Little by Little

I am starting to decorate our new home, one thing at a time, while still working at unpacking. So, I thought I'd share a few pics of some of the things we've done around the house lately. :-)

We bought a couple of bookshelves at Nebraska Furniture Mart, and the desk is from Craigslist. My first ever experience with Craiglist, by the way. Haha
The lovely painting by my sister was a gift. The master bedroom. Our dresser and nightstand came (very) flatpacked from Target, and Ben put them together last night and this morning.

Lamps are 1/2 price at Hobby Lobby. ;-)

This vintage lamp was my Valentine's gift this year.

I just hung my favorite quilt up on the wall today.

Another lamp from Hobby Lobby- I love the detail on the soft pink shade!

The other bookcase is down in the play/family room on our lower level.

The boys love playing down here, and I have a feeling we will be spending a lot of time in the lower level this Summer, as it is always cool!

I am definitely not nearly done hanging things up and decorating down here, but it's a start. :-)

Little Details and 101 Posts!

Hello Friends! :-) We are finally in our new, although nearly empty new home. We love it and are so excited to live here, and get to know the neighborhood and area. We are really enjoying our new church and getting to know the special people who are part of it. We had a "Bring a Friend Sunday" last week, with around 35 visitors and 2 people accepted the Lord as their Savior! What a blessing! ---------------------------- We have been very busy around the house, starting to do little things to make it our own. :-) I wasn't overly fond of the plain white towel bars in the bathrooms, as they didn't seem to go with the oil rubbed bronze finish on the light fixtures and door hardware. So, here is a little before and after for you. ;-) Before: After:

Ben installed the new double rail, which wasn't easy because of a defect in the kit. I got the cheaper set from Walmart. Oops! Haha But with some extra drilling, he made it work.

Plant shelf and pretty light fixture:

Gorgeous ceilings:

There wasn't anywhere to hang hand towels, so Ben installed these towel rings in both of the upstairs bathrooms. We found them at Target.

Master bathroom spa tub! (and Teddy)

Shower and "toilet room"

Double vanities:

The boys' bathroom:

Obviously I am not done decorating their bathroom yet, but I think it looks pretty cute so far. :-)

I will post more pics of our new home once our furniture arrives from Australia- hopefully next week!

I just noticed that my previous post was my 100th! In honor of that, I would like to do something a little different (and hopefully fun) and ask anyone who ever reads this blog to leave a comment and let me know you are there. :-) I would love to hear from you!

Jessica

Sneak peek of our new house :-)

We expect to move into our new house within a couple weeks, but in the mean time, here are a few pics I took of the house when we were house hunting. :-) Great room, staircase/entry and glimpse of formal dining and kitchen.

View off the back deck- one of our favorite features of this house.

Kitchen and breakfast room.

Fireplace in the great room.

I look forward to sharing many more pics once we move in! :-)

Jessica

Our Temporary Abode :-)

We are finally all together again and enjoying settling in to life in Kansas City, Missouri! We just arrived last Saturday, after a 3 day drive from Idaho. It was a long trip, but we enjoyed the mountain scenery in Utah and Colorado along the way.

Another Baptist church in the area has been gracious enough to allow us to stay in one of their lovely missionary houses until we can move into our new house. We expect the closing date to be at the end of March. Can't wait! :-)
Below are a few pictures of the house we are staying for the next few weeks: The Living Room

The boys "golfing" in the spacious kitchen. ;-)

Formal Dining Room

The Loft Study Area

Master Bedroom

We are busy trying to find a car to buy, doing paperwork for our house purchase, buying some furniture and appliances, etc.

Hopefully it won't be as long before I post again next time! Ha

Jessica

Better Late Than Never- Christmas pics

My pictures are backwards in timing. Haha So, the most recent is first in this post. Oh, well.
We had Christmas dinner at my aunt and uncle's house. My sisters, cousin, nephew, Nathanael, my brother and my Dad. :-)

Nathanael with his cousins.

Teddy loves my cousin, Nathan. :-)

Opening presents with Auntie...

My parents, the cute couple. ;-)

Nathanael loves the doggie from his Uncle.

More opening of presents.

We went caroling the day before Christmas Eve. It was cold, but very fun.

Hope you enjoyed the highlights of our Christmas season. :-)

Jessica

~Vintage Dishes- my best ebay find so far!~

Well, we are still at my parent's home in Idaho, waiting for Ben to come back. Our house still hasn't sold, so we don't know how long it will be yet before we get to Missouri.
Meanwhile, I spend my time shopping on ebay. Just kidding. ;-) But I did find a 20 piece set of antique dishes for only $4.99! I absolutely love them. They are so delicate looking, and have just the right amount of crazing and discoloration. There are 7 dinner plates, 6 cups and saucers and 1 platter. And they are made in the USA. :-)I plan to put them to good use in our new home while we are waiting for our household goods to arrive from Australia.

This lovely bouquet of 18 roses arrived from my husband on Friday, which was a very sweet surprise, and really helped to lift my spirits. I love the color of the roses, and I like them all the better now that they are opening up more. They even smell good, which is an unusual trait in hot house roses, I find.I hope to post some Christmas photos soon (just a bit late). :-)

Jessica

Merry Christmas from Idaho!

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted. We have been very busy with all our travelling. We flew to Idaho for Thanksgiving with my family, then spent 10 days in Kansas City, MO visiting our new church there and house hunting. We really enjoyed spending time with all our lovely new friends there. And we found several house choices that we loved.

Ben had to return to Australia until our house and car are sold. We miss him, especially at Christmas time. The boys and I are enjoying spending the Holidays with my family here in Idaho, though.

We are hoping and praying that the house will sell first thing in the New Year so we can all be together again and move to our new home town! It is very exciting, but the waiting and suspense is not too fun...

I will try to put some of our latest pics on here soon, maybe after Christmas. :-)

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

~Jessica~