Behind the Scenes

We put our house on the market… Then we took it off. Then we decided to stay here for awhile. Then we looked at homes. Then we wanted to buy a home. Then we changed our minds. Are we crazy? Most definitely.

For now we truly have decided to stay here a bit longer and build our savings. It would be great to get the equity out of our house but then what’s next? Homes are much more expensive than when we originally bought (back in 2011 when it was at the bottom here in Phoenix) so it makes it a lot harder from an investment standpoint to bite the bullet and pay a LOT more. For now the plan is to save and then maybe rent this little guy out. Unless something perfect comes along… Ugh so indecisive.

Anyway I had Caleb (my brother and awesome wedding photographer) come to snap some pics for MLS. Here are a few rooms you haven’t seen that I’m not too crazy about. They just seem unfinished and I feel like my style is a bit different now, but it is what it is.

First up is the laundry room. I LOVE doing laundry. Weird right? Who loves doing laundry? Yep, the weirdo over here. Actually I think I like it so much because of the smell. You know there is nothing better than sweaty clothes and stinky socks. Haha not! No but really the smell of clothes after washing is simply the best. I hang dry (more like lay clothes all over the house) most of my stuff so it makes the house smell amaze-balls. I love Target’s Up & Up brand! Anyway one day I want to go all out in here and really make it cute. Maybe paint the door in chalkboard paint? Add some art/ functional laundry stuff?

Next up is our guest bath. I kind of did this in a hurry before guests were coming years ago andddd it has always felt like a kids bathroom (no we don’t have any). It’s also on the list to get a re-do one day! Hopefully soon…

Here is our guest bedroom. Most of the furniture was handed down when we first got married so I sorta just worked with what I had. The bedrooms are so tiny in this house that I’m cool with this room for now. I do realize the vanity looks pretty silly in there but it was mine as a little girl and I want to hold onto it in case I can pass it down one day. Oh and those crusty flowers were from Trav when we just started dating. I want them forever ❤

Here is our second bedroom. Yeah we don’t ever use it… but I love the chalkboard closet. 🙂

Next up, the office! I feel pretty content with this room. It opens up to the living/family room which is great because I never feel secluded or closed off. I can have the TV on or music plying while I’m getting work done in here.

I know I’ve shown pictures of the kitchen but I’ve added a few things and it looks a little different in the evening.

Last up is the backyard. We have a corner house and have a pretty decent size lot. My dad designed the yard and did pavers for us and a built in BBQ. It was getting dark so this is the only good photo we got, but one day I’ll have to do a full reveal. It was in pretty rough shape before.

So thats about it! All the “behind the scenes” of the house. Anyone else out there indecisive about there home decisions?!

My babies

So I generally post about my house and occasionally my life but today I want to talk about my two little beans. The Muffin and the Toot. The Burrito and the Tuna. The Skinny boy and the Chunky girl. Milo & Keva. My two most favorite creations to date.

I’m probably getting to that age where we could start having kids but the truth is I already have two munchkins. They wake me up in the middle of the night to pee, I have cleaned up more vomit/diarrhea than I can count (stop eating the dang grass!), I hand feed one of them soft food every morning and evening (my little boy forgets to eat), and play with them until I’m pooped. I even get them expensive all natural food at a pet store 25 minutes away because I want them to live as long as possible (it probably doesn’t make a difference). Yeah you could call me obsessive. I’m pretty sure I would be a terrible suffocating mother who wants to control everything if I ever had kids. Hence why I probably shouldn’t. Also I’m sure being a parent is a million times harder, even when you have high maintenance dogs like mine. 😉

Meet the Muffin. My lanky baby boy who is the sweetest cuddle bug. Okay he actually can get pretty feisty. He is terrified of big sweet dogs and makes this face with his teeth when they are around and will “threaten” them with his whiney bark. It’s the most embarrassing thing ever and people look at me like WTH is wrong with your awful dog. It’s so sad because he is the BEST dog ever to me. I’m his mamma. He likes to cuddle every night on my belly and wakes me up with sweet kisses in the morning ( I swear he still has puppy breath). We even experimented and had Trav act like he was attacking me, oh man Milo went wild on him! He also is extremely playful. If there is a toy around he will chew that thing to bits in a matter of minutes. Seriously. I bought him a teddy toy the other day and there are 7 pieces of him around the house right now. He wants to play fetch every second of every day when he’s not cuddling. Long story short he is our little misunderstood guy. We never really socialized him and he is kind of terrible but I wouldn’t trade him for anything. His heart is so full of love for us. He’s always at our feet, whether we are taking a bath, working, or cooking a meal. Muffin is there to help. He could never survive without us me and the feeling is mutual.

And now for my Toot. The chunky little gorgeous girl who loves looking out windows. It’s her favorite thing on the planet. We have a bed that backs up to a window in our front bedroom and you can find her there 99.9 % of the time waiting for people, and squirrels, and delivery men. Our little watchdog who couldn’t hurt a fly. We also say that she loves strangers. Keva isn’t the most expressive girl but when a stranger is around she wiggles her big boooty and begs for attention. There is just something about em that makes her react with joy. We always joke that she wants to leave the fam! It’s kinda sad because everyone loves the Big Tuna (we have a lot of weird nicknames), while people avoid Milo who is showing his teeth and making grunting noises (I don’t blame them). Keva just clicks with everyone and is never needy. She’s always been that way. I remember trying to force her to cuddle as a puppy and she would run off and sleep in the closet. Really sad when you think about it. Haha. She is also such a Daddy’s girl. LOVES when Trav comes home from work. If she’s not in the front room, she is sleeping right by Trav’s pillow. That’s our toot toot! Loving us from a distance, but loving us nonetheless!

Toot actually letting me cuddle her. Can’t say she is too thrilled. 😉

Sorry this probably wasn’t the most entertaining post, but I think it’s important to to talk about the pups. It’s something I can read and smile about years to come. 🙂 Any one out there a furry baby mom who is obsessed with their dogs?! I am sure most people are like this, right?!

Update on the Kitchen

Before I reveal my dining room I want to share an updated picture of my kitchen that my brother took. He is a wedding photographer so you can imagine how much of an upgrade his camera is compared to my crappy point and shoot one. He also has a great eye for photography and captures angles that I simply never see.  I’m also a little under the weather this week and can’t compel myself to write more than incomplete paragraph! 😉

So without further ado…

You can check out more pics here on the kitchen post.  Enjoy your weekend everyone!

P.S. Not sure why this picture is really small, but double click to get a bigger image.

Bedroom Obsessions

So I’ll let you in on an embarrassing truth… we’ve been sleeping on a mattress on the floor since we moved in and my clothes are stacked in my bathroom linen closet. It’s terrible. Our plan was to wait on furnishing the master bedroom until we finish our master bath since we also want to replace the carpet (new bedroom carpet and furniture + bathroom reno = bad idea for us). Unfortunately we are kind of wiped out from previous renovations and have yet to start the bathroom meaning the bedroom is still empty.

So long sory short I’ve been obsessing over bedrooms lately because mine is so gross. I can’t wait to plop down in a proper bed with proper bedding, and throw pillows, and a nightstand! Oh what I would give for a nightstand.  And the carpet in there… oh man. Cheapest carpet ever! It even broke my vacuum, yep clogged it with its static fibers. Anyway here are some pretty bedrooms I’ve been obsessing over!

Love this anthropology bedding. It’s a little pricey but I’d only want the duvet cover. (pic credit here)

I’m debating on either a fabric headboard like this one… or maybe a DIY wood one? Just not sure yet. This bedding is also a contender, I’ve had my eye on it ever since I spotted it at JC Penny’s home store.(pic credit here)

Next up, this pretty white dresser! I even have the perfect spot for it already (too bad I have no idea where it’s from). (pic credit here)

Last up is the bench in this pic. It’s a must have. I’m  also digging the striped headboard! (Pic credit here)

So there are my plans for my master bedroom… someday! Hmph. Has any one else been day dreaming of rooms that badly need to be finished?

Retail Therapy

There have been so many of you coming over from bigger blogs that featured my kitchen reno and most of you have been so nice with your comments (I never expected so much feedback)! Of course with the good, there has also been a few bad. Not directly on my blog but on these other “bigger blogs” a few people let loose with their comments, and it hurt. So I did some retail therapy, and I feel much better now.

I went to Home Goods. This place is amazeballs(in the words of Guliana Rancic). So here is what I loved on my most recent trip:

Below: in love with this pillow. I reasoned that I shouldn’t get it at the store (no place to put it) but I’m seriously kicking myself now! It was $34.99 for those of you wondering.

Next up, a nice stripped rug. I forgot to look at the price tag but I was pleasantly surprised when I spotted this guy. It would be great in an office or living room.

This chair stopped me in my tracks! So fun and cute. And a great deal at $129.00.

The last thing I saw was this great buffet, the pic quality stinks (my bad) but in person this thing is gorgeous! It was $599.00 which isn’t bad considering is was solid wood, and great quality.

I didn’t end up getting anything, but it sure felt good to window shop. Have any of you done some retail therapy lately?

Craft/Office Sneak Peek!

My Office/Craft room has been a work in progress, but it has come a loooonnnnngggg way from what it used to look like. Here is what it started as:

Basically it was a junk room for our junk! Thankfully we (and by “we” I mean “I” since hubby was conveniently busy that day) had a garage sale a few months back and got rid of most of the above. I decorated very Tuscan in my apartment and I knew I wanted to go in a completely different direction in our house. So I let people haggle me down until I pretty much gave everything away. 😦 I am terrible at garage sales. Anyway back to the topic… so to the right of this door there sat a cheap and poorly made built- in desk. Silly me forgot to get a before shot of the desk before taking it out so use your imagination for this one:

And now it looks like:

And this is why it’s a sneak peek, because the rest of the room is empty right now, which I guess is still a huge improvement from what we started with.

Here is a source list of what I remember( I’m working at keeping better track of things):

• Rug: Urban outfitters
• Chair: TJ Maxx find
• Desk: Ikea
• Vase and flowers: Pier One
• Tray: Home Goods
• Frames: Ikea
• Prints: Etsy