Entryway bench

Since moving into our new home in January, our front entryway had been a gaping hole of nothingness.  Besides an ugly brown carpet, there was simply nothing there--no furniture, no place to hang your coat.  When we'd walk in the door, we'd set our grocery bags right next to our large pile of shoes on the floor.  It wasn't very welcoming and it wasn't a place that we might spend any time lingering in.  

It had been on my list of to-do's to find something fitting for this area for quite some time.  In my mind, I was picturing something like a hall tree (with a bench and coat hangers), but the more I looked at them, the less I liked that particular style for this particular spot in our home.  My idea for the furniture that I was looking for kept morphing to new ideas. For months, I'd been scouring Craigslist and local thrift shops in search of something.  

And, well, persistence pays off.  Last week, this gorgeous antique double-width school bench appeared on Craigslist and I just happened to get in contact with the seller before someone else snatched it up.  I never would have thought to look for something like this but, when it turned up online, it just seemed like the perfect piece for this little corner of our home.  Better than anything that I could have imagined.

I love the character of it--its gorgeous wood and wrought iron legs; the inkwell and pencil holder on the desk portion.  I love that it has a history (even though I don't know what that history actually is)!

There's still not a place to hang up our coats when we walk in the door, but I have a feeling that I can find a solution for that before winter comes.  Assuming something nice pops up somewhere.

And these little details, here.... my mom found the cat artwork somewhere online and printed it out for us (this is just a tiny zoomed-in portion of a much larger piece of art) and then she found a used frame and personalized it with paint!  Don't you just love the little paws?!  HEHE

And the little metal cat (it's a tea light holder) was a gift from our friend Melissa for looking in on her cat Orpheus (above) while she was on vacation a few weeks ago.  Actually, the succulent and the flowers on the other side of the desk were from Melissa too!  She spoiled us with gifts for watching her baby.  Meanwhile we were just so happy to spend a little time with a kitty each day!  It did our hearts a lot of good.

Lately, in pictures.

Since Spring, we've been enjoying the fact that we now have a front porch!  Lots of herbs, raspberry bush, lemon tree, tomatoes!  And lots of meals & book reading time spent out there!

We've also been enjoying flowers.  And I learned that marigolds & anything with a lemony or citrusy scent is a mosquito repellent!  So I'm buying more of those types of flowers & herbs!

A cancelled concert (Notwist) turned into an exploratory evening on the river together.  These types of unexpected things end up being the most memorable.  I'm so thankful for time spent with Christopher!

And so thankful that my skin is taking a sudden turn for the better!  Everything that we've been doing to try to heal my skin is finally working.  Thank you, Lord!

I'm looking forward to so much this summer!

#thriftscorethursday

Just a quick "thank you" to everyone who has emailed me and sent their prayers in response to my last post.  Today, oddly & unexpectedly, just happens to be a really great day for me.... so I wanted to post something here!

I want to send you over to my friend Megan's blog to witness the start of #thriftscorethursday.  Megan & I met in music school and now she runs this really awesome blog called Rental Revival.  She's a DIY-er and thrifter (which basically means that she's awesome) and it's been really fun to watch all of her projects and home decorating!

I decided to participate by posting my own "thrift score"....

It's an old road sign (a "median" sign, I suppose) that I bought in Columbus, OH almost 6 years ago. It was the summer of 2008 and I was killing some time the day after my good friends Katelyn & Rob got married.  I ended up finding this perfect specimen of an art piece.  It's been hanging over our bed for the past 5 years (it hung in my bedroom at my parents house for a year before getting married).  Since Christopher & I  just moved to a new house a few weeks ago, it's currently looking for a new place to hang.  In the meantime, it's quite stunning sitting against the exposed brick.

If you're a fellow thrifter or have some awesome thrift scores, join the #thriftscorethursday hashtag party by posting your own pictures every Thursday!  Let it be known to the world that this is the first time EVER that I've used a hashtag.  Seriously.  Only thrifting and home decorating can bring me out of my hashtag shell.

New Year, New Home!

What a whirlwind this holiday season has been for us.  

After going home for Thanksgiving, we came back home to Philly and threw up our Christmas decorations all over the apartment.  It gave our home the feeling of warmth and vibrancy for the coming holidays.  Although we'd be spending the days surrounding Christmas in Pittsburgh, our home felt so cozy during the month of December.

A few days after immersing ourselves into the Christmas spirit, we just happened across a listing for a house-for-rent.  So we decided to have a look (we've been looking at apartments/houses for well over a year now).  We went to view the house without too much hope (our experiences during this time were making us feel like we would probably never be able to move out of our one-bedroom apartment).

Well.  Turns out we LOVED the house.  And.... it was within our price range (!).  AND.... only 3 blocks away from our current apartment!  (IN OUR BEAUTIFUL NEIGHBORHOOD!)

Thankfully, we were one of the first people to view the house... so we jumped on filling out the required applications and everything just.... worked out!  Once we were approved (AHHHH! AFTER ALL THIS TIME, WE'RE MOVING?!  WHAT?!), that meant that we had to take care of things on our end, such as finding someone to take over the lease on our one-bedroom. 

It was quite an undertaking for us, but somehow we've made it through!  We packed up, we advertised/showed our apartment, FOUND A NEW TENANT, wrote up a contract for new tenants to sublease from us, and so on.... and so on.....  

We officially moved into our new house just a few days ago!  It's BEAUTIFUL (beyond my wildest expectations).  And IT'S HUGE compared to our old place.

I just can't even wrap my head around how everything has fallen into place surrounding this whole process.  It's hard to believe that we actually live here now!  I am so thankful! 

Here's a few random pictures of the move-in process.  My Mom & Dad helped me paint the entire first floor before we even started moving our stuff in (a 13-hour process all in one day!!!).  Christopher's brother Jeremy helped with moving all of our furniture, as did Kelly's hubby David (they were amazing!).  Kelly (who just gave birth 3 weeks ago) helped with unpacking the kitchen.  Christopher's folks helped us by paying for the piano movers.  Such an amazing amount of help and love from our family and friends!

Love my silly Momma!

Randomly placed furniture....

Not-quite-3-year-old Lydia decorated the fridge with our magnets (notice how low on the fridge they are).  I love it.  They're still exactly where she put them.  :)

The piano *just fits* where we wanted it?!

Encountering a few small issues (like the box spring not fitting up the stairwell and the legs of the blue cabinet won't quite fit over the vents).... but these things can be resolved!

I can't wait to post more updates on the house as we get settled.

What a whirlwind.

Such a major blessing.

perhaps a bit more energy.

Last month I had some pretty extensive blood testing done and finally learned the results this past Monday.  With all of my skin issues and the intense fatigue that I've been experiencing, I learned that I not only have thyroid & immunity issues, but also severe deficiencies of Vitamin B & D.  I've been starting a new regimen of supplements as they've arrived in the mail this past week--and I'm still waiting on the actual prescriptions to come in--however I'm already noticing a bit more energy.  I'm not jumping through the roof or anything, but I'm starting to feel more like my normal self.

In my last post, I mentioned that I haven't been cooking very much--at all?--recently.  Well, I've found myself making meals for 3 days straight....!  That's breakfast, lunch AND dinner...ALL three days.  Taking this whole year into consideration, I'd say that's erring pretty close to a miracle.

Standing in the kitchen, realizing that I'm actually cooking for once!

Yep, that's me in the tea kettle.

Yep, the meatloaf crumbled apart.

While I cook, her royal highness lounges around.

And finally, I normally don't like (taking or looking at) mirror photos.  But, I'm kind of proud of myself for putting together a new outfit today, so who cares!

A new settee + another year here.

 

We have a nice apartment.  

It's not a big space, but it's nice.  

Technically, it's a one bedroom.  But it has some great features.  We have an "extra room" that doesn't quite qualify as a bedroom since there's no door.   Others might use it as an office, though we use it as the piano studio.  We have our own entrance in the back of the house, which makes it feel less like an apartment and more like we're just entering our own house.  We also have full use of the driveway, which is quite a rarity in the city.  High ceilings.  Hardwood...

We have it so nice yet, even so, I've been anxious to move.  

I keep saying it every year when we renew our lease "Okay, we'll renew this year, but next year we are DEFINITELY moving!"

I've been anxious for more space.  More closet space.  A separate recording studio for Christopher.   An actual guest room.  A second story...... a house.........

But we can't afford to upgrade right now.  

So instead of moving, we've resolved to make our current place not only cozier but more functional.  

Step one, was replacing an armchair that had seen better days.  That's done and I just love the replacement we found--it's the plum settee.

Step two, is to better utilize the wall space in our bathroom & bedroom.  More shelving & organizers. And no more stacks or piles of mail on the desk.

Step three is the hardest.  To make peace with this small space again.  To learn to love it.  It would certainly be nice to have more space, but for now I'm going to concentrate on how being in a smaller space can bring our little family closer together.  I just want to make the best of what we have.  To make what-we-have work for us.

Having a bigger place will be nice someday, God willing.  But my hopes don't have to rest in it.  

I think I'm finally learning not to say "we're DEFINITELY moving next year!"

For now, we should consider ourselves fortunate.  We have a place that feels even more like a home than it did nearly 4 years ago when we first married our lives together.  Here's to another year.  

And however many more.  

Many good things on the horizon.

I've been so excited for new things & new goals recently.  At the same time, I never want to place too much hope in the future.  So I'm trying to remain logical & thankful in the midst of my current go-go-go/do-do-do attitude.

We're starting to get our apartment into shape.  Another year of living here means that things need to change.  I spent yesterday afternoon sorting through my sheet music cabinets.  Some to store away, some to sell.  That was about 3 years overdue.

The bedroom is the next thing to tackle, although Christopher got a head-start on that the other day when he decided-on-the-fly to install a hanging file organizer on the wall.  I think it might have been the first (or maybe second) thing that he's ever hung on our wall.  I've dominated the "hanging department" for a while now.  I loved that he just took over & did it.

The rest of the weekend was spent planning for my piano studio.  So many ideas running through my mind.  Lots to work on.  Lots to buy (a new piano bench!).  My list keeps getting longer.  One logical step at a time.

One thankful heart all the time.

Thrift store finds.

For staging purposes, I used my non-thrifted plates (from the previous post), but everything else was found at the Second Mile Thrift Store, just down the street!  I occasionally enjoy buying new things (like those gorgeous plates), but there's something really satisfying about seeing "cheap" purchases come together so beautifully. 

I'm having an amazing day with my skin (see older posts about my awful eczema).  I've barely itched at all today and haven't felt this energized in 6 months or more.  I've been taking advantage of it all day and spent some time doing a little rearranging around the apartment.  It feels wonderful just to feel normal!  I had forgotten what it's like!

birthday shopping.

My birthday was a few days ago, so I went out on a mini shopping spree!  It's never been easy for me to spend "birthday money"--from childhood, I was taught to save, save, save--so anytime I buy myself something for more than $10, I consider it a real splurge. These three little items are satisfying my current craving for pretty things.

I've also had some good thrift store finds lately.  Perhaps I'll post those, too!

morning snooze.

What is it about home?  

You just always want to be there.

cats and a green couch.

new bed cover.

Out of necessity, we recently bought a new bed cover-- 

I've been having a terrible outbreak of skin problems (eczema/allergies) for the past 6-8 months, and it's recently ballooned out of control. Over these last few months, I've rid my closet of all clothing that is not 100% cotton (and, unfortunately, that meant giving away some of my most treasured articles of clothing).

Since the problems are still persisting, we switched our 100% polyester bedding to cotton, as well.

It hasn't solved all of my problems (hopefully it's helping), but it's a fun change in the decorum.

Besides, it seems to be a big hit with the kitties (though that's not helping matters either)!