weekend project-mini front yard makeover

this past weekend the mister and i had a little project. we wanted to add a sitting area to our front yard. we were kind of going for the feeling of having a front porch with out the actual porch. so, i dug up the area in front of our living room window, ripped out two ugly "trash" bushes and the mister moved a couple of huge rocks, leveled the dirt and laid the flagstone. the flagstone was free from our friends eric + jana (thank you), the chairs were on clearance for $12 (remember) and the table was left here and i just gave it a quick coat of navy blue spray paint. overall, the total cost of our mini front yard makeover was approximately $29. not bad, and we both feel like it makes the house feel a little more cozy and welcoming. it's not complete though. i want to add a large potted tree or plant to cover up the fence and i also spray painted (i am in love with spray painting) some tin flower pots from ikea with red, to plant some more succulents. we are hoping that the natural baby tears that grow in this area will fill in soon and give it that last final touch.

just in case you were wondering, i am totally being inspired for colors by this shirt i found at the thrift store and this wedding i saw when i was looking at this guys blog and the ranch where they had it. love. oh and if you're looking at the wedding photos, scroll all the way down until you see the brides bouqet. it's awesome and something i think i am going to start collecting for my girls wedding. (that is if she gets married).

our new home

our new home. i love writing that, saying that and thinking that.

for those of you who don't know our current home is a one bedroom

apartment that we have lived in since we got married 10 years ago.

yes, there are four of us in this apartment, but thanks to the mister

who is very handy, we have been able to stretch our stay here until

now. just a quick breakdown the kiddo's share the bedroom and the

mister made a murphy bed wall unit in our living room, so we all have

our own space. but, it is time to move on. our little fella is almost

two and very active, loves to be outside and among other circumstances

it's just time for a new home. our new home couldn't have come at

a better time (well 2 months ago would've been nice considering Christmas

is just 2 weeks away), but we weren't committed to moving 2 months ago.

we really thought the whole looking process would've taken a lot longer,

but we feel like this house was meant for us and maybe even waiting for us.

i know sounds corny, but here's the gist of it. we had been planning on

looking for a new place when we returned home from kauai. we set out

looking for "for rent" signs around our neighborhood. we found one. when

trying to find the house that belonged to the "for rent" sign, we passed by

our new home. it was "for rent" too. the other house was not us, but this

one we liked what we saw on the outside. so we called, we looked, we

liked, we signed. it just all kind of fell into place. (that's the mister's

luck, stuff like this always happens to him). so here it is. there's some

things that definitely eventually need to be changed, but for now we are

just renting. keep in mind we are getting new carpet (you'll see why),

and we are going to paint the interior in "fresh day" from behr (love that color).

be prepared there's some funky, but there's also lots of potential....

front yard

with a 2 car garage

the mister is sold!

kitchen - funky retro, it's kinda growing on me

electric stove top - no likey, but it's a rental

comes with a fridge

dining area

living room and our cute little bella

we have a fireplace!

view from the front door

one of the two bathrooms -

yes we have two bathrooms!

and yes that's a door to the backyard

in the bathroom - not sure why?

the little fella's bedroom or if

we change our minds the school room

the little miss' room

she loves this carpet - i hate this carpet

master bedroom

master bath

backyard

it's a koi pond, but i'm thinking veggie garden

more backyard - view from the east

view from the west

and a lemon tree

we are truly loving this place and can't wait to

celebrate our first Christmas in our new home.