When the husband and I got engaged one of the first things we were worried about was finding the perfect place to live, so the apartment search began... and after weeks of searching we found the perfect little townhome in Springville; and after a few more weeks of applying and fighting to get it over the three other couples who had applied we got to sign the contract. And the community is called... the cottages... the name can be super cute, cheesy, or sketchy depending on how you look at it.
Once we signed the contract (a month before we even got married, what can I say I like to get things done ahead of time?) I got to go to work find all the fun things to fill our home with. Which was good because by that point I was out of my mind waiting for the wedding and I needed something to distract me. Back story: I love love love interior design. My grandma was an interior designer so I grew up learning how to put together a home and appreciating an eclectic fun style to do it with. In high school I had to opportunity to do a summer study in New York where I got meet amazing designers and visit schools. My Senior year I even applied and was accepted to a design school in California but at that point life was just calling me in another direction.
So I've just kept design in the hobby zone... I've helped friends redecorate rooms and apartments and FINALLY I got to decorate a place of my very own. I am lucky that the husband kind of gave me free reign on the house and let me do what I wanted. There are still days when I tell him a new idea I have and he give me the You're going to do what?!? look but he let's me do what I want and ninety nine point eight percent of the time he likes it.
So back to decorating the house. I most definitely had my vision, I knew the colors I wanted, the style I was feeling, and even had the perfect couch picked out in my mind. While most girls have their wedding planned when they are sixteen, I had my future home planned. But... we weren't even married yet and we still had a honeymoon to pay for, Christmas was around the corner, and we were about to be newlyweds. That meant I had a budget. So we started where I think almost every newlywed starts, hand-me-downs. Our parents and grandparents were amazingly generous and let us take anything from our childhood rooms we wanted and opened up their storage sheds to us. And over the years of being on my own I had made my own small collection of pictures and knickknacks. We were also really lucky and received so many gift cards at our wedding that we were able to pick up a few things that we wanted.
Putting together our home has been a process... Finding things that are uniquely us and filling it with stuff that makes us smile. But it's a process that I have loved and am passionate about so I'm going to share it. Today it's the living room. I'll go through the rest of the house over time. The living room just recently went through a renovation and I'm LOVING it. I definitely got the what are you doing look for the deer head.
Before
After
Once we signed the contract (a month before we even got married, what can I say I like to get things done ahead of time?) I got to go to work find all the fun things to fill our home with. Which was good because by that point I was out of my mind waiting for the wedding and I needed something to distract me. Back story: I love love love interior design. My grandma was an interior designer so I grew up learning how to put together a home and appreciating an eclectic fun style to do it with. In high school I had to opportunity to do a summer study in New York where I got meet amazing designers and visit schools. My Senior year I even applied and was accepted to a design school in California but at that point life was just calling me in another direction.
So I've just kept design in the hobby zone... I've helped friends redecorate rooms and apartments and FINALLY I got to decorate a place of my very own. I am lucky that the husband kind of gave me free reign on the house and let me do what I wanted. There are still days when I tell him a new idea I have and he give me the You're going to do what?!? look but he let's me do what I want and ninety nine point eight percent of the time he likes it.
So back to decorating the house. I most definitely had my vision, I knew the colors I wanted, the style I was feeling, and even had the perfect couch picked out in my mind. While most girls have their wedding planned when they are sixteen, I had my future home planned. But... we weren't even married yet and we still had a honeymoon to pay for, Christmas was around the corner, and we were about to be newlyweds. That meant I had a budget. So we started where I think almost every newlywed starts, hand-me-downs. Our parents and grandparents were amazingly generous and let us take anything from our childhood rooms we wanted and opened up their storage sheds to us. And over the years of being on my own I had made my own small collection of pictures and knickknacks. We were also really lucky and received so many gift cards at our wedding that we were able to pick up a few things that we wanted.
Putting together our home has been a process... Finding things that are uniquely us and filling it with stuff that makes us smile. But it's a process that I have loved and am passionate about so I'm going to share it. Today it's the living room. I'll go through the rest of the house over time. The living room just recently went through a renovation and I'm LOVING it. I definitely got the what are you doing look for the deer head.
Before
After
We got the original painting above our couch from my grandparents storage but it wasn't really our style so when reading days came along I ditched studying for finals and put together this instead. WAY more fun than finals...
- Couch: A find off of KSL plus it came with the pillows and a matching love seat!(the husband was a dear and drove an hour and a half to pick it up for me)
- Navy Pillow: Target
- Rug: Rugsusa.com (I waited until black friday and all of the rugs were seventy five percent off! AMAZING!)
- Frames, Prints, and Side table: Ikea
- Deer Head: West Elm
- Star: Wedding Gift from Piggy and Dirt. They are an amazing husband and wife team from Provo that my grandparents have known for years and I am obsessed with their stars, I think I have four different ones!
- Lamp and Boxes: I've had them for years and honestly can't remember where I got them
- LOVE: I picked up some wood letters from Hobby Lobby and some Spray paint and the whole project only took probably five minutes.
Everything else in the rest of the room came from our families or our old bedrooms. And the husband and I just love our space.
I was looking for a quote or a definition of home that I could put with this post but none of them said what I wanted so I'll just put what home means to me. Home is the place you come to after a long day, it should be relaxing; a refuge. It should also be inspiring and uplifting. It's a space where conversations are had, ideas are thought, decisions are made, and tears are spilled. Home is where love and security should be felt and shared. To me, that is what home is and that is what I am striving to make it.
Love your definition of home, I think it's absolutely perfect! And that couch is incredible!
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