We Are Homeowners!

This is our first house! Just had our offer accepted today and will be closing a week before Christmas!

This is a bi-level house, 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, a newly finished kitchen and a finished half basement.

I am beyond excited and can't wait to show you the inside pictures and what projects we have planned.

Happy Halloween!!

It's Fall Ya'll

It's that time of year again- my favorite season! The temperature has fallen to a comfortable, crisp 65-70 degrees. And now that we're nearing the end of September I thought it was time to bring out the fall decorations.

Here is my new addition:

I bought this huge wreath at Hobby Lobby. I love all the glitter!

Some metallic pumpkins from Home Goods flanked with some leafy swag.

Another new addition: 2 fall scented candles from Bath & Body Works. They smell amazing.

Dining room centerpiece.

Glitter candles on the sideboard and pumpkin lights around the mirror.

Tray on the kitchen counter with fall coffee mugs.

Are your fall decorations out?

Enjoy the season :)

MIA

I feel so bad for not blogging in over a month. But here is what I've been up to:

We just found out last month that we are expecting our first child! My due date is April 12, 2011.

I am finally starting to feel like my old self again so hopefully that will bring more blog posts. Especially now that I have nursery room plans on my mind!

Please stick around. I've got projects up my sleeve and lots of fall decorating to do.

The Procrastination Project

Remember these chairs I've been wanting to re-upholster for over a year now? Well I finally picked out some fabric choices and brought home some samples.

Here are the contestants:

I picked out several fabrics that are either the same navy color as my couch or have a navy color in the pattern.

And here's the fabric against the color of the couch.

This one is at the top of my favorites.

Here's one in a contrasting color for something a little more bold.

But still looks great with the navy.

Here's another favorite. I thought this one is a little more geometric so that a patterned pillow might look nice against it.

Love it!

And lastly, a fabric that is a little more gray but with blue undertones.

Which one is your favorite??

Movin' Up!

The bad news: our apartment's kitchen/dining room flooded a week ago.

The good news: the unit directly above us was being renovated and was complete on Friday.

Even though we weren't too keen on the idea of packing up and moving again, we were really pumped for spruced up place!

Our old place and our new place are the exact same layout so it was easy to put everything back in it's correct spot.

Here is what our old kitchen looked like:

The built-ins were nice and added great character but really broke up the kitchen and dining room spaces.

And here is the new dining room and kitchen. This picture is a little dark because the sunlight just pours into our new unit :)

The kitchen! Complete with new Ikea cabinets. (please ignore our clutter- we are still in the unpacking phase)

See how everything flows much nicer without the built-in cabinets. I think it makes the space look bigger too.

Lighting inside the glass cabinets.

Look how the light just bounces off my glassware.

Modern handles and the cabinets have a no-slam feature.

More lighting underneath the cabinets.

And a new kitchen sink.

The Swedish design faucet. The end of the faucet pulls out as a hose. Fancy fancy!

We are so pleased with the final results and are loving our new place.

More pictures to come!

A Flood of New Opportunities

Friday night was a wild one here in Chicago. I work second shift at a hospital so I got home at about 12:30 am. I watched a little TV and then went to bed at 1:30. I was just drifting off to sleep when I heard a noise of gushing water. I couldn't imagine what it was or where it was coming from. I got out of bed, went into the kitchen and was standing in water in the dining room. I turned the light on and sewer water was gushing out of our kitchen sink!

For 3 hours, it never let up and my husband and I were shoveling the water out the back door. In this picture you can see the red shovel in the background.

We used all of our towels and our dining room rug to create a barrier to the rest of the apartment. All I wanted was to keep the damage to a minimum and not ruin our couch or bed.

We stacked the couches and our dining room chairs as far away as possible in case we couldn't keep the water out.

My husband and our landlord were finally able to stop the water at about 5:00 am! I had packed up a few essentials and our cats and drove over to grandma's house to stay the night. We're so lucky to have family only 5 minutes away.

So this week will be a busy one for me and the hubby. We will be moving to a unit directly above ours in the apartment building. It is being renovated and will be ready by the end of the week. So I'm really excited to have a brand new kitchen, complete with Ikea cabinets!

Blogging will be slow for me until next week but I will be sure to share photos of the new place once we're settled.

Sweet Summer Tablescape

Congrats to Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for hosting her 100th Tablescape Thursday!

Here's my contribution:

My tablescape is based around this piece of fabric I bought recently. I would like to make table napkins out of it. But until then, it's my tablecloth :)

Lots of summer yellows and bright oranges.

My favorite plates from Crate & Barrel.

My mom's friend just gave me this vintage coffee carafe. It's to tell in this picture but it's a great light gold color. Perfect for summer iced coffee!

My husband moved our table against the window so he could fix our ceiling fan. We've kept it there for a few days now since it gives us more room to walk from the dining room to the kitchen. Our apartment is so tiny :) But I kind of like that you can sit, eat and gaze outside the window.