The beginning of August we moved up in the world and left our tiny one bedroom apartment and traded it in for an actual house with a backyard. We’re still only renting, but we’re just so excited to have room to spread out.
The front lawn when we moved in was yellow, it looked more like hay spread around. And the right side is just dirt, the grass had been long gone. I don’t think it’s coming back. But the lawn we do have, we’ve raked up and watered it and now it’s looking greener. My neighbor saw me watering it one morning and told me that for the last five years he’s never seen one of the tenants taking care of the lawn. The front yard just needs some love.
And here’s our lovely living room, courtesy of my awesome parents who drove nine hours to help us move into our new place. They came up with my grandma and cousin for a weekend and brought some awesome goodies that absolutely made the room. (Thanks for the TV mom and dad!) Oh and those hardwood floors are throughout the house, minus the kitchen and bathroom.
My dad made that table. They found the base and he made the top. Isn’t it awesome?! I love it. And on the table are the mexican pottery my mom bought, but had no where to keep them in her house. So she’s “storing” them in my house.
Here’s our dining room featuring that great chandelier. Originally sold at Anthropologie for $900, it had been on sale for a year and my sister used her employee discount to get it for $30. Crazy! And the wine rack my mom got at a garage sale for $20.
Oh and here’s the dining room decorated for fall. I’m just so excited for the weather to cool down and the colors of the leaves to change. Plus soups. I cannot wait to be making soups again! Oh and the garland around the chandelier was from the dollar store. I love it.
Then there’s the kitchen. A little smaller than what I was hoping, but tons of storage. Definitely an upgrade from the small apartment one. There’s even a ceiling fan! Helps out when we bake pizzas at broil. Oh and that window above the sink seems great, but the view is of the side of my neighbor’s garage. I think I need to plant something there.
And this is sort of the prep station with the odd, but convenient window to the living room. Pay no attention to the tape still on the knives. I put tape on anything that I could cut myself on when we moved after I slit my finger on a mandolin I was packing.
Can I just say how excited I am to finally have a washer and dryer? It’s been four years since I had one. Going out to get quarters and then having the dryer not dry completely is suuuch a pain. But now I have my own pair. Plus all the shelving makes me happy. Still need to work on organizing it. I foresee a trip to the dollar store coming up!
So the backyard is pretty big with two storage sheds (plus an extra storage next to the carport). Again, no grass. The larger storage shed has become Matt’s “man cave,” complete with mini fridge and work benches. He’s always tinkering in there.
And this is off to the right of the previous picture. This is our patio area, in need of some actual outdoor furniture (see the wood and cinder-block bench on the right?) . There’s a nice planter off to the right as well. When we moved in there was nothing but dirt. We added just a few plants and started to water and suddenly all these plants started popping up! We’re not quite sure what they are, but hopefully we’ll be able to figure it out soon.
So I didn’t include photos of the bedrooms or the bathroom. First off, the bathroom is tiiiny. Matt has to stand out in the hallway when we’re brushing our teeth at the same time. And the bedrooms…. well, they’re just unfinished. Well nothing in my house is finished, but they’re bare. No decorations, just the bare bones. I’ll post them eventually.
Worthy of Love 
Love the new home! Oh it is just beautiful and fabulous! job well done