Sweet Home

For Joe and I, one of the biggest parts of our first year of marriage (so far) has been making this house our home. This is both of our first time living with someone, so it's been a crazy and exciting journey figuring it out together. We're getting the hang of each other's habits, working together, and doing a lot of compromising.

When we started deciding how to decorate our home, we both agreed right away that we love simple, clutter free, and cozy. And then we both took what we love individually and made them work together; he loves wood and a natural look, I love a lot of photos, art and flowers (real and fake).

Putting a home together is a crazy process. When we got married back in June, we made a (long) list of improvements we wanted to make together, and it's a wonderful feeling after hard work being able to cross things off. It also turns out that the annoyance of cleaning up a backyard and building furniture is more opportunity to bond and laugh together. It's been amazing turning my single-girl's house into a married couple's home, I've been loving every moment of it and can't wait to do more.

♥

Decking the Halls

Happy December! Can you believe it's already the last month of 2014?! I know I'm shocked! It does not seem like a whole year has gone by since we decorated our house for Christmas last year, but it snuck up on us and last night we put up our little tree. I love so much when the house is Christmassy, it reminds me of being a little kid filled with excitement for all of the amazing things to come. Especially because this year is mine and Joe's first Christmas married, we're just so happy.

Have you decorated for any of the holidays yet, isn't it just the best!

Newlywed Home

Hello, all! I thought it would be fun to show you a few photos from around our home. Joe and I have been married for two months and five days, and we're getting the hang of living together and sharing a home. It's been so fun and crazy sharing all this space and working together to make it our own. 

 Right now, we're all about filling the house with tons of wedding photos (as you'll see) and lovey-dovey things. Obviously neither of us have ever had a whole home to decorate before, so we're learning together what we like and what we think looks good, and we have tons and tons of ideas for things we want to do and change. For example, a friend of ours is building us a coffee table right now and we plan on painting the hutch we got on Craigslist for a super steal, along with other bigger things that probably won't happen for a while. But in the mean time we're really enjoying having this place and making it our home by adding small touches. Our home is always changing, so I'll have to keep up with updating posts!

Here are some bits and pieces of our very first home together:

(I decided to only post close-up details rather than bedrooms and things like that, maybe some day I will without feeling weird ;))

Decking the Halls

Friday night Joe and I finally decorated our house for Christmas. I say finally because I've been wanting to for almost a month now, but he insisted we wait until after Thanksgiving to make it more special. I'm so happy they're finally up! There is nothing quite like the feeling of a house full of cheerful decor, and the smell of pine (from a candle, our tree is fake ;) 

That night was so wonderful! We found the classic Grinch story on vinyl and had to grab it. We listened to it while putting up our tiny tree and little ornaments. It gave me the warmest, most excited feeling inside! The feeling of Christmas drawing near really is like no other, and if you celebrate holidays too, I'm sure you know the feeling. 

Most of the things we used I got at Target, a lot from the dollar section! I was so psyched for all the good finds this year! We even found a few Christmas cards we received last year and are displaying them for now until we get a few of this year's, so send us yours! 

I'm so thrilled December is finally here, and absolutely cannot wait for all the amazing things it brings!

Our Instagram Wall

While reading the A Beautiful Mess Photo Idea Book (which is awesome, by the way) I came across the idea of making a wall display out of Instagram photos. I absolutely love Instagram, and loved the idea of being able to display those photos in other ways than just the app. I printed my favorites out using Printicular, which is super inexpensive. Then just measured out using blue painters tape exactly where they would go, and stuck them using double sided tape. I didn't worry about them being completely perfect because that would probably be close to impossible and would drive me crazy. 

I think it turned out pretty cool! I'm thinking of possibly making a frame to add around the borders, but I also like the idea of always being able to add more, so we'll see!

Sorry about the grainy photos, it's dark out today ;)

Bloom Where You Are Planted

I've recently discovered something about myself; I LOVE plants. Well, I've always loved plants, but I never thought I'd want to be surrounded by them at all times until now. In the past, whenever I'd buy plants, they would always end up dying within a week or two. So I just never really bothered. But since being out and on my own I've gotten more responsible with things, and thought I'd give plants another go. And I love it. Obviously they are so lovely and pretty, but they also bring such a feeling of life to your home. I have started out easy with Succulents and Cacti, because they are very low maintenance, but they are SO beautiful. I'm especially in love with my "Lola" succulent. I only have a few for now, but definitely plan on getting more in the future as I learn more about them and can make sure I don't kill any more!