Whenever people come to our house they usually say two things: "It looks so much better in person!" and "I looks so much bigger in person!" I'm not really sure how to explain the first comment, that it looks better. I think the pictures I post capture how it looks pretty well, aside from the fact that they're more pixelated than I'd like because I use a too-fast shutter speed out of sheer laziness. Aside from that, I think they're pretty representative of how things look in person.
The second comment, that it looks bigger in person, does make sense to me. Through this continual comment, I've realized that the pictures I take of each room make the spaces look much smaller than they actually are because I'm using a regular lens (not a wide angle one) and therefore the pictures capture less of what your naked eye would see.
So, to give you a better perspective, I wanted to share some pictures that a) show more than just a single room at a time/more of a 360 view so you can hopefully see more of the house at once and b) can show you a few small additions and projects I've tackled recently.
First, here's a little reminder of our floor plan that I made at floorplanner.com (it's free!) and tweaked with Photoshop to add things like the images of rugs. Here's the first floor:
And the second floor:
Here's the front door. Luckily, it's still looking pretty clean from the power wash I gave it back in December. Recently we got a cheap and simple welcome mat from Target and four planters from West Elm using some store credit we had from wedding gifts. There is nothing more exhilarating than walking into a store that has purely decorative items and being able to buy them with "fake" money. We also bought the flowers in the planters from Home Depot with wedding gift cards. The impatients in the bottom left planter have already died since this picture was taken... seriously. #blackthumb
Here's the entryway from the inside. Don't mind the fact that the rug still has a crease in it from how it was shipped. I thought it might work its way out... but no luck. I'm hoping to find a really short and narrow console table to put on the wall on the right because our entryway is pretty plain right now. You can barely see two little figures in the windows...
They're are a little pair of jelly bride and groom figures that my sister-in-law's parents gave us in our wedding card. I think they're super cute! Don't judge me if they're still there in 2014 and I can't let go of the "newlywed" title.
This is the living room looking towards the entryway, stairs to the second story (which are behind the banister/slanted wall), half bath, and media stand. Since you last saw the media stand we acquired the matching bookcase which now sits to its right.
Here it is closer up. I also hung up a picture of each set of our grandparents to the right of the half bath door.
Top left: my paternal grandparents
Top right: my maternal grandparents
Bottom left: John's maternal grandparents
Bottom right: John's paternal grandparents
Aren't they lovely? I just love them in these pictures!
To the left of the media stand is the dining room. And yes, it's technically not a room, but it's easier to call it the dining room than the "eat in kitchen."
Going around the room you can see the back yard beyond the windows. It's small, but that's the way we like it... Uh huh, that's the way, uh huh uh huh, we like it, uh huh uh huh.
Wow... the wall above the couch looks even more bare in these pictures than it does in person. I really plan to put some art up, but that means finding art I like, which has proven difficult and expensive. I have some cheap canvases I got on sale at Michaels that I'd like to use, but I'm a terrible painter! I'm not sure how it would go... do you have any fool proof DIY painting ideas?
The barstools are a fairly new addition and I love love love them. They really break up the enormous amount of grey that was showing on than half wall and add some awesome extra seating. I also love that they warm up the grey with the wood on the seats.
Taking down the blinds was one of the best decisions I made... if I do say so myself. Being able to see out the windows and kitchen door without any obstructions just makes everything feel so much more open and clean. I was nervous about people being able to see in, but between the fence, the low hanging trees, and the solar screens that are on the outside of the windows, people can't see a thing.
Here's the view from where the buffet sits, with the kitchen on the left and then entryway and living room straight ahead.
I've done a lot of tweaking on the kitchen shelves since you've last seen them and I'm a lot happier with how they look. The hardest part has been finding things that are tall to break up all of the short items. We have two cheese boards and some twig-flowers (they're sticks with tissue paper) that I got from West Elm to add height.
You may also have noticed that there's a basket of kitchen towels on the counter... because it turns out I have too many to fit them anywhere else. I didn't know I had this random obsession until I looked at them all in one spot. What you can see in the basket is only about 1/3 of how many I actually have... the rest are out being used or are tucked away in the buffet because they're seasonal.
On the other side of the kitchen I actually have some of the same twig-flowers, and some taller vases and baskets to take up the space. I forgot to get a picture of the laundry room door, but it's just to the right of the fridge.
Since our fridge is stainless steel, the side of it is the only part that's magnetic, so that's where we keep anything and everything magnet related. I kind of like that it's on the side because it lets us have a fun space but keeps things looking nice and clean overall.
Here's a shot from the laundry room doorway looking back on the kitchen and dining room.
Here we are in the laundry room. It still has a pretty long way to go. I'd like to add better storage above the washer and dryer... I'm thinking cabinets with no doors. Not quite open shelves like the one that's currently in there, but ones that are more boxed in that go all the way to the ceiling. Currently we have so much unused storage space that it's not worth the money or effort, but I'm sure some day we'd appreciate it.
On the other side of the laundry room is the pantry, and you can barely see the door leading back to the kitchen on the right.
Here's the laundry room looking towards the kitchen.
Now to head out to the back yard. It's awesome because we have just about no yard work, although some of the plants on the left are super over grown. I love sitting out there and reading a book and not having to think about needing to mow the grass... because we have none! With both of our birthdays coming up (mine on May 29th and John's on June 14th), I think our combined birthday present from my dad is going to be some patio furniture.
Behind the rain barrel is our awesome grill that John's sweet parents got him for Christmas. We haven't used it yet, but since we've been having such nice weather I'd really like to soon. We've both been working so much there's hardly any time, but we need to make some.
Now let's go up to our bedroom. Not much has changed since you last saw it... if anything. It's just another place that a lack of art on the walls is painfully apparent.
Here's our bedroom looking towards the door to the hall and our bathroom.
Here's our bathroom, where again nothing new is going on.
Here's the loft and guest room from our bedroom doorway.
Since you last saw the loft, we got a coffee table from Crate and Barrel thanks to wedding gift cards. I love it, but all it does is make the Ikea media stand look like... it's from Ikea.
See the gorgeous wood in the bottom left corner of the coffee table? And the particle board wood on the media stand? That's a worry for another time, because it's just not worth the investment for now. We hardly use the loft TV so we don't even look at it much, but it drives me crazy whenever I notice it.
Here's the loft/office looking towards our bedroom door and the window above the entryway.
Our desk is messy... yuck.
And now for one of my favorites... the guest room. Since you last saw it, I've hung some curtains which makes it feel much more finished. I wanted something mainly white to break up all of the teal, and they have a little yellow/mustard design on the bottom to keep them from being too plain and to tie in the yellow from other places in the house.
I also added some pillows to the bed. The two big ones were made by my friend Gina for our wedding, and the smaller one came from West Elm.
My mother-in-law found a super cute chair at Round Top that adds a lot of character to my craft nook. She was on the lookout for that and a console table for the entry way and was so so nice to send me about 700 pictures of different options. This robin's egg blue was the perfect choice, I think :)
The guest bath doesn't have anything new going on. Some day when we have guests stay over I'd like to spice it up in here a little. If only someone would come and visit to give me incentive. No pressure Sarah, Steph, Ali, and everyone else... #hurryupalready
My favorite thing about the guest bathroom is the closet. It houses my gift wrap organizer which was the best $22.99 I've ever spent, haha.
That's a weird note to end on though, so let's revisit the kitchen. It just makes me so happy.
So, have yall made any small improvements lately? Anyone want to come stay in our guest room so we can have a reason to add a little interest to the bathroom? Do you have any DIY painting ideas for me to put over the couch or above our bed?
