Welcome Chest!

When you first walk into our home you are greeted by a collage and a chest that I've had since college. My mom picked it up from a garage sale for $10 and I've always had better hopes for it. A whopping 8 years later, I finally got around to sprucing it up.

Here are the Before shots:



The collage was completed by Mrs. Lauren Johnson!

Cute, right?



And the After shots:

Ta-Da! I'm really happy with it!

Thanks for all your help Lauren!



Head towards the light

While Michael and I move (slowly) through our home renovations, I've come to a, surprisingly, time-consuming decision to make. We need to replace the majority of the lighting in the house and I haven't a clue where to begin. I tend to lean more towards the Pottery Barn look of things, but lighting can be ANYTHING you want it to be. I'm constantly looking online at Shades of Light and Rejuvenation for their lighting options, but I can't come up with a cohesive design throughout the house. Which brings me to my question...does it have to be cohesive?

The first stop on my lighting transformation highway, is the kitchen! We have this terrible light in there and we want to change it. So do we go with can lighting? Do we dabble with some pendant lighting? Under the cabinet lighting?? It never ends!

The picture below is NOT our current kitchen, but what I love is that: it's the layout of our kitchen! I don't love everything about it...but we're working with the same one-window situation and I want white cabinets :)  (Image is from HGTV's Designer Portfolio)

Here's the direction that I want us to go in. We obviously won't have that killer range set...

So here's to weeks of looking, pricing, and deciding...I can't wait until it gets done!

Also, if you have any other great lighting websites you'd like to share...PLEASE let me know!

The Master Haven: In Progress

After our honeymoon, the first order of business at the house was to transform the master bedroom from a bachelor pad to a peaceful and resting haven for our slumber. We're still working on some of the details, so I'll post pictures soon!

Before!

Before!

Before!

 



And then we were one...

October 26, 2012 was the greatest day. Ever. Michael and I were joined as one and we got to celebrate our new beginning with our friends! The weather was cold, but it was still so beautiful and perfect! Here are just a few snapshots of our wedding provided by twopairphotography from Abilene, TX. Tressie and Chad are incredibly talented and I'm so thrilled with all of our pictures!

Our wonderful, and crazy good-looking, bridal party!

 

The beautiful ladies in waiting!

 

Parents and new in-laws!