seating? because it's cozy, it's cute, there's pillows involved and there's the practicality of adding a little more seating in our tiny eat`in kitchen. check out the picture to the left, wouldn't it be the best for reading a book or a guest to hang out while i'm putting the final touches on dinner c:  plus, who doesn't love eating on a booth? isn't that what we always wait the extra few minutes for at restaurants...i'm just saying c;
{via}
any who, i began to go a little banquet seating research crazy {i wanted to be extra prepared when i presented yet another project to my husband}. here's what i found.

custom made ones like {this} cost upwards of $4000. yikes, i don't believe i'll ever be okay with spending that much for something my hiney will sit on! then i remembered seeing instructions on 'how to turn cabinets into seating' awhile back...so i started to research the 'do it yourself ' route. 

here's a tutorial made with ikea cabinets. {Cape 27 Blog} used two at $100 a piece...i estimate we would need four to five of them. so that's getting a little pricey. 

{Budget Wise Home} just straight up bought plywood, trim and a piano hinge and got the project done. she claims it cost under $100...since we want to do two sides i'll estimate about $200. 

so there you have it, the possibilities. now every time i walk into our kitchen i just sigh and dream of my future seating arrangements and yummy pillows. i mean look at our little place...isn't it just begging to have some banquet seating?

ps. i gave this persuading presentation to my husband and he said yes c:

and it begins...

my plate wall.

according to my husband, it's something that would have been on his great grandmother tilly's wall. but once i put it up he said, "meh, it doesn't look THAT bad" c:

for me, it just makes me happy. currently it's a little sparse, a little bland and i may need to put them a little closer together...but it's a start c:

some old, some new

our little mantel made up some old, some new, a little thrifting and a sweet gift. 

thought process behind it...bought the clock from hobby lobby and decided there wasn't going to be a color scheme or plan to the living room, just things that make me happy and color. then i seriously walked around my house with a dear friend and began collecting random things. 

 

this picture was hanging above our couch...however that was the determined area where my soon to be plate wall will hang, so we found it a new home on the mantel. and the item on the left, well, i'm not sure what to call it. it belonged to a candle thing we had and doesn't really have any function but i thought it was cool looking and it gives that side a little height c:

the so so sweet Christmas gift from nicole. succulents in monogram mugs...does it get any cuter?

left`hand picture, frame in front {you tracking?} was a clearance find a while back from michaels. the frame behind it was from one of my best yard sale hits ever, my mom and i left with boxes full of teaching stuff and about a dozen old wooden frames for the grand total of five dollars. i did a light coat of heirloom white spray paint and roughed it up with sand paper. the vases are from a kohl's steal. they were already eighty percent off...then add on another coupon and i believe the three of them were only a couple dollars c:

so there you go. some old, new, reused, clearanced and prettiness. husband thinks i'm weird {but what's new} having all the randomness and empty frames just chillin` on the mantel but my heart is happy and our the room feels cozy. 

intro to anthro

with the husband gone for drill this weekend, i was free of home improvements to this little house of ours with electrical wiring and shelf building. don't get me wrong, i love everything about making these walls our home in a functional way but it lacked color and warmth and every`day coziness. since we bought this house in summer the first round of decorations were the red, white and blue's, then fall came and finally the finale of season decorating with christmas. taking down christmas was hard, not only because i was dealing with the post christmas blues but our home became bare and i realized i had only decorated for seasons, not thinking of the other six months of the year. 

okay, so back to the part about the husband being gone...i spent an entire day experiencing hobby lobby, west elm and anthropologie for the first time and soaked up every second of it with one of my favorites. first off, let me remind you i'm from a smaller isolated city, where it was a big game changer for target to come into town. i never even knew about these places before i moved here. i had seen west elm and anthropologie magazines and every now`and`then on pinterest. i adored the style but could never bring myself to purchase at that price. until my dear friend informed me of their clearance section. usually i'm the queen of clearance, but i assumed the price cuts would not be enough for my cheap self...how i was ever`so misinformed. and let me tell you, i was ever`so happy to be wrong.

well, there are my purchases and here is my plan...a pretty plate wall and pops of color. no color scheme, just stuff found around the house and a few new things c:

ps. as for hobby lobby, i'm not sure if i have a good excuse for never going before this weekend...but am so thankful i did because it blows joanns and michaels out of the water.

what to do with a wooden box

last sunday was a church, housework and bbq kind`of day. while the boy was out in the hot sun putting up our hammock, i was enjoying our air conditioner and brainstorming where we should keep the keys. they needed a home, a place they could be easily located and then it came to me.

oh and it makes me so happy c:

i picked up this wooden box at a thrift store about a month ago. at the time i wasn't sure exactly what i would do with but for a dollar, i knew i would figure out a use...and that i did c: the second best part of this project was that everything filling my dollar wooden box was found around my house.

alright, starting from the top. this is twine and old weathered looking clothespins to hang pictures and notes. these are some wedding photo's i already had around the house, so i threw them up there c:

oh yes and how to hang that twine, easy smeezy just a little righty tighty and lefty loosey. i just slightly loosened the screws used to hang the box, wrapped it around and then re`tightened them. 

i bought this wood block R from michaels on crazy clearance early this summer...i believe it cost me like twenty cents. here i used scrapbook paper and transferred the print over to the wood exactly how i did in my DIY picture on wood tutorial just with fun scrapbook print instead of a photograph, find it HERE. i wanted this R to look faded and old {not like i just made it yesterday}, so in the final steps of rubbing off the paper, i rubbed a little harder in random areas and around the edges to give it a worn look. 

i found these hooks at world market last year. they use to hold our favorite coffee mugs in our old apartment, but our house has a tile backsplash so i had to retire them as mug hooks when we moved. luckily i kept them in a safe spot, so when my wooden box idea came i knew exactly where to look. these little hooks are now fulfilling their second life purpose as our key holders.

on the left we have a weekly menu made from a picture frame, find tutorial i posted on picture frame whiteboards right HERE. in that tutorial i made a large one and loved it. but over the year i decided i didn't really need it to be that big...so i downsized and made this one. the picture frame is from the dollar store, spray painted and then scuffed up a bit with sandpaper.  

to your right is a baby jar that use to hold homemade jelly, now it's the home for a transparency marker, a pen and an extra clothespin. oh and behind it are some lemon lookin` sticky notes for future reminders on that twine.

cheers to another thrift store score and knowing where my keys are c:

a place and a purpose

my thrifty treasures have found their homes.

thanks to that sweet boy of mine, the pitcher is holding flowers

the cd rack became our bill/important note holder

{hmmm...need to find a better name for that!}

{{i'll probably spray paint it later}}

glass bowl took on the responsibility of housing the q`tips in the guest bath

the other wire organizer in our fully organized linen closet

{originally the organizer was white, then i spray painted it yellow, but then i bought the turquoise and lime green baskets from the dollar tree....so my wire organizer may go back to being white, don't worry i'll keep you updated on this major decision}

and the woven basket now hosts our extra tp. 

i love that my finds have found a home c:

left to place and give a purpose are:

the books, terra cotta pots, picture frame and that dresser

...ohh, i am so excited about that dresser...

a birthday

a birthday for the boy

there were balloons

yummy beer with the fam

two, yes two desserts

and of course there were presents...a very big one.

happy birthday love!

the boy is home

my boy is home...mustache and all. yup, apparently his whole unit decided to bring on the manly`ness during their few weeks of training. awww, but it's nice to have him home even if the mustache came with the package c; 

this weekend we have been giddy homeowners, the epitome of first time buyers. frequent trips to home depot, starting {key word} like eighteen projects only to move onto number nineteen and even mowing our poor DEAD lawn in 100 plus degree weather {he was pretty stoked about his new lawn mower}. my boy left just days after we officially moved into our home, so i've been doing all the unpacking by my lonesome. having him home just makes it feel so real...i love it. 

to do this week:

paint our mantle c: c:

unpack that last box i've been ignoring

organize the linen closet

make a bird feeder

finish the spare bedroom 

{in`laws are coming to town}

...and that's all i'm committing to for now.

happy sunday my friends!

God is bigger than our house

we have been house shopping since the beginning of the year, somehow cramming in at least one meeting a week with our realtor driving around the areas we wish we could afford and those we couldn't drive out of fast enough. there would be houses with great features but just a couple things that make us say bleh. then other possible homes we would walk into and see the potential. before each house hunting date, the boy and i prayed. we prayed HE would decide where we lived, where our future children would play, where our marriage would continue to grow, the house that would be used for His glory and blessing others. then it happened, about forty houses into our search we stepped into a house that caused our hearts to say yes, this is it.

it was God's house from the beginning, here's how the day went {eighty~eight days ago}. it was a saturday and i had just gotten off work. we decided that after looking at houses that day we would take a break because the boy was leaving on sunday for a few weeks of coastie training and i didn't want to go house hunting without him for the obvious reasons. as we were walking out of the door i got an update on my phone of a house that literally just went on the market. i glanced over the pictures and got excited...as i usually do about everything. we were able to fit it in as the last and final house we looked at. this house was in the perfect area, a place we were pretty iffy on if we could afford. it was cute, small and everything we wanted. and now the boy was the one getting a little excited about what we came across. i remember just looking at him, both of us sporting ridiculously large grins and knowing this was our home. so we did it, we wrote up our best offer we could give...going a little over asking price and volunteering to pay for items that are usually the seller's responsibility. i even typed up a little paragraph about who we were and how in love we were with the place, to add a little fluff c: we wanted this house, but most importantly we felt God tug on our hearts. 

fast forward about two and a half months now, purchasing this house has been like riding a never`ever`ever ending roller coaster that had up's and down's every single day. ends up the seller is a scam artist and her real estate agent was her sidekick. in the beginning it was a traditional seller with a wonderful family ....um no. that's the act they were playing, really she flips houses for a living. which is all fine and dandy, minus the fact she lied through her teeth every occasion she got and attempted to weasel us out of every penny left in our newly~wed savings. but we felt lead to this house, so we pushed forward, never gave up hope and held on tight for the ride. we prayed about every decision we made. some of her demands, we felt at peace about paying...but others we said no and miraculously she agreed to our biggest requests. God's hand was in the entire process and like always, he followed through on his promise.

alright now that i made you read first...here are some pictures.

 the night we got our keys.

opening the door for the first time and our first cooked frozen pizza meal c:

the boy was a little over taking pictures at that point...can you tell?

i cannot even tally the number of times things went drastically wrong when we were in escrow
but God is SO GOOD. 
He was bigger than every problem we encounter and stayed true.
this truly is His house and we are incredibly blessed to be apart of His plan.