Out with the old...

My momma gave me a cute little ribbon board for a mini wedding present that has found a place in both of our homes so far. Currently it sits above our little "entry" table.

Our entry. It will forever bother me that the frame is brown and the door is white. Oh renting...

If you notice, it is almost June and the board still contains all of your Christmas cards! 

 So it was time to change out the holiday cards and get some new pictures/prints in there.
Here's what I came up with, much better!

Living Room Tour

The Hubs and I love our house, we are just so happy here! It really is nothing special, it is a two bedroom, 1.5 bath town home and we are renting. But, our rent is low, utilities are lower and we love our landlords! We will have been here a year in April and will probably be here another year before we look to buy. So, in that time we have made this little house our home and we are proud of it!


Even if it isn't an amazing, perfect house it is the place we call home and have made so many memories! So without further delay I give you our living room. I plan to only show one room at a time, so more to come!

Some Things Happening Lately... Worth Mentioning

Since I haven't blogged in a while I have a few pictures to share or interesting things that have happened lately in The Smith world!

Maybe the coolest of them all is that I got to meet my celebrity crush... Ben Affleck! He was in my town for about two months filming the movie Gone Girl and after stalking him for quite a few nights, my friend Courtney and I finally got to meet him and get a picture! He is so nice and even more handsome in person!

I over soaped our dishwasher, which I have never done before. And this picture was taken after I sopped up the huge puddle of water and suds that was ALL over the kitchen. Oops!

I decided to try some new recipes and actually use the recipe books we got for our wedding! I will post some of the good ones I find! Of course the cats were there to help!

Got to spend some time with The Hubs' family to celebrate our nieces 2nd birthday! Here we are getting our feet massaged! Only the best treatment for the birthday girl!

My parents handed down some of their furniture to us and we got our hands on this awesome shelf! It is now a part of our coffee bar area and I absolutely love how it turned out!

Just a couple of "exciting" things that have happened recently that I wanted to share! Have a happy hump day!

Frame DIY

When I went home to Kansas my sister and I got the chance to dig through my parent's garage sale boxes. Can you say score?!?

Among many things I got nine simple wooden frames my mom used to have in her office. I wasn't really sure of what to do with them so they sat in the garage for about two weeks. Then I was inspired and here is what I came up with!

I painted them white, using only a small amount of paint so the wood still came through. Then added some wedding photos I have been wanting to hang.

I added four of these to the living room wall above the couch. I am very happy with how this turned out, it had really been needing something more.

I also painted a couple frames red to add to our bedroom wall. This is one of my favorite projects I have done in this house!

Coffee Bar Reveal!

Tuesday I posted this picture and said to check back to see how I re-did this cabinet and made it into a coffee bar!

My Dad built this piece in shop class and it was in our house growing up as long as I can remember. My parents recently moved and no longer had space for it, so I took it off their hands. It is a beautiful cabinet and is really well built (as you can tell because it can hold my big ol' booty). I wanted to change the color and make it into a statement piece. 

Went out to my sister's house and set to work with her!

I started by taking off the doors on both sides. 

Then I got to use power tools... exciting! I sanded the whole thing down so it was ready for some paint. 

Then I loaded it up in my car and headed home. Hubs and I double teamed it the next afternoon and spray painted the whole thing a beautiful pistachio green. Let it dry overnight and then I mod-podged some red polka dot paper to the shelves.

I was happy with how it turned out but then the fun part came and I was REALLY happy!
Added our red coffee maker and our Keurig, then mugs and coffees. Then I got to add some fun decorative pieces! 

Very happy with how it turned out, it adds a lot to what used to be an empty area of our kitchen. 

When we have a bigger house I will surely be adding many more statement pieces like this one!

Pleasant Patio

So The Hubs and I moved to a new place in the beginning of April. Our first house was adorable and charming. It had ivy growing up all the trees, nice wood floors and brand new kitchen appliances. It really was a great first home! 

I have a friend who called our house an enchanted fairy cottage. Can you see why?

We are renters. Looked into buying a house about six months ago and the bank just laughed in our faces. Well, really it was only because I don’t have a salary job but they still didn’t help us out at all! Our first house was a little pricy so when we sat down and talked about our finances and future we decided that we would be buying a house in a year or two. So we realized that it would be smart to find a new place to rent that was lots cheaper so we could save some moolah. We looked for about two months, and had trouble finding a place that allowed pets and wasn’t a total crap-hole. Finally we found a cute little town house that allows pets and was very well kept. We immediately filled out the application and said we wanted it! 

Not quite as charming and this is an older picture. Keep reading the blog and you will see an update on all the work I have done on the front porch!

I was excited about the new place but also sad to leave our first home that was so stinking cute! When moving day came I was really worried about all of our stuff fitting in the new place and about it looking cluttered and dumb. Well after days of moving things around, hanging pictures, strategically placing decorative knick-knacks and organizing, I was really happy with how it all turned out! (maybe a home tour will be on the blog later?)

One of my favorite things about this house is that there is a patio right off the kitchen. I am a lover of nature and anything outdoors so I saw some potential. Our old house didn’t have a deck or patio just a huge back yard. This new house has a small little patio(aka concrete slab) and almost a smaller yard. I was sorta depressed about the size of the yard until May rolled around. There is a small wooded area behind our house and it got gorgeous when May arrived. I think my favorite part is that there is a huge honeysuckle bush right by our patio and our whole yard smells A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! 

After falling in love with our tiny yard and having weeks of gorgeous weather, I decided I wanted to make our patio an oasis! It began with a small table and chairs set, and a grill. BORING! I then added some flowers and cute outdoor lanterns, then I later added some lights around the patio doors. Next, the hubs and I went to get some fun tiki torches (gnats have been terrible in Missouri this summer). The latest addition was a stand umbrella for some shade! I am really happy with how it is looking although it is not done yet! 

My view is pretty nice if I say so myself! 

We have eaten countless meals out here and I often will take out a book in the evening and read for an hour or two. I am so glad to have a little piece of heaven in our own back yard. Now if only I could do something about those nasty june bugs in the evenings :)

DIY

Check back later this week to see how I re-did this cabinet and turned it into a coffee bar!

Plate Wall

I am getting real excited about decorating our new home. I will actually have some time and enough stuff to fill it up and make it homey and cute! So I am doing a plate wall in the kitchen and on a trip last week I got my first plate for the wall!

Here is my inspiration:

<<1. Pinned Here >> <<2.Pinned Here>><<3.Pinned Here>>

Can't wait to get started!!!

Vanity

I never do my make-up in the bathroom. I guess I am just too lazy to stand up and get ready in the mornings. I usually always sit on our bed and use a tiny mirror or sit on the couch downstairs. So I decided to put an end to that problem and made myself a little vanity!

I got the mirror for $10 at a garage sale a year ago and the table is an old t.v. tray that was $8 at Wal-Mart that I painted white.

I love my little corner and it sure beats the edge of my bed and a tiny mirror.

Here it is in its little corner!