Decisions.

I hate 'em. I'm no good at 'em and I've decided (ironic) that I'm no longer gonna make 'em. Okay, no, not really, because you HAVE to make them in order to live. But it's hard!

I look at style magazines and I see a room like this, and I'm all like...oooh. All white. Neutrals. Calming. Gorgeous. Simple. Elegant. YES! Love it. (And, coincidentally, this furniture layout and the built-ins look surprisingly close to how I want our living room to turn out...). Decision made--neutrals it is.

Except that then, approximately 7 seconds later thanks to the wonders of Pinterest, I see a room like this.

And then I'm all like...ooooh! Color! Vibrant! Funky! Fun! YES! Love it. Decision made---colors it is. And, clearly, you see my dilemma. I have no gosh darn clue what I want. So, that's been about where I've been for the past few months. 

Somehow, by some miracle, we managed to make an executive decision on a dining room table and a coordinating area rug. And we haven't even second-guessed it. (Small victories, people). So, now all that's left to do is pick and install a new light fixture, paint the walls, and make final decisions about other furniture in the room (the debate is over whether we stick with our free hand-me-downs or upgrade to new stuff). 

So, first thing's first. I needed to agonize about paint color for awhile. I really should have taken a photo of all the paint chips I brought home. Holy moly. I think there's some weird kleptomaniac part of me that loves the fact that I can take as many colored strips of paper as I want and they're all FREE. This is probably the same part of me that brings home hotel soap on occasion. Although, now that I think about it, taking the soap makes more sense. At least it has a function! Paint chips, especially the ones you end up deciding are gross and ugly, have absolutely no purpose.

Anyway. The point is that I brought home an exorbitant number of these suckers. They weren't even in the same color family---I had browns, yellows, blues, and grays. Sheesh, woman, make up your mind!! Anyway, this story has a happy ending because yesterday, I FINALLY PICKED A PAINT COLOR! One small step for man, one giant leap for Kathleen's decision-making skills. Or at least let's hope so. 

So. What is it? Without further ado, (drumroll please): 

Ta da! There it is. 

We're going for a dining room that looks something like this,  but with a farmhouse style table. Hopefully, it's going to be awesome. 

Oh, and, one day, I want to make this in the dining room. I love the idea of not having a china cabinet but still having a spot to display our dishware, flowers, etc. One day. 

 

So that, my friends, is how you can spend months deciding on one room's furniture and paint color. Who wants to take bets on how long it's going to take me to actually decide on furniture for the family room? 

Low Class

Okay so here's something you need to know about me. In most categories, I have a "high class" and a "low class" favorite of most everything (and I bet, if you will be honest with yourself for a minute, you do too).

Don't know what I mean? Examples. 

1.  My "high class" favorite dessert: New York Cheesecake with fresh raspberries. My "low class" favorite dessert: Oatmeal Creme Pies
2. My "high class" favorite clothing store: J Crew or Banana Republic. My "low class" favorite clothing store: Ross.
3. My "high class" favorite TV show: Discovery channel's Planet Earth. My "low class" favorite TV show: Sister Wives. Yes, sister wives. I really can't explain that one.

You get the idea. 

So when it comes to home improvement or housewares stores, you better believe that I have high class and low class favorites. Maybe I'll focus on my high class favorite some other time, but my low class one is the subject of this post. 

My absolute favorite low class home goods store is....Ollie's Bargain Outlet. Never heard of it? Not surprising. Just imagine a store like Big Lots, and then bring it down about 12 notches. If it helps you get a visual, here's their logo and slogan: 

I LOVE this place. Love. It. It's like a treasure hunt. Most things are old, broken, smell weird, or just generally give you the heebie jeebies, but then, in the midst of the ickiness, you'll find gold. And it'll only cost you $3. 

Now, before you get all, "Kathleen, seriously? This sounds gross. Why in the world would you shop here?," I dare you to go there and see if you're not completely blown away by how cheap stuff is. I've found name brand house items 75% or 80% less than I saw them at other stores. I bought some wall hangings at Target for $25 a piece, and saw the SAME ONES at Ollies for $5. Think Walmart's $5 movie bin is a good deal? Ollies has $2 movies. Y'all. You gotta go check it out. 

I'll have to do another post and show some of the things in our house that we got from Ollies. It's incredible.

You might have to wash your hands afterwards, and you might end up in the shopping aisle next to someone in a dirty tank top talking to themselves (actually happened), but you can't beat the prices. 

Side note: Theoretically---if, while loading your trunk with your Ollies purchases in the parking lot, someone compliments you on your sandals, don't stop paying attention to what you're doing, put your keys and phone temporarily in the trunk so you can shake their hand, and then close the trunk because you're distracted by conversation. You'll then find yourself waiting, in Ollies, for 45 minutes while your husband comes to pick you up. And who knows what you might encounter while you're there.  

The Revolving Door

When we were looking for a house, folks kept asking us "Why do you want a house so badly? What's so bad about the apartment?" to which I would inevitably reply, "Dude...why are you so nosy? You don't know my life!" Okay, no, I didn't really say that.

I always said the main reason we wanted a house was so we could have space to let more people into our lives. Let them stay with us, eat with us, break things, see how messy our kitchen can get, be disgusted when they see a cockroach in our house, ya know...the usual.

Little did I know just how much we would use our house in this way. Since we've moved in, we've had about 2846234 overnight guests and 4123423 dinner parties.*

*Numbers are approximate.

No, but seriously, we've had a lot of things happen in our house since we bought it. Here's some highlights:

• 60 people coming over for our housewarming party (Our house has never seemed smaller than that day!)
• 10 teenage girls spending the night (complete with ding-dong-ditching done by 10 teenage boys at midnight)
• 6 foster kittens for 2 weeks
• 1 foster dog for 2 weeks (complete with accidents in 3 rooms of the house)
• 1 bachelorette party at our house
• 6 friends spend the weekend with us for a wedding 
• 1 sister stay with us for the weekend
• 1 family stay with us for vacation for a week
• 3 cockroaches and 1 large spider found (iiiiicccckkkkk!)
• 3 small group meetings (complete with kids/teenagers trying on my clothes and makeup) 
• 4 groups of friends over for dinner
• 1 life-size rastafarian banana stay with us for a week
• 2 grandmas over for dinner
• 1 guys' video game night
• countless hang out sesh's (sesh-es?) 
• 2 weeks of Insanity workouts in our empty living room

It has been 4 months (whoa, already?), but it feels like every day something new is happening at our place. And I gotta say, I love it.


If you're a "visual learner" (aka too lazy to read), here's some photo updates:

Girls at the wedding

So good to see friends from Illinois! 

Our foster puppy, comfortably sleeping on my previously perfectly folded clean laundry. "Why didn't you put it away the night before?" you ask? Because I'm not that smart, that's why. 

A photo from downtown Chicago, while I was on a business trip last month. It was HOT! 

Our first fig harvest is underway! So far, I've made 2 batches of jam...

Matt at a local festival. They had tons of cool cars. 

They even had a LOTUS! In Smithfield! 

I had the opportunity to participate in "Bright Beginnings" with Smithfield, where I went shopping with this cool 10 year old for new school clothes and supplies, which were free to her. Her name is Asia, and her favorite movie is Madea Goes to Jail. My kinda girl. 

I love my new(ish) breadmaker! It makes all kinds of yummy things. 

I finally got around to buying new shades for and spraypainting some old lamps my mom gave me multiple years ago. They look so much better! 

Because I know you were wondering what the "life-size Rastafarian banana" looked like...

Some of the girls and I hanging at the bachelorette party

The dessert table. The banner I made says "Miss to Mrs"

Matt and I hanging out at the rehearsal dinner

College Housemates reunited!

3 seconds before that group photo. 

More college housemates and close friends. 

Some Updates

Sheesh...it's been awhile since I've updated this sucker. A long while. Well, let's see what's been going on on Park Place since our last post:

• Our house had its first semi-long term house guests. And they were absolutely adorable. We fostered kittens for 2 weeks for our local animal shelter, and having absolutely no furniture in our formal living room made it especially easy--we just blocked off that room and let 'em loose! I think I'm discovering that my "maternal instincts" are much stronger for animals than they are for humans. Kittens = gotta have em; Babies = not so much. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• We got a dining room table! We're so stoked about it. We think it has the perfect balance between masculine and feminine, and it is real wood. None of that particle board junk. Also, we hit a grand opening sale and scored 20% off, and you know how we love a good deal. If you're looking for wood furniture in Hampton Roads, go to GoodWood! Seriously, it rocks. 

• Then the search was on for a rug. After scouring the internet, Target, all our favorite discount stores, MANY furniture stores, etc. we ended up settling on one from Lowes. It had a great bang for buck and just perfectly fit in our dining room. (Most of the ones online and at furniture stores were around $400-$500, and this one was under $300). Now we're looking to paint the walls...maybe something like this? We're also considering adding wainscoating like this or this. I definitely want to add floor length cream-colored curtains like these, and I'd also like to work on a buffet unit with shelving for wine glasses like this. Oh, and, the chandelier will likely come down and be replaced by something more modern. 
  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

• While we were at GoodWood, we also bought a coffee bar! It's unstained, so we need to work on it a bit. I have a great vision for this area of our kitchen. I'm thinking something like this or this. For now, it looks like this, and I've already loved using it daily as well as having a convenient place for friends to make coffee while they're over. More on this project later. 
  

• We FINALLY finished our half bathroom downstairs. At least for now. We think it turned out pretty great, especially for first-time DIY'ers. Our light fixtures and faucet came from Lowes, our towel rod and TP holder came from Costco, the shelf we had from our apartment, and the mirror came from Ross (only $39!). Eventually, I'm thinking of decorating in here with a mixture of silver, black, and gold, since the ceiling is painted gold. Maybe with accents like these?
  
  

• We bought a TV table (also from GoodWood) for our upstairs bonus room so that my grandfather's coffee table can actually start being a coffee table, and stop doubling as an entertainment center. I also added fun curtains from HomeGoods to my teal-colored sheers.We decided to move the TV from the living room to this room, and so far, we are loving it. Among other things, it gives us a reason to actually use this room! 
  

• I (finally) have a vision of where I'd like to go with our family room. Given its slightly awkward, narrow layout, it's been a challenge to think through how furniture would best fit in here. I'm pretty settled on getting a new loveseat and two fabric chairs and arranging them something like this, this, or this. I'd also like to get a fun area rug to unify the pieces. I styled attempted to style our shelves in our built-ins, but they still need work. There are too many colors and not enough unifying pieces. It's a work in progress. We also need a great piece of art for the mantle, now that we've decided not to mount our TV there. 
  
  
  
• We hung our diplomas and some art in our office. I think the skyline is the perfect mix of rustic and masculine for this room. Eventually, that incredibly comfortable recliner will likely be replaced with something more stylish, but for now, I love its snuggliness. Yes, snuggliness. 
  
  

• We had a housewarming party! 50-60 people came over to ooh and ahh over our home and it made us feel awesome. We are so blessed. SO blessed. 
  

Fun and Games

There's a new game Matt and I like to play these days. It's called "Home Improvement Project" or, more accurately, "How Many Times Can Matt and Kat Possibly Go to Lowes In One Week?" Here's how you play:

1. Decide on a home improvement project you think even cavemen would find mind-numbingly easy. For example--but totally hypothetically--changing out your corroding faucet and drain in your downstairs half bathroom for new ones. 
2. Add on another related project because, hey, if you're going to Lowe's anyway, you might as will kill two birds with one stone. Say, for example, you add on replacing the light fixtures in said bathroom. 
3. Make sure you spend a long time agonizing over the best "bang-for-buck" products, because everyone loves a good deal, and...you just bought a house recently and are feeling a bit broke, so you don't want to spend more than you have to. It helps during this step to pretend as though you really believe this might be your only trip to Lowe's for this project. Hah. 
4. Get home and--this is crucial to playing the game correctly--immediately remember at least 3 things you forgot to get while you were there, making the project(s) un-finishable in one day like you'd hoped. 
5. But hey, you're tough. Setbacks, schmetbacks. You know not to get frustrated THAT easily. So, you continue on with the project anyway, knowing you won't finish but believing  that you'll get close to completion today and simply finish up tomorrow. Or, more realistically, next week. 
6. As soon as you get started, definitely make sure something breaks or doesn't work the way you thought it would, adding a bunch of extra work to the "simple" project. For instance, again, a totally hypothetical example, you realize a few of the screws you need to take out are completely corroded and (adding insult to injury) totally unreachable without completely disassembling the sink and taking it  off the wall, which then adds scraping, sanding, and re-painting the wall to the list of things you now have to do to complete the project. 
7. Then, return to the store for the things you forgot, and the new supplies you now need for scraping, sanding, and painting. Sigh. 
8. For good measure, make sure at least a couple things you bought for a great deal and were excited about totally don't work like you thought they would. Maybe, for example, the faucet you bought looks way too small for the sink you're putting it on (because you were trying to be thrifty and bought the cheapest one they had), causing yet another trip to the store. 
9. One last thing, and this is very important: make sure every step takes at least 4 times longer than you anticipated. 

Anyone else played this game before? We're totally addicted. 

***DISCLAIMER: All examples, persons, and situations represented in this post are completely fictitious.  Any similarity to real-life events is purely coincidental. Also, any sarcasm sensed in this post is 100% imaginary.*** 

Oh, hey, on a totally unrelated note, here's a photo of the new faucet, drain, and light fixtures we installed in our downstairs half-bathroom this week. Aren't they great? :)

Something We Have In Common

When Matt and I went to pre-marriage counseling, our counselor said MULTIPLE times (enough to make us uneasy, actually) that he and I were the most different from each other of any couple that he had ever counseled. In almost every way, we are exact opposites. For those who know us well, this is painfully obvious, and there's no way you're at all surprised by our counselor's comments. For those who don't know us as well, here's the synopsis. When you think of Matt, you should think of everything associated with the left brain. Order. Math. Objectivity. Dependability. Analysis. Steadiness. Routine. And...when you think of me, you should think of everything associated with the right brain. Color. Emotion (too much of all kinds). Words. Fun. Chaos. Spontaneity.  This picture explains it pretty well:

But then, maybe because he was trying to make up for scaring us half to death with his earlier comments, or maybe simply because he wanted to make a joke, our counselor also told us something else. He said, "It seems like the only two things you guys have in common are your sense of humor and how cheap you both are!" Laughter and thriftiness. The building blocks of a great marriage. 

Our friends and family must have noticed our joint frugality as well, because they continue to give us things. Maybe they are worried that if we're not given them, we'll simply decide to live without things like beds, couches, tables, and chairs? But hey, whatever the reason, we're lovin' it. 

Anyway, to illustrate just how cheap blessed we are, I thought I'd walk you through a few of the rooms of our house and point out all the things we DIDN'T buy. 

• Table and Chairs--lent by my parents. (Fun fact: They actually used them when they first got married too!)

• Rug--found in someone's trash pile along the road. Don't judge--it's an awesome rug. (Yes--we cleaned it). 
• Table--lent from my grandmother. It's Swedish! 
• Leather ottomans--Christmas present. 

• Patio furniture--Given to us by friends here in Smithfield. 
• Umbrella--Given to us by my parents
• Pansies--Gift from a friend here in Smithfield

• Drop Leaf Table--Gift from Matt's grandfather
• Clock (someone obscured from view)--Wedding gift from a family friend
• Bowl--Gift from my mom

• Bookcase--Given by my parents. (Re-painted by me!)
• Candles/Votives--Wedding gift.

• Side Tables--Lent by my grandmother (they match the coffee table)
• Lamps--Given by my parents
• Quilt--Made/Given by Matt's mom and grandmother
• Phones--Given by my parents

• Dresser--Given by Matt's parents from his old bedroom
• Lamp--Wedding gift

• Dresser--Obtained from outside the dumpster at our apartment complex. Don't hate! It's awesome.
• (Note: Yes, the Jesus Storybook Bible is on my dresser. No, I am not a child. Yes, I'm serious when I tell you that it's my favorite book.)

• Quilt Rack--Given by my parents; made by my grandfather. 
• Quilt--Made/Given by Matt's mom

• Mattress and Boxspring--Given by friends here in Smithfield
• Bookshelf--Given by my parents

• Desk and Chair--Given by Matt's parents
• Lamp--Given by my parents 

• INCREDIBLY comfortable recliner--Given by Matt's parents
• Blanket--Given by a college friend
• Side table--Given by Matt's parents

• Bookcase--Made/Given by Matt's parents

• TV--Given by my parents. Pay no attention to the ugly towel covering the beautiful coffee table (that we are sadly using as a TV stand for the moment). It's stopping the TV from scratching said coffee table.
• Wii--Gift from my brother
• Coffee Table--Given by my parents; made by my grandfather. (Fun Fact: There's a handwritten note to my mom from my grandpa on the underside of the table. One of my earliest memories is climbing under there and tracing his letters with my finger, and thinking it was weird that he signed it "Dad" when I knew him as Poppy. I miss him.) 

• Couch--Given by Matt's parents
• Rug--Given by a college friend