We Are All Moved In!!

On Friday, February 27th we became official homeowners. It has been more exciting that I ever imagined it to be. We feel like God's timing was so perfect in providing us a home that seems to fit our every need.

Minutes after the closing, we were already cleaning the place up and making plans on which rooms would be for what. 

My mom came out the following Monday and helped me paint our main living room. 

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

Some more willing painters came to my rescue on Friday, and helped me tackle the fireplace room. It turned out even better than I envisioned it.

BEFORE

AFTER

Thanks to Audrey and Kinsey for the great help!

Thanks also to Amanda Gasser for providing a delicious lunch for us girls.

That was about all the painting that we had time to do, before moving in this past Saturday. Nobody told me how big of a job moving really is. Out of my three moves in the last year, this last one was definitely the most involved. Who knew a person could accumulate five times as much stuff once they were married? I guess I should not be too surprised, Nate and I are definitely surrounded by some of the most generous and loving people.

In all the busyness and chaos that went on Saturday, I did not get many pictures, but we had a good crew. With six guys moving the furniture, and the rest of us moving the smaller stuff, it took us about three hours. 

My parents with the first load

Afterwards, we headed to Dairy Queen for lunch. My brother-in-law, Aaron, and niece and nephew, Corinne and Tyler, were also a huge help. Along with Lena, who you may notice is trying to work her way out of the picture. Not this time Lena!

Shelby also got to join us after a morning of work. Have I mentioned that I love having Shelby out here in Paulding county? It is amazing to see how she is thriving so well in an environment away from home.

Nate and I are so humbled and grateful for all the loving support and help that we have received during this whole process. Although there are a lot of little things to be done to the house yet, we already feel at home and we are excited to establish our roots here.

Give us a couple weeks, but then you are all welcome to come visit=)

A Couch & A Cherry Pie

When I decided to take the plunge into the blogging world, I knew that it would be a challenge for me to come up with creative ideas or topics of interest. I took the liberty of stalking the blogs of some experienced bloggers. After glancing at a few blogs, it became evident that the successful bloggers all had something in common. They each wrote about their everyday life, along with their day in day out experiences. 

So far, most of my posts have been exactly that, about my everyday life. Today, February 19th, marks the date of the most random post yet. I can't exactly foresee where this post might be going, but as my fellow bloggers can most likely relate, there was an urge that told me that this could be blog-worthy. 

This past weekend, Nate and I went on a little get-away for Valentine's Day. It was nothing glamorous, but it was great, quality time together. We booked a hotel near Chesterfield, Ohio on Friday night and planned to look for some furniture the following day. The main item on our list was to find an additional couch for our new house. 

You may be asking yourself, "Why would they choose Chesterfield, Ohio?" The answer to that would be because their is an IKEA in Chesterfield. IKEA is a great place to see furniture and home furnishings in a virtual setting. Nate had never been to IKEA before, and we went more for the experience of it than anything. 

We looked at a few of IKEA's couches, but they were not quite what we had in mind. We spent more time inspecting the kitchens than anything.

 I thought this dorm set-up was pretty cute and clever. 

Here we are posing in one of IKEA's bathrooms. We really know how to choose a romantic back drop.

We got through IKEA pretty quickly once we realized that there was nothing that we couldn't live without. When we got back to the car, I searched for where the closest Ashley Furniture store might be, and we drove a few miles down the way.

We spent an hour or so browsing around and testing out various couches and sectionals. Supposedly the big Presidents' Day sale would save us 20% on any couch in the store. 

Nate and I found a sectional that we both liked and decided to place an order. How could we say "no" to this once-in-a-lifetime sale. We probably should have asked more questions about delivery details and if we would need to pick it up, but we were both a little bit ignorant. Soon we were walking out the door trying to figure out what we could borrow that was big enough to haul four separate pieces of a couch. Not to mention, we would have to drive two hours to pick it up.

On the way home we hit up the "Tim Hawkins" comedy show in Botkins, Ohio. We both thoroughly enjoyed the show, but in the back of my mind, all I could think about was how we were going to figure out our couch situation. I kept thinking back to what happened to my brother and sister-in-law's couch when they were hauling it. Having it fall off of the trailer and cracking in half is not my definition of a "good time", nor anybody's for that matter.

Nate and I came to the conclusion that unless they could ship the couch to a closer location, we would cancel the order. We ended up cancelling the order and it was as if a burden had been lifted from off of our shoulders. 

Today I set off to see what the local furniture stores might have to offer. Nate had mentioned that a few folks around here have gotten their furniture at Ken's Furniture in Defiance. I have to get groceries anyways, it won't hurt to stop by and see what they might have, was my thought. 

I always like to read reviews or surf the website before going to an unfamiliar store or restaurant. When searching "Ken's Furniture", I noticed that they too were running a Presidents' Day sale, but better yet they offered a cherry pie with every purchase. I did not think much about it. I jotted down the address and went on my way.

The lady that met me at the door was very helpful. I expressed to her my situation, and she explained that they order in Ashley brand furniture all the time. She said that they might be able to order exactly what I wanted. We searched through a catalog of Ashley brand couches, and sure enough the fourth page displayed the exact couch that we had previously ordered.

The store had such a small-town atmosphere to it. A group of older men were laughing and discussing the gas prices. I was standing in a furniture store that had been in operation for forty years, and I was beginning to see why.

 Laurie, the sales lady, went back to her office to calculate a price. She came back and presented a price that was $500 less than what we had initially ordered the couch for.

She explained that they would do free delivery and that the owner of the store was paying sales tax on every purchase for anybody who came in today, due to the cold temperatures outside.

I told her that I would take it, and I was more than willing to hand over my credit card. After she handed me a complimentary sticky pad and pen she said, "If you wait one minute, I have something else for you." What else could she possibly be getting for me, I wondered. 

It became very apparent that the cherry pie ad was no joke. I was soon holding a cherry pie, along with being thanked over and over for my business. "We hope you'll shop Ken's furniture again," Laurie said with a smile.

Wow, I thought, now that is some good customer service. There is nothing better than feeling like you just got yourself a bargain. The amount of money I saved by walking into Ken's Furniture store is more than I'll ever save on my Goodwill bargains. 

The whole couch/pie experience made me realize that there is still so much "good" left in this world. It can feel like all our media dwells on, anymore, are the negatives. I appreciate the generous business leaders who are not in it all for themselves, but who really care about putting others first and foremost. I think George and Abe would have been proud of the kindness shown to me today. If only I could serve them both up a piece of cherry pie and hear about some of their everyday life experiences.

I hope all of you enjoyed this utmost, uninteresting saga about.....umm.....well, about my everyday life.

I'll let you know how the pie tastes. I was told that it was freshly baked yesterday. I'm thinking about framing it, along with a $500 bill. 

Oh, the things that get me excited. 

A Home Of Our Own!!

Everybody longs for a place to call their own. We have enjoyed renting a house for the first ten months of our marriage, and we feel that it was ultimately the best decision for our circumstances, but now we are excited to be taking the next steps to becoming home-owners. 

A house we never thought we would be interested in, judging from the outside, gave us a surprisingly better (and more spacious) view when we stepped inside. 

This house is one of the smaller homes nestled in a nice, quiet housing addition here in Paulding. It is right around the corner from where we live now.

The four houses we looked at, after seeing this one, just did not compare. Most of them were quite a bit larger, but they would have taken a lot of upkeep and would have needed several updates. $$$

We had to make a pretty quick decision on this house, due to another offer being on the table. Although we did not have as much time, to pray about it, as we wished we would have, everything just felt right. We have a continued peace and have not regretted our decision at all.

One of my favorite features of this house is probably the kitchen. I enjoy spending time in the kitchen, and the fact that it is smack in the center of our home, suits me just fine. Although, I hope I can remember how to operate a dishwasher, it has been a while. 

Most of this house has been completely remodeled in the last six months. Basically, all we will have to do is add some color to the walls (aka....paint). I see lots and lots of painting in my near future, but I don't mind. I am excited to add my own little touches to this soon-to-be-not-vacant house.

The house includes three living areas. The main and largest living room has carpet, which we are thrilled about. 

Notice the wood-burning fire place, pictured below. We are hoping to turn that into a gas log sometime in the coming year. Another great perk of this house. 

Two bathrooms and four bedrooms also accompany this house. We are hoping that this makes it a little easier to host company now. Trusting that God will help us use our abode, to not only serve ourselves, but to serve others as well.

These are about all the pictures that I have for now, but if you continue reading you are sure to see more in the coming weeks. Nate and I are anxious to get possession and move on in. We are looking at hopefully closing near the end of February and moving in the first week of March.

Life + Love + Our Own Home = A Whole New Adventure

Tour Of Our House

If you are anything like me, you enjoy looking at houses. While I enjoy driving down the road and seeing the exterior of various homes, I would say I enjoy discovering the interior even more.

I love seeing pictures of someone's recent paint project or how they incorporated their most recently purchased decorative item from Hobby Lobby. Maybe I am reading into this a little bit too much, but I would say that you can tell a lot about a person, by how the inside of their house is portrayed.

 I decided that I would take you on a tour through our small, but cozy home.

At the current moment we are renting a house. The house was recently painted before moving in, and I did not feel like I could repaint anything at that time. Thankfully everything was neutral, along with one lilac, purple room. Anyways, I decided that I would have to get creative with adding accents. 

So here we go. First off is our white-walled living room that could still use a little help, but it works for now.

 My favorite items in the living room would include the rug (Lowes),....

 ...the curtains (Target), and.....

my "Stuff" basket (JoAnn's).

Pictured  below are the other walls of our living room. We got several plaques and song books for our wedding, and I was thankful to have some shelving to place them on. 

Here is the piano that my mom passed down to me. It puts off pretty good acoustics in a house that is almost completely all wood-flooring.

I am also loving this shelf that I purchased a Kohls recently.

So that is all for the living room. Through the wooden door (pictured above), is our office. This room looked pretty pitiful before I painted the paneling all one color. Our landlord thanked us for improving the room, which confirmed that I had their blessing in painting a couple rooms.

I do not know why, but I really like this picture hanging on the wall. Maybe it is the color combination or the vintage look. My sister-in-law has this same picture hanging in her bathroom. When I got engaged and was looking for ideas, I ordered the same one on Ebay. The pillows, rug, and vase are all from Gordmans. Gordmans is another great option when shopping for home decor.

Next, we have the bathroom. I had registered for gray and yellow towels before we decided to rent this house. The walls are more of a dark tan, but it really doesn't fight the gray shower curtain or towels.

I bought these bird picture from Kohls, and they seem to blend everything together.

When I found this ceramic type thing at Hobby Lobby, I was not sure what I would do with it. I just knew that it matched my bathroom. I got it home and immediately the thought came to me that it could make a good washcloth holder. So it does.

Also, for the lemon addicts out there, try this Lemon Meringue Cheer foaming hand soap. Bath & Body never ceases to amaze me. It is the best.

Some of you may have seen my most recent paint project already. Guest bedroom #1 was completely white before and it looked very bland. A little color on the walls made a world of difference.

Hands down, the quilt is by far my most favorite thing in this room. You know how it is when you are walking in a store (Elder Beerman in this case), just browsing, and you absolutely fall in love with something that you do not plan to buy. Well, that is what happened with this quilt, and I have not regretted my decision at all. It really set the stage for this room.

Spare bedroom #2 is my girly room. I have had a couple of my nieces spend the night in this room, and they tend to like the pink and purple.

The mirror is the most prized possession in this room. I picked it out as a gift for my miscellaneous shower. TJ Maxx is also another favorite store of mine, especially their home section.

Our bedroom is nothing special, but I don't want to put too much money into it since we won't be at this house long-term.

The bedroom suit is the highlight of this room. A wedding gift from my parents that we will probably keep our entire lives

Lastly, we will take a gander into the kitchen.

Can you guess what the central theme of the kitchen is? If you have seen any of our engagement pictures, you might remember that we had a few taken in front of a painted wall. The painted wall showed an ice cream shop. The picture above the oven shows us holding ice cream cones standing in front of the painted wall.

The apron (to the right) is what inspired me to accent my kitchen with blues and reds. I bought it at Hobby Lobby, along with a matching towel and hot pads. Someday I hope to have a kitchen that is painted in light blue.

Someday this...someday that...but for now I am content with what I have. I hope you enjoyed getting a taste of my home.

As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. ~Joshua 24:15