Previous Owners

Now that we finally have internet, I decide to acquiesce to the whimsy of some friends and put up "work in progress" pictures.  In truth, I would have preferred to wait until we finished and had finally made the space just what we want, but, as they so rightly pointed out, when will that be?

So here you have it, I even included a few pictures from before when we were house hunting.  All the window coverings were left, so we attempted to work with them...not sure how that will pan out in the long run.

Us

This is how the white wicker that we inherited looks in the living room, surprisingly nice, we thought. It was just hard to imagine how slightly ornate, garden-y furniture would look in what the previous owners made a very formal space.  But we're not stuffy people at all, so I think it'll work for us.  Future plans include painting the walls a very light, springy green and adding patterned, brightly colored curtains to frame the big window.  Oh, and of course lots of pillows for the wicker after I recover the cushions.

Then there's our reading nook.  Reminds me of my dorm room in Mauck, right ladies?  And all those books have to go somewhere! (Actually 25 boxes did go somewhere...Matt's office on campus.  Hooray!) 

Mantle--beginnings of decor

And we've made a start at decorating the mantle.  Very creative, I thought. :)  Plans are to recreate my wedding bouquet with red roses and bright lilies and trailing ferns...

We very quickly made the kitchen our own.  Maybe just one set of letter magnets would do?  But if you look closely, between the oven and fridge is my masterpiece of family organization.  Seriously, this is going to be life changing.  A place for wallet, keys, charger for cell phones, files for incoming mail, and a notepad for lists, reminders, etc.  Next is a family calendar and a magnetic dry erase for menu plan/chores.

And here's our wicker table in the dining room.  I rather like it.   We are extremely pleased with our new house and neighborhood.  I'll put up pics of the other rooms soon.  And I think I'll post, as sort of an online chronicle, details on our various home improvement and decorating projects.  More to come! :)