30 Day Blog Journal - Day 24!

I'm pretty excited about the topic for today because I don't think I have actually taken any pictures of my house since we moved in September 25th! But I went nuts today and took a bunch for your enjoyment :)

Day 24 - Where I Live!

So unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the outside when it was still daylight, but I live in a duplex right outside of Fayetteville, Arkansas.  I sometimes feel kinda weird in the big ol' house all to myself, but honestly it was the only place that I could find that wasn't outrageously expensive that would let me have my two Pit Bulls...

So....here we are!

View when you walk in the front door

Living Room - view from the dining room

View from the other corner of the living room :)

 Yes we have a coffee table for TV stand...and that bookshelf on the far left wall has all my alphabetized DVDs on it! Don't judge :)

As you can see, I have a GIANT couch! I love it. I got it at a place called Sam's Furniture in Springdale, Arkansas, which is a place that has really nice stuff but for cheaper prices than you'd typically expect from a furniture store! The ottoman I bought at Bed, Bath & Beyond, and I love it too because the top opens up and it has room for storage. That is where I keep extra throw blankets (I get cold easily!) and all the remotes :)

 

The back wall above the couch.

 This picture says "Real love stories never have endings"...I think it is precious. I bought it and the sconces from Celebrating Home, which is a company kind of like Home Interiors, but a little less expensive. My mom actually sells their stuff. They were having a sale and those sconces were only like $9.95 or something! I got the candles at Dollar General.

Above the bookshelf in the living room.

The two frames hanging on the wall are all pictures of me and my soldier :) I love those six pictures, because there is one from the night we met, and just about every season: summer at the lake, a Razorback football game in the fall, Halloween, and winter when it got cold and we were inside :) I edited those pictures with Picnik on Facebook and I love the way they turned out!

The back patio, right outside the living room back sliding glass door.

 I bought the patio table and chairs off of Craigslist for $50, and the chair cushions on sale at Wal-Mart in September, so after summer. I think they were like half off :) We bought the grill in mid-late fall when all the stuff out in the garden center was on sale. I am so glad Spring is finally here and I get to start using all of this more!

Kitchen and Dining Room

Dining Room

 So I have to interject a little story about my table...I LOVE my table. I bought it at Furniture Factory Outlet for a discounted price. I knew I wanted a tall table, but I also wanted a rectangle one...not square. Tall tables that aren't square are hard to come by apparently. So I actually talked the salesman into making my dreams come true :) I found this rectangle table with short legs, and a huge square tall table...so I asked him how bad he wanted to make a sale? I convinced him that he wanted to give me the rectangle table top, legs from the tall table...and to top it all off...these chairs were actually with a smaller pub table across the room. But I liked them better than what was originally with the huge pub table, so I asked him if I could switch chairs out too :) Three different dining room sets later, I got EXACTLY what I wanted...all for under $500. This is probably my favorite piece of furniture in the entire house.

Oh, and the palm tree picture behind the table is also from Celebrating Home :)

Other side of the kitchen

Nook and wine rack above the sink

 The picture above the sink is also from Celebrating Home. It says "Never trust a skinny cook!" I love it :)

The back wall of the kitchen, above the laundry room door.

This is yet another piece of wall art from Celebrating Home. It is probably my favorite sign :)

From the living room, down the hallway.

Thermostat...?

 Okay, so I couldn't help myself. My thermostat is way off. I bought this little 4 dollar digital thermometer at Wal-Mart...the one in my hand reads the indoor temperature, and there is another piece that you can put outside and it will tell you the outdoor temperature, but I just put it in my bedroom because I thought it always felt colder in there. I was right. 

I am cheap, so I don't turn my heat on in the winter (or the air on in the summer) until I absolutely can't stand it anymore. I had taken a shower and gone to bed with my hair wet one day, when my boyfriend walked in the room in the middle of my nap and saw me shivering in my sleep. The thermostat had said like 70 or so, which is why I didn't turn the heat on because I thought, geeze, 70 should be comfortable. After that I bought this thermometer so I could see what my temperature was really set for. My thermostat is apparently not calibrated, but it still works, I just have to remember that it's usually off by 7-10 degrees!

Down the hallway, first door on the left = hall/guest bathroom

I wanted to do a "beachy" theme.

More bathroom...obviously.

  I got the two wall hangings as a gift, but they were from Target. I am currently on the lookout for a new, cute fabric shower curtain that has reds/turquoise blues/oranges/yellows...something along that nature, that's not too busy and overwhelming, but would look good with a beach theme. Let me know if you know of anything that might fit that description! :)

Second door on the right = Guest Bedroom

 I am currently in progress for making this one a little cuter. I have something to hang on the wall that I painted myself and used to have in my bedroom, but it does not go well with black. I just ordered a new comforter set for this room that is brown microsuede. When I get it finished, I'll add new pictures :)

The guest bedroom is also my music room :)

 My dad and step-mom bought me this digital piano for Christmas my freshman year of college. It is fantastic :) My sister bought me the music notes that are hanging on the wall...I think they are so cute! :) 

Second door on the left = Master Bedroom = MY ROOM :)

Two of my favorite things in this room are 1) my bed, obviously. and 2) those blackout curtains! I don't sleep in very well because I wake up with the son...so those curtains are a Godsend! However, I feel like it is a little depressing in here with all the black, so I've been looking for a cute duvet cover that has some black and red and maybe some turquoise blue in it to brighten it up a bit. I haven't had much luck yet...but if/when I find one, I'll post new pictures of that too!

View from the back corner.

The cube shelf my awesome boyfriend put together for me right before he left for training :)

 Can you tell I am a fan of red?! haha. I bought this shelf at Target, as well as the red and cream boxes. I love pictures, so it was a perfect happy medium for storage AND display space!

My closet. Can we say OCD?? :)

Master Bath

Again, looking for a cuter shower curtain so it's not so BLACK everywhere.

I have had problems hunting for duvet covers and shower curtains...because I don't want something super girly, but if it's not flowery, it seems like it's always too....geometric. Not my favorite. At least not for an object that is going to stand out in a room. I'm going to keep hunting though!

My red shelf!

I also bought this from Celebrating Home on sale for like $9.95. I love it too! I have a ton of random bathroom crap that I used to have spread out all over the counter in a cluttery fashion. This shelf is perfect because all my necessities fit on it and it helps me keep them organized :)

I also have a "first door on the right"...it's the office/Boyfriend's "man cave." But right now it is my scary, messy room where everything gets thrown, and it is so disorganized that I can barely handle going in there (seriously...the only time I do is when I need to put/get something in/from the file cabinet...the ONE organized thing about that room! haha) But I have some good ideas for it...so in my spare time I'm going to start trying to put that room together, and once I do, pictures are sure to follow! :)

I have had fun with this one. I am loving having my own place without stupid roommates to deal with...and getting to do things I want with it. I am not the best at decorating, so it is definitely a learning process for me and I'm sure it will take me a long time to be able to a) figure out what I like and want to add to it, and b) be able to afford! I am trying to find cute ways to decorate, but at the same time trying to find bargains and get things for a good deal! I want to keep getting better at making my house feel like "home," no matter where we end up that the government takes us :)