Our NEW(ish) House!

So, Jeff bought me a house!!  He loves me so much.  He probably is also enjoying it...but let's get real, I'm spoiled.  His first instinct is to go for new, well-made, brick, etc.  My gut is for old, homey, comfortable, and quite possibly broken.  We talked each other into a compromise, and we really got a winner.  When we tell friends in the area which house we bought, we often get, "That's one of my favorite houses!!"  Whether or not they're just trying to flatter us, I dig it.

So, here was the compromise:  not too old (1950), definitely well-made, homey but not precious.  This is definitely the kind of house we are proud to have friends and family visit, but we're also thrilled to still be living below our means (shout out to our parents and grandparents for enabling us to get off on the right foot, and brains, financially).  No need to be $30k millionaires, right?  Anyways.

Love it as we did, we definitely wanted to change a few things cosmetically, and decorate it to match who we are.  Well, actually, Jeff wasn't too worried about this stuff...he was more concerned with making sure the toilet didn't fall through the floor and the holes in the windows got fixed.  Have I mentioned how much I love this guy?

This is how we started.  You know how in diet "before" pictures, usually there's really bad lighting, and the person slouches and frowns to look even more "before"ish?  Well...I didn't even have to try.  All the random bags and boxes are for real, folks.

Pretty, but also flat.   Our furniture doesn't make much of a statement by itself.

 LOOK AT MY PRETTY FLOORS I LOVE THEM THEY ARE ORIGINAL SO PRETTY.

 Kennels in kitchen.  Not my favorite.  And, you can't tell, but the 2383 cabinets in the kitchen are the same color as the walls.  Kinda bland.

 And the back hallway.  With a glass wall.  Contain your jealousy, people (I secretly love it.  Who else has a glass wall?!).

Cute, right?!  And you can't tell, but the crown molding details are gorgeous and different in every room.  Hashtag things we couldn't afford to do ourselves.

My sister's mother-in-law (I should just say, my friend!) is a genius when it comes to making spaces beautiful, comfortable, and genuine, which is exactly what we wanted.  She came over once to give color recommendations, and then again later to help "fluff" the house (I think the right word is actually "stage."  I just say "fluff").  She did much more than what these pictures show--but I didn't want to photograph every single room of the house.  I feel like that would be weird.  We truly couldn't have done this without her.  Or, we would have, and it probably would have been a tragedy.  So, call Shelley Carter to avoid a tragedy.  Seriously.  Call her.  Hire her.  Do it.

So, a LOT of paint, getting to know the girl at Lowe's, hand cramps, and bloodshot eyes later, this is what we ended up with!  LOVE IT.

It's forever almost-eleven in this house.  I need to buy some batteries for that clock.

 Do you like the photos we picked out for those frames?!...yeah.  I should do that sometime.  Can you see the sofa table?  That's actually an antique ironing board.  Less than $20 from Gardenland in Sherman.  They have so many treasures there.  Be looking for another one!

 That huge piece was $10 at Goodwill.  I looked like a fool carrying it around the store (it's solid wood and heavy), but it was worth it.

Top left painting is an original piece I purchased from a former student, and the two canvases were $1 each at Goodwill.  We are not high rollers, people.  We fake, and we fake hard.

Portrait painted by an incredibly talented friend as a wedding gift.

...still have the dog kennels in the kitchen.  Not my favorite, but there's nowhere else.  Oh well!

 LOVE the terracotta with the blue tiles and dark-teal dining room.  A loose Southwestern reference.

 We had enough greige (grey-beige) left over from the living room to do this back hall.  Made a world of difference!  I bought the pew from Gardenland in Sherman for $75.  No joke.

God is so good.  A friend of mine posted today that she and her husband bought a house, and said something to the effect of, "He tends to our hearts, not just our needs."  That is so true.  We don't need a lick of this to love God and love each other, which is all the work we really have to do.  But it's fun to do that work here.

Heaven is going to be so much cooler.

xoxo Bec