Our Laundry Room!

When Sam and I were searching for a house there were a few things we knew we wanted: a split floor plan, 3 bedrooms/2 baths, large backyard and a laundry room. As we saw house after house we quickly learned that a laundry room wasn't commonly found in houses that were the age we could afford (built around 1990s). The washer/dryer could be found in the garage or the kitchen. We'd given up hope until...

We found the perfect house! Everything on our wish list and things we didn't even know we wanted (like a wonderful air conditioned shed in the back yard that is perfect for an at home gym/Sam's brewing house!) And the best part was the laundry room. Right off the garage across from the spare bedrooms was a room that housed the water heater and washer/dryer. We decided to give the room a little visual interest by painting large horizontal stripes on the walls which took some time but was a lot of fun!

We knew we'd need to have the pipes re-done throughout the house so that was first. And it was a surprisingly quick process. The plumbers came and finished within three days and we were impressed by how well the holes were covered. (Now that we've painted I couldn't tell you where they had to replace the wall!) But we did need to prime. The 'new' spots would absorb paint differently than the pre-existing walls. After we primed we painted the entire wall a very light, almost white, color. And then the taping began.

We decided not to paint stripes behind the water heater.... that would have been a pain in the butt! Taping the walls was a long process. First we drew the lines with a pencil because we wanted to be sure we liked the size of the stripes (and tape isn't cheap!) With this job, our level was our best friend! Then we started placing the tape and pressed it on real hard. It's a good idea to smooth over the edges right before you run paint on it.

And here's the result:

We knew for a while that we wanted to go with a bright red washer and dryer. We love the color pop. Over time we're going to add a dark wood shelf above them, with easy access to the water supply. We also decided to take the door off. Originally there was a door that would have ended up continually hitting the washer and dryer. We weren't about to let that happen to these brand new babies. And we like what we did with the space so we don't mind having our laundry room open to the world (maybe it will keep us from letting messy clothes pile up!)

I'm definitely happy with the way it turned out!

Positive Things About Moving

Incase you didn't know, Sam and I recently purchased a house. It was a crazy, long process and it took the bank 9 months to accept our offer but we are finally in the house we love. Because it took so long we hit the end of our lease in our apartment and my parents were nice enough to let us move in with them instead of having to sign another lease.
Living with my parents worked out nicely. Sam and I did a few things for them around the house like install lights under their kitchen cabinets and completely cleaned out their freezers/pantry.

Just to give you an idea of how big of a deal that was... we found something from 1993. I was 2 years old when they bought that... I'm 23 now. Oh, my parents.

Anyways, it also helped my family really get to know Sam which was nice. My parents definitely approve! And it helped us save up some money since we didn't have to pay rent!

In mid July the bank finally responded to our offer and by the end of July we were signing all the paperwork (TONS of paperwork). In the meantime our stuff was sitting in a storage unit.
We're finally to the point where we're starting to unpack some of the "unnecessary" stuff like decor items and things like that --

Which is turning out to be tons of fun. We got through all the boring boxes first, dishes and cups, towels, office supplies, etc. But now were starting to see the items that really shows our personality and makes it feel like home! And almost every time we open a box we find something we forgot we had!

Like this guy:

I collect pigs and by the time we're done setting the house up you'll see them everywhere and in every room. It started when I was little and slowly throughout the years I'll continually get pigs for Christmas and birthdays. I'm sure it makes it easy on my friends. They always know what to get me. I love pigs that are out of the ordinary and Sam loves when the pigs are actually useful. 

Like this one:

This is one of my favorites! It's four pigs walking in a line and it's useful! This is also a sneak peak of our laundry room; we painted stripes to give it a little interest. More to come on what we did to each room later!

But don't worry, there's more to our house than pigs.

I got this one year for Christmas and I've never had anywhere to really display it. Now we have a hutch from my grandfather's house so once the living room walls are painted and the hutch is put into place, this will be the first thing up there! 

Who knew unpacking could be so much fun!

Bath and Body Works!

I recently had a coupon for B&BW and they were also having a candle sale so Sam and I picked up some awesome stuff! We got some holiday scented soaps and candles as well as some regular scents that we love! Although, looking through the holiday scents was a little disappointing. We felt like almost all the scents were trying to be to creative and new but sometimes just the classic scent of pumpkin spice is all you need. Also, we determined that B&BW should have coffee beans placed around the store so you can clear your nose every once in a while! Too many scents to handle!! But we're very pleased with the scents we have :)