Update

Things are SLOWLY coming together, Blake met with someone to do an estimate on the house earlier in the week and we're just waiting for the final number. We set a deadline for ourselves; have estimates done before the new year so we can get things moving on the house in January and hopefully have it done by the time we are ready to move in, in the spring.
I ordered some bedding from West Elm for the bedroom today, I hope the shade of green I got is what I want. I kept looking at the duvet cover and just couldn't wait any longer to order it.
We are so excited!!! We have some fun things going on in March and April on top of getting the house move in ready so spring can't come fast enough.

Inspiration Board: Kitchen

The kitchen is the room that we are most excited about because we both enjoy cooking and entertaining. For now we think we want white cabinets with stainless handles to go with the stainless appliances, dark counter tops and wood floors. I really like the color combination of the kitchen on the left.  

Inspiration Board: Upstairs (Paige's Half)

Like I said here, Blake and I are going to share the upstairs space. My half is going to be used for a jewelry studio as well as an office. I'm probably going to be spending quite a bit of time up here so I want it to be a space that is inspiring. Here's what I'm thinking... 

Pumpkin Dinner

The closer to the holidays it gets the more excited we get about moving into our new/old house. We can't wait to decorate it and have parties.  We've been pretty busy lately and were a little late on getting ready for Halloween.  It's the day before Halloween and we were sadly unable to find a pumpkin to carve so we decided to eat it instead.  I made three recipes that I found using Pinterest and soup that was in one of my cookbooks.  

The pumpkin cake is really easy all you need is a can of pumpkin and a box of cake mix, mix together and bake.  The hot mozzarella caprese dip was also very easy to make just put mozzarella, basil, and tomatoes in a dish in the oven. The spiced pumpkin and shrimp soup called for two of my favorite things: cilantro & ginger and the pumpkin dip is great for dipping fruit. Our finished meal was delicious!!!

We hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!!!! 

DIY: Suitcase Tables

Quick confession, I didn't actually do this myself, but I would have helped if I was home. My Mom and Dad were kind enough to make these cool side tables for us out of old suitcases. They used a piece of plywood inside the bottom of the first suitcase to stabilize it and attach the legs. The legs were taken from an old table that already had an antiqued red finish should go in the living room nicely. The second suitcase was placed on its side and shelves were added for storage and stability. A piece of round glass was added to the top to become a table!

Kitchen Layout in 3D

After imagining the kitchen layout in our heads we wanted to make sure everyone else was seeing what we were and came across Lowe's virtual kitchen designer where you can practically do whatever you want (although it takes a while).  For the most part it's exactly what we want!   

Kitchen Layout

I am by no means an architect (heck, I can't even draw a straight line) so this drawing is not exactly to scale  but it shows what we think we want to do with the layout of the kitchen. Right now the kitchen is a large blank canvas which sounds fantastic but we've been pretty stumped on what to do. Now that we have the layout down we need to have someone come out to the house and tell us how much its going to cost. The next thing on the kitchen checklist is the color scheme and materials that we will be using.  We are now on the hunt for flooring and counter top options. We are definitely open to suggestions if you have any!

Inspiration Board: Upstairs (Blake's Half)

The upstairs is a very large space and we wanted to split it between the two of us.  We are both creative people; I need a studio space to design and create and Blake needs a relaxing space to listen to music and play drums (with my hammering and his drumming, this is going to be one noisy upstairs!).  The most challenging part of decorating this space is having both sides flow well together.  For Blake's space it's important to have a place for his drums, records, and record player.  As well as display some records and band posters without it looking like a college dorm room.
On a recent shopping trip to Bed Bath and Beyond, Blake pointed out an oriental rug that he liked and we began to gather ideas from there....

Inspiration Board: Bedroom

I was unsure on what direction I wanted to go for the bedroom until I saw the inspiration room photo here, and loved the way black, white, green, and gray were used. Our bedroom in our apartment now is decorated in black, red, and gray so it will be an easy transition. We already have just about everything for the bedroom, we just need bedding and some pieces for decor. The furniture was my first bedroom suite in my apartment in Savannah, GA and was painted cream and gold. We painted it black when I got a wild hair before we moved to Knoxville. The furniture is pretty feminine so I think the black and white combo with army green will help make it more gender neutral. 

Another Look

I try to stay current on appliances and pricing with weekly ads by way of computer. This seems like a good deal to me, bang for your buck, although I'm not up on my Frigidaire appliances. This is in the most recent Electronic Express ad out today. I've looked up customer reviews for Frigidaire, these models specifically, which are also carried by Best Buy, all with decent marks. Including four appliances in stainless steel, 26 cu. foot side by side fridge with ice, water and a self cleaning, flat top range for a $1,900 price point, I'd say it's a good deal. Tell me what you think. 

Frigidaire: The Kitchen of the Future!

DIY

I don't know if we mentioned that the house is about 200 miles from where we are living currently which isn't too far but not close enough to be working on it just yet. In the meantime we are doing small d.i.y. projects to be used in the house when all the big stuff is done. The last time we were home my Mom and I went thrifting and found some great stuff! We found two wall sconces for about $3 each, an iron one and a brass one. To make the brass sconce look more like the iron one we took an old necklace apart, wrapped the links around it and then spray painted it black. It was a fairly easy fix to make the two look more like a pair and I think they will look great on the wall in the living room!!

Inspiration Board: Guest Room

My absolute favorite color is turquoise and I wanted to use it somewhere in the house.  I think it's a little to bold for a wall color so we'll be using gray and painting a desk and possibly the side table turquoise to add pops of color.  I also want to use orange and silver as accent colors.  Since the house doesn't have too much closet space and I have a ton of clothes, I'm figuring out creative clothes storage ideas (suggestions welcome).  

Pressure and Time

A house remodel portfolio is in order. Paige has drawn floor plans and collected paint swatches including more deviations of white than a bridal warehouse. Yellow seemed like a good choice for the kitchen although we're having second thoughts. 

I've been searching DIY tutorials online and have enjoyed watching most. We're thankful that people have been offering us their older appliances, helping with furniture and fixtures. 

Recovering furniture seems like more of a headache than expected in all the explanations I've watched. 

This is a good tutorial of refinishing hardwood floors though with the real estate of our hardwood, it'd take a while to accomplish. 

Inspiration Board: Living Room

As an artist before I even start sketching I find images that inspire me. I've been doing this for the house on a cool website called Pinterest, you can virtually pin images from websites in one place. Since I started this my mind has changed a few times on what to do in each room so who knows what the finished product will look like. For now I put this board together to show the feel that I want to have in the living room; French provincial mixed with rock n' roll (I can get that to work, I think...). We already have the lamp and chair to the right. We're getting crafty and recycling pieces to use throughout the house, finding pieces for cheap or free. My mom has already started upcycling pieces for us to use (but that's for another post).  

Picture Heavy: 1000 Words

I've neglected the blog long enough, I said I'd have an update by the weekend or early this week. Tuesday's still considered early week, isn't it?

It's been a good day, there's squash for a casserole tonight cooling in the kitchen, another half pot of coffee brewing, I swear coffee is slowly becoming a midday addiction and I'm giving my Google account a workout with several simultaneous picture and music uploads. I received my Google Music invite giving me instant access to all my music anywhere with a computer or smartphone, though that could be for another blog altogether. Slowly but surely my Facebook and Twitter are falling by the wayside and I'm going full Google. 

The meat of today's post is giving those reading a taste of what the house has to offer. I hope you enjoy and any advice is welcome. I'll try and take everyone on a virtual tour. 

The yard. Close enough to a white picket fence and I think it comes with 2.5 children.

(click on any picture to enlarge) 

Coming in from the driveway, the front of the house. 

The side and back of the house. 

Kitchen.

Front Room - Living Room. 

Bedrooms & Bathroom. 

Upstairs. 

Basement.