i love lamp.

Lamps. 

I've never been a big "lamp person."  Maybe it's because everyone always thought my name was lamPkin. It's not.  I know there are some of you that thought it was.  But there's no "P."  only 6 more weeks of that though :)

back to lamps...we won't have an overhead light in our master bedroom so we have to use lamps.  I was on a search.  That search left me so sad because lamps are so freaking expensive.  Lamps and end tables (which we are still on the hunt for)...what's up with that?  Enter: TJ MAXX!  discount lamps...ON SALE!  I got two of these pretty navy lamps with a khaki canvas shade.

I think it will go quite nicely against our grey and yellow...

west elm

wait...navy...grey...yellow....seems like my wedding color scheme is now becoming my house color scheme.  hope I still like it when I'm not in 24/7 wedding mode.

country kitchen

oh the kitchen.

it's my most favorite room in a house.  i like that people gather around food...and often times that means gathering in the kitchen.  in the past places i've lived i've worked hard to strategically figure out the best way to organize and arrange my kitchen.  the functionality and flow are very important to me...where the dishes are in proximity to the dish washer...where the pots are in relation to the stove...what to put up top that I don't always need, etc.  I'm still working on that for Josh's. 

in the meantime, we are focusing on decorating.  all the apartments i've lived in before haven't had much wall space (or any space) in the kitchen.  So there really wasn't much to think about.  Josh's kitchen, however, has pretty green walls and an eat in kitchen area that are begging to be decorated. 

All the appliances and kitchen accents are silver.  The walls are green.  We've decided to go with a nice warm, southern, country, farm kitchen feel...since we are both from the south and long for a day when we can have land...and maybe a farm :)

cows

ducks

both pictures are from one of our favorite downtown franklin shops, Wessex and Rye

we also ordered this oversized postcard to put up from Yee Haw Industries!

wall by wall...cow picture by cow picture we are making the house Our Home!

ps. any of you folks with great kitchen organizing tips...i'd love to hear them!

where i've been

hello blog readers, friends, and family!  sorry for the break in blogs.  I had the past two weeks off of work, so I tried to use as much of that time to be productive and get wedding stuff done.  and I think I've done a lot...

I got to pick up my wedding dress!

meet with the caterer!

ordered the dance floor!

assembled the first few invitations!

josh and I also took down Christmas and cleaned out the last few closets so there is some space for my stuff!  Now that Christmas is down, we have room to put up some fun presents we got this year.  Like these "D"s from anthro!

check back soon for some new crafts and new kitchen decor!

Chalk it up

I'm sure you've seen it places...on blogs, in stores.  Chalkboard paint.  It's kind of taking over.  Might as well jump on the wagon, right?!

The old fireplace in josh's house is completely filled in.  So it doesn't work.  He's had a gate in front of it with "fireplace tools" beside to give the feeling of a fireplace.  since those weren't really necessary we gave them to Goodwill to open up the space a bit.  that left a blank canvas.  perfect for some chalking...

and now...the final product!

options are endless!

decorations of red...

as much as I would LOVE to buy new bedding every single month I'm quite the opposite when it comes to my seasonal decorations.  I tend to keep everything the same from one year to the next (as much as I've been able to).  Each little piece is considered an investment and it has a specific place and purpose.  Well, I broke my rules this year.  I got something new to go on the mantle.

Isn't it cute?! We got them in at Hallmark awhile back.  I saw it, fell in love, saw that it was the slightest bit damaged and got it for even cheaper!!!  I love how the bird on top ties in with my beloved bird vase.  So here is our new sign, with it's new "mantle decoration friends" looking like its been there every year before..

I also got this new little, what a I call, sweater tree!  I think it's super cute and warm and cuddle-y. 

In my mind it would go on the floor by the "fireplace" but Dylan thought it was his Christmas toy.  So now, it's home is the dentist cabinet along with some left over yarn balls I didn't use on my wreath.

christmas wreath in progress

it's still lacking one major part...BUT...at least it's on the door!!!

still have a dead mum and gourd on the porch.  baby steps folks...still taking baby steps.

baby steps towards Christmas

When it comes to decorating for Christmas I am typically a GET IT ALL DOWN IN ONE DAY kind of girl.  Well, that just didn't happen this year. 

I mentioned in the last post that we lost all of our outside decor in the flood.  So, we started with the inside and the Christmas tree.  That lead to the mantle and a few other spots. Piece by piece it is coming together.  I don't like that it's not completely finished...but I'm also not at Josh's house everyday so it doesn't bother me as much.

Here is a mantle sneak peek:

and like I said...the outside is not decorated.  not only is just not decorated for Christmas, but it still has a gourd on the porch. GASP! I know, I know.  Please don't tell Martha!  It will be thrown away soon...right babe?! (hint hint).  I was going to take a picture, but you get this instead ...the x's mark what isn't there.

the outside...the very sad, dead, remains of fall.  but inside it's like a Christmas forest full of pine, evergreen, and everything merry.

How is your house? All decorated? outside AND in?!

the bed

we have our bed ladies and gentlemen!!!

I told you about our bedding HERE and we actually have all of it now :)  well...we need some down comforters to put in the duvets AND pillows to put in the pillow cases, but for the most part, we've got it all.

speaking of our bedding...apparently it has sparked a new love for the color GREY.  Well...it will be used in my wedding (shhh! don't ruin the surprise) so maybe that sparked it...but it will also now be in our bedroom AND also in the bathroom!  I'm in LOVE with these towels from target...

I think grey accents will go nicely with josh's black and white tile bathroom floor, and greenish-blueish wall color.

anyway...this post is about our bed.  Josh and I both have double beds.  Which are great for one person.  Even one person + a dog.  But when you add and additional one person + dog to the equation, you get 2 people + 2 dogs = too many for a double bed.  So, we knew a queen bed was in order.  Once Josh got the new TV bedroom he quickly understood the need for a comfy headboard.  So, here is what we ended up with, courtesy of American Signature...

it's brown and leather and pretty!  I'm sad I don't get to sleep on it for another 4 months and 3 days ...oh and the fact that we don't have queen mattresses yet either...or sheets for that matter (baby steps people). 

more of the mantle

I finally remembered to bring the bird vase I told you about in this post over to josh's!

and it has a pretty home on the mantle!!!

and just for more fall fun...here is what I think will be the final version of my Fall Front Porch...for now :)

fire pit friday night

I think this would make for a fabulous fall tradition.  Friends...gathering 'round the fire pit every friday night...  we'll see how it goes.

last friday night I bought some of this to make smore's.

I got some dark chocolate just to just provide a different option.  I also saw in a magazine where they had used peanut butter cookies instead of graham crackers.  So i made some of those. (I wish I would have made the PB cookies a little crispier...they may have helped.  I didn't LOVE the PB with the smore, but some did).

we put up some of these...

josh made this...

and friends came!

it may happen again tonight!  who can know!

a closet

Josh's house is old.  I love it's character...but not so much it's lack of closet space.  They just didn't build houses with lots of big closets back then.  I think it's because people had less stuff back then...which maybe I should take a few cues from.  Nonetheless, Josh's house has 2 closets.  1 closet in the dining room which will be storage/coat closet/whatever else can fit in there.  The other closet is in the bedroom. And here it is:

(please pardon the horrible quality of pictures...his house also has a lack of light)

Naturally all his clothes fit nicely in there.  So...what about my clothes? ...and let's just say I have a few more than he does?  Our resolution was to buy a standing closet for the spare "bedroom" for Josh's clothes and I will get the closet in his room (which will be my our room after I move in).

So...off to IKEA we went.  Their PAX closet system is fabulous.  We ending up getting this one:

Josh worked hard to put it together.

And wah-lah!  We have a really tall closet in the extra room. 

And we are now taking suggestions on blending 2 homes worth of stuff in to one home!

"I'll be your dentist"

10 points to whoever can name where that song comes from.

oh the dentist.  some people love going...others hate it.  I probably fall somewhere closer to the "hate it" side.  My guess would be that since my dentist was my orthodontist and I had to go see him once a month for 8 years I feel like I've put in my time...plus all of yours.  yep...I was awesome with metal in my mouth my. entire. childhood.

So mom and I decided to hit up some antique stores in nolensville last weekend.  I'd heard my friend Sara Beth talk about how much she loved Three French Hens so we thought we would try it out.  JACK POT!  such fun things!  They also own The Roost right next door.  I was looking for two things: a tall dresser, and a hallway cabinet that could fit in this little nook right in front of the bathroom at Josh's house.  I found several shelves that would work for the cabinet and had a hard time making a decision.  In the end, I decided I wanted something with character, a story, something that made it unique.  I certainly found that!

It was an old dentist cabinet.  The holes on the top were made so they could set their tools in them.  I loved it...just the character, story, and something unique I was looking for.

So now...maybe I don't hate the dentist so much.  They make cool cabinets that add something fun to my hallway!  The shelves are adjustable which is helpful...and I've already filled it with some books.

I'm not sure if I'll ever use the holes for anything.  Maybe just to tell the story.  Who knows.  You got any suggestions?

front porch fall decor

Josh went camping last weekend so I went over to his house to decorate!  That's how that works right? He does boy things, I do girlie things!

on Friday night I brought Bauer over with me so he and Dylan could "play" while I worked on other things.  They ingnored each other for a bit, then they "played", and now they are friends...

dylan seemed to be really happy about it...

Moving on...the crafts.  I found this white basket that I figured I could paint for various occasions.  Maybe fall on one side, spring on the other? I could totally paint the whole thing another color, stand it up, turn it over...the possibilites were endless for my $14 purchase.

I decided to paint it a little for fall...tie some raffia, and here is what we got:

It's not perfect, so I may paint over it, but it was a fun beginning. 

Saturday, Caitlin and I went to the farmer's market to get some decorations for the front porch (and it turns out some things for dinner too!).  And here is what I ended up with:

2 pumpkins and a gord for $15, and two mums for $20. I was super excited.

I know what you are thinking...you just covered up what you painted on the basket.  Well, I've since moved the pumpkins to the other side of the steps.  I'm not sure which I like better.  Either way...it's cool outside, I have pumpkins and mums on my porch, it's fall and I'm a happy girl!

mantle makeover

It's not that I don't like the way Josh has decorated his house...I just want to make it our house.  Don't get me wrong, it's a huge blessing that Josh already owns a nice house - but if we were getting a new place together, I think it would seem a little less like "I don't like your stuff" and more like "let's make it OUR home."

I actually may have started doing this before we were engaged...women, so typical!...anyway.  He has this great old brick mantle in the middle of living room that just calls to be awesome.

When I met him...it had an abstract canvas painting of this...

not really the "awesome" I felt the mantle deserved.  A play room? yes! Man room? yes! Mantle in the living room...not so much.  I knew what I wanted to replace it.  A window frame from my grandmother's house as a child.  She still has one, my mom has one, and I have one.  It's followed me to all the places I've lived...

2006-2007

2007-2009

When it came time to decorate for Christmas I found myself living at my mom's with no house to decorate.  Josh was generous enough to let me take over his home.  I asked if I could take the painting down just for Christmas.  He hesitated...but agreed.

9 months later, the window frame remains and has even made a permanent home.  You can see slight touches of fall as I slowly begin to makeover the mantle.  Piece by piece.  Here is stage 1:

stage 2 involves bringing over my lovely bird vase!  I'd been eyeing it at hallmark for about 3 months.  I was ready to finally buy it and someone beat me to it.  Luckily I've got an in there and they ordered me another one.  Happy Birthday Emily! Love, mom!

Stage 3 will hopefully involve some pretty candlesticks...stay tuned.