July

My favorite room in the house would have to be our front room (AKA "The Formal Living Room" or "The America Room.") Marrying a history major made decorating a whole lot more fun. The room is filled with antiques, and treasures from our travels. I really wanted a cool Betsy Ross flag to hang over the fireplace, but they were harder to find than I expected, so my parents made us one! All we need now is a mantel.

Hope you all had a happy Fourth of July!!

Flowers

Come and take a walk through my garden.

The sunflowers are mutants...

The Gladiolus are blooming...

The Bell Peppers are popping...

The Sweet Pea never smelled sweeter...

The Hydrangeas are vibrant...

The Black Eyed Susan are taking over...

The Roses are incredible....

And the Kangeroo Paw is jumping.

I love the smell of fresh cut flowers in the morning.

New

We've had so much fun filling the house with furniture and really making it our own. Every day I can't believe how far we've come. One of the great things about my husband and I, is we have very similar taste, and I've finally convinced him that antique stores and Home Goods can have great finds for great prices.

For our one year wedding anniversary last September, we went on a bit of a shopping spree and picked up these goodies.

I'm in love with this antique china cabinet. My husband promised to get me a china cabinet as my wedding gift, but I warned him that I'm very picky, and I really wanted an antique. It only took year, but I finally found "the one." We have a small formal dining room, so we needed something small, and this was just too cute to pass up. And wedding china looks great in it!

Then we went to Home Goods, "just to look," and left with these! The bench below the window is great because it's upholstered with a burlap material and has maps printed on it. It also opens up and holds all our games.

Probably the best investment we've made is our bannister. The picture below was taken before it was finished, but you get the idea. I can't believe we went a year without it, and I only fell down the stairs once.

We also got a handrail put in.

And last but not least... we got this beauty. For years we've been sleeping on my old Ikea queen bed, and it just wasn't big enough for the two of us... our two cats... and our two dogs. It was time to upgrade. We wanted to get a bigger bed years ago, and we even registered for King sized sheets on our registry, but we never got around to it. We went to Living Spaces recently to look at getting a new couch, and we left with this. I can't get enough of this bed. Sure it's huge, and probably way too big for the room, but there's no better feeling than stretching out and looking to my left to see my husband stretched out too... and both cats... and both dogs. We have so much room now!

Hopefully we get blinds for our windows next, and maybe some art for the walls. Can't wait to see the finished product!