The Office

The office is the room I thought I'd be spending quite a bit of time in considering that I work from home often.  However, Chris actually works in here more when he isn't travelling and I setup in my craft room.

We kept the walls the same color in this room and just decorated.  This room definitely has some big pieces that pull the room together.

The shelves are actually two separate units from Ikea pushed together.  This was a big bang for little buck.

We got the desk free off of craigslists and eventually sanded, painted, and replaced the pulls.  What a different this made.  I went from hating the desk, to loving it! 

I got some cool math art for a great price at 20X200.  It's perfect for an office and its letterpress which I heart big time.

My favorite piece in this room is the map.  Chris LOVES maps.  I bought him this huge one and had it framed for valentines day last year.  We have stickers on it for all the places we have travelled. 

The Living Room

Our living room is probably the room that has been moved around the most since we first moved in.  Originally the TV wasn't mounted (that took us over a year to do) and the rest of the room was arranged around where the TV is.  Chris had to do some re-wiring in the living room in order to get the TV on the wall we wanted.  What a difference hanging it made in the room.  Everything just seems much bigger.

My favorite part about this room are all the framed photo's we have on the walls and shelves.  I have a picture dating back to the two of us in 8th grade all the way up to our wedding last September. 

Here are a few more pictures of our living room now.

The Kitchen

I never thought we'd spend as much time in the kitchen as we do.  It seems as though whenever we have a get together all the ladies end up gathered around the counter chatting...probably because thats where the food usually is! 

  
 We have done no physical work to the kitchen, the color was great, cabinets perfect, and counter top amazing.  My only complaint is the stainless steel appliances.  Up until I was responsible for stainless steel I had no idea how  frustrating it was to clean.  Everytime we open the fridge, use the microwave, turn on stove, open the dishwasher, and so on there is a smudge.  Being the anal person that I am I am cleaning the appliances at least once a day.  I even have a requirement that the stove knobs be taken off and wiped down when used.  Its absurd, but it's  my attempt at keeping what we have looking as new as possible for as long as possible.  

My favorite part about this room is definetely the two cabinets with glass panes.  I get to show off my amazing champagne glasses and collection of cookbooks. 



2 Years

I can't believe it's been two years since we signed on the dotted line and bought our house.  Owning a house is something I think many of us take for granted.  I have to remind myself regularly of the years we lived in small, cramped, over priced, apartments. It makes me happy to think that now I can yell to Chris from upstairs and if he is in the garage or basement he can't hear me.  I'm sure it makes him happy too, but because he doesn't have to hear my bone crushing voice.

When we decided to buy our home, we knew it was a little more house than we needed for the time.  We figure that we will eventually grow into it and to enjoy the extra space while we can by having friends visit and stay with us.  We currently have a King, Queen, Full, and Twin bed setup somewhere in the house! 

Stay tuned as I'll go through the changes we've made and how much we've accrued to fill these rooms in the past 24 months.

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, How does your garden grow?

All spring long I kept saying, I HATE GARDENING!  Now that the fruits of our labor have paid off...I might not use the word HATE anymore.

Growing up my mom always had the most beautiful garden in our small yard.  I never appreciated how much love and care went into it until I decided to have my own. 

To the right is what the front of our house looked like when we bought it almost two years ago. Each side had an evergreen tree, a big redish colored tree/bush, LOTS of lavender, and some other random perennials. 

Last summer we pulled out everything, but the evergreens and put in a few plants.  With so many wedding festivities at our house we wanted the front to be somewhat acceptable. 

This summer, we decided to over haul the entire front.  First came yanking out those tree's.  I hate to pull a tree out of the ground, but truth be told we had no idea how to take care of it.  It was totally out of hand and too wily to frame our front door.  Chris tied a few boyscout knots to one of the trees, attached the rope to the truck and drove.  Those babies came out and pulled right across the pavement perfectly. 

After that was done we had to order screened loam to replace the dirt that was currently residing in our garden beds.  The old dirt was full of concrete from the construction of the house and sand that was used to fill the cracks between the pavers.  The day the truck delivered the dirt was a nasty one, but we didn't give up despit the rain.  We dug out quite a bit of the old dirt and then shoveled in the new stuff.  IT WAS TOUGH WORK!  I have a new found respect for landscapers.

Next was planting which is where I got cheap and needy.  I didn't want to spend money on plants that I didn't know how to take care of and would be replanting and rebuyihg next year.  My mom came through like a champ and took a ton of stuff from hers and a friends garden.  That almost filled up the space! 

There is a house down the street from us that sells plants out front in the spring at a super cheap price.  They are mostly annuals but the price was right and I knew I'd need some to fill in blank spaces.

I then went and had the back of the truck filled with mulch...the darkest available.  We laid soaker hoses and then mulched, and mulched, and mulched. 

Chris took it upon himself to put pavers down to line the side of the garden that is edged with grass.  As usual Chris went above and beyond (aka was wicked anal) and the result is absolutely beautiful.

In the end, all the hard work was well worth it.  Whenever I pull up the driveway and stare it all the beautiful flowers and their colors it puts a smile on my face.