Are you ready for another party at our house?! When we were looking at houses, there were several that were really nice, that we really liked, that were similar sizes and whatnot, but when we saw ours, I loved that it had a huge family room. And I mean huge, like 17 x 33 feet, which just might be bigger than our condo. And thank goodness because have you met our families? Lots of us and we require a lot of space. And this is what it looked like when we saw it:
Yowza, that's a lot of red. No thanks.
And those curtains? It's not that they weren't done well, because everything in the house was impeccably made, but that dark red floral just wasn't doing anything for me. So before we even moved in, we took down all curtains and floral, and painted some light, airy, happy colors.
In comes the blue! It was an instant and welcome change. And then, I made the best decision that I've made since marrying Philip, and that is hiring Erica to decorate for me. Not even joking, she is heaven sent. She did such a fantastic job shopping for me and figuring out how to make our monster of a room not just look like an empty dance floor. And the poor thing, I pretty much wore her out and she might have sworn off designing for clients forever, but I couldn't be happier with the result.
So here it is!
Trying to give you a 360 degree view:
And this was taken from the fire place:
Erica and her mom, Michelle, were great at incorporating the things I already had with new finds and rearranging everything to fit perfectly together. And we owe almost all of the credit for new things to Home Goods and Ikea.
We are suckers for old books, so we already had all of those.
I love that she even added tiny sentimental details. One day I got a text from her asking what my anniversary was, reason being that she wanted the little balls in this bowl to have our anniversary date and AZ in it. How darling is that? Love love love it.
This might be one of my favorite parts of the room. I saw this temple picture and fell in love with it months ago but it had a hefty price tag of $300 and I didn't even have a house to put it in. Fast forward 9 months, I asked about it at Deseret Book, they had no idea what I was talking about, but then a miraculous chain of events took place and they found one for me! And better yet, it only cost $75 which included the frame! I was thrilled. But on a side note, Philip refers to it as, "The picture of the orange tree with the building behind it." Is that a Philip statement or what? Clearly he doesn't love it like I do.
And this darling little table was an Ikea find by Erica, in the As Is section, even though it is practically perfect! She was a warrior and practically fought off vultures while she waited for my text back giving her the okay.
Oh the art wall. Ohhhh, how I love this wall. When Erica first emailed me the mock up of this, I said something along the lines of, "I don't care how much that gray picture costs, I want it." To which she replied, "Hold on to your pants, because it is a sheet of wrapping paper, and it is $4.50." And that is why I love Erica, she's ridiculously resourceful. And I love the canvas of the tree, and the custom art with lyrics to our favorite song, and the frame and the green square...oh I love it all.
We had big plans of redoing the mantle and the sliding door, and even got a quote on it, but then our pool pump had to be replaced and rrrg, life just gets expensive, so that will have to wait a while longer. So we are making do for the time being.
I love that our tiny bird candle is perched on a book with a tree on it. Nerdy I know, but but still kinda cute, eh?
Once again, she used almost all stuff that I already had, but got new filler for the jars and that lovely candle stick.
And another tiny but perfect detail, this tiny little nest in the jar! Absolute perfection!
And just a little something to spruce up the TV stand.
The whole thing came together so perfectly, I can't get enough of it. The only unfortunate thing is that I truly can't take credit for any of it! Erica was fantastic, and I cannot sing her praises enough! If it were up to me, the room would still be completely bare, and she was a champ at getting things done! I still need to make a few pillow covers to add more to the window seat and the couch, but based on how quickly I get things done, I'll show you the finished product in about 2012. Poor Erica, still waiting on me to follow through with the one assignment I was given. :)
And that is it! She also helped with my kitchen, however, it was dirty when I was taking pictures, so we'll get to that another day. But have I said before how much I love our house? Because I do! It is so perfect for parties and showers (we've already hosted several!) and that is exactly what I wanted! It has tons of space in all the right places, which is perfect for us. Happy house guys! Come to a party at our house!
I seriously can't get enough of him. Today when I visited him at work he said to me, "We need time off together." It made me so happy to know that he misses me like I do him when we work such different schedules. We then realized the next time we have off together is three weeks from now. Ugh, I'm tired of being busy.
We finally went on a bike ride recently and it was the highlight of my month. Arizona evenings in March and April provide the most delightful sunsets and perfect temperatures.
Why wouldn't my pruning shears be next to a fancy punch bowl? This pretty much sums up recent events at my house though. Constant yard work and several fun parties. Both of which I have an endless love for.
I had dinner for uno tonight from my new favorite Mexican. If you haven't tried Salsa Cabana on Greenfield and Brown, try it. The above burrito was $4.70 (thanks to my 15% off preferred customer card), and it was heaven on earth. They are delicious and cheap and will bring you chips and salsa while you wait.
Nothin' says summer like my dude shorts and a groundhog shirt. And since Philip is working late, this is how I dress up for a Friday night.
My visiting teachers dropped this by. Apparently they know my love for all things fruity and chewy, bless them. And when you think sour candy, you automatically make a trip to See's right? My ward and neighborhood is classy, and I've got a long way to go.
I'm pleased to announce that these little lovers are still alive, my roses are thriving, in fact they are blooming like crazy, I have two tomatoes on my plants and my zucchini are starting to get the yellow flower deals. I go outside to either water or just look lovingly at my plants at least twice a day. Just one more reason I love my house and being a home owner.
