Introducing.... Our New House!

I am really excited about this blog post! We finished up the inspection and after no major problems, we can finally celebrate our new house. We knew we wanted something we can live in a long time, and hoped for a "forever home." After looking at lots of houses, we found one we both love very much. We knew the neighborhoods we wanted and we knew we wanted an older home that needed a little bit of work.

In true Young House Love fashion (they announced their new home today) I'll show you pics and give you the stats.

Info:

• Built in the 1960's
• Colonial style
• Long time owners, maybe even the same owners all these years
• 3100 square feet
• 5 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms with walk-in closets in every bedroom (2 in the master)
• Hardwood floors throughout with thick crown molding (character!)
• 2 fireplaces
• Located in East Memphis, very close to good schools, interstate access, and very centrally located to everything in the city
• Potential for the house to be a "forever" home

WARNING... the house needs a little work! The bones are great, but we'll probably be removing wallpaper and painting for years to come :) Also, these are the interior shots as the house is now with the current owners stuff. We do not own "little old lady" furniture. The owners do have some of the most beautiful antiques I have ever seen! They are having an estate sale before we move in, so Brian and I can't wait to hit that up.

Back of the house... it also has a detached 2-car garage

Double doors that lead to the dining room

One of our favorite things about the house is a large screened in porch off the side of the house. It has so much potential we can hardly stand it.

The door below leads from the screened in porch to the family room. On the right, behind those double doors, is the laundry room.

The family room - love those wooden beams! This is one side of the room.

This is the left side of the room with a large wood burning fireplace and mantle.

Just off the family room is a half bath. It is located in between the downstairs master bedroom, which we will be using as a playroom, and the large entryway area.

This is the downstairs master. We'll be using the 2nd master bedroom upstairs and this room will serve as the playroom, since it is just off the family room.

Also off the family room is the kitchen. To us, this room needs the most work but we are going to wait a while. Gorgeous wallpaper! ;)

The house has an eat-in kitchen and bay window... we've got some ideas for this space.

Off of the kitchen is the dining room. Double doors lead out to the backyard.

Check out the cool knob on the french door.

Moving from the dining room is the formal living room and entry way. We swear that the fireplace HAS NEVER BEEN USED and is in perfect condition. It's really a beautiful room with large windows on one side.

Ahhhhh the entry way. We love the slate floors but that wallpaper is a nightmare. Just look at how high it goes up!

Upstairs, there are two bedrooms on each side, four total. The master and nursery are on the left, the office and guest bedroom are on the right. The room below will be Preston's :) He has a huge walk-in closet with a window inside. It will be funny to see his tiny clothes hanging in there! Also, there are all hardwoods in the bedrooms, the current owners have rugs down now.

The master bedroom... right now it looks like Lucy and Desi live there. It is a large room though, and we can configure it lots of ways. We can't tell you enough how excited we are to have our own walk-in closets to ourselves!

Below is the master bath. This is the sink, the shower, tub and toilet are to the left and one of the walk-in closets is to the right.

This bedroom will serve as a guest bedroom for now, but will probably eventually be the upstairs den for kid hangout space once our little one(s) are older.

This is the upstairs hall bathroom.

Finally, the last and smallest bedroom will serve as an office. More wallpaper to remove!

Here is one of the walk-ins, this one in the bedroom shown above.

So, there she is in all her glory. The house was originally put on the market in March, so we were excited to snag it up after multiple price reductions :) I'll keep you posted on how we update and change the house, starting with Preston's room first! Excited for this next step in our lives.

The best part? We move in December 1.

27 Weeks

My last week of the 2nd trimester. This week, the baby is the size of a head of cauliflower and weighs in at almost 2 pounds!

Here is what the baby looks like:

As for me, still feeling good, but the discomfort is definitely increasing. Bending down to pick things up is harder and I just feel weak. When I drop something, I get really mad at myself :) I feel like my belly gets bigger everyday. The other day I had my Mac in my lap and my belly was covering up half of the mouse pad. Then I readjusted and my belly actually clicked an ad on a web page I was looking at. Yikes.

Here I am at 27 weeks!



27 down, 13 to go!

Preston's First Shower

The wonderful ladies I work with threw me a very sweet shower yesterday. At work, I am surrounded by working moms and they give me so much advice all the time. I love it! I don't know what I would do without them. Children are kind of our world, since we all work at a children's hospital and obviously love kids. Thanks to them, Preston got so much great stuff. I am so thankful for my co-workers. They are such a great group of women and they make work so fun everyday.

Just a few of things we got were the portable high chair, bumpo seat, diapers, wipes warmer, clothes, bibs, burp clothes, swaddling blankets, and a really awesome diaper cake!

Also, thanks to Amanda for not only taking pictures when I forgot my camera but also writing a sweet little blog post about the shower.

Hillary and me discussing Halo sleep sacks

Portable high chair from Julie and Kristy... this will be awesome for trips and visits to the grandparents!

Jen helping me open Katherine's enormous gift :) it was a bumpo seat and pacifiers!

Anne got me the sweetest little giraffe! We have to work on a name for him.

Jennilyn's gift... the cutest little strawberry hat!

Jen was sweet to host all of us at her house. This is her adorable little boy Sam. He was wearing a sticker that said "I Voted Today."

Feeling very thankful today! It was great coming home to Brian with all this stuff for Preston. After we unloaded the car, we looked at all of Preston's new stuff and it felt very "real"... can't believe it! Thanks to everyone in LB's Marketing & Communication department :)

26 Weeks

Wow, the 3rd trimester is just two weeks away! This is flying by.

The baby is still moving like crazy and is getting bigger everyday. A neat development this week is that his hearing is becoming better and better. He can hear every conversation I have... kind of strange! Maybe I should watch what I say :) Here is what he looks like:

And here I am!

26 down, 14 to go!

Major Life Development

You may remember this post from early August. We decided to keep our house on the market until November 1, giving it 3 months, and if it didn't sell after that we would stay there longer and maybe try again when the baby is no longer a baby.

What we thought was impossible was possible. It sold this past week.

We were pretty shocked to say the least. We had completely resigned ourselves to the fact that we were going to stay there. Even more shocking is that we are closing on our house January 5. Preston is set to arrive sometime around February 4.

We are currently house hunting. When people find out they say, "Oh! How fun! How exciting!" We aren't really there yet. We are thankful that our house sold, but facing lots of life changes all at once is a little scary. Make that terrifying.

Recently, I have become more thankful for my marriage than ever before. Funny how in somewhat stressful times, I realize how fortunate I am to have married Brian. After many heart to hearts with one another about all these life changes, I can't help but be thankful to have him by my side.

Your father knows what you need before you ask him. So do not worry, saying 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today's trouble is enough for today. (Matthew 6:8, 31-34)

I Love Craigslist

A little over a year ago, I was reading my favorite magazine Southern Living and stumbled across a spread of photos featuring an Atlanta bungalow. I saw this photo and was floored.


My dream living room. Perfect combination of old and new. After reading about the living room in more depth, I had to have the piece above the couch. Of course, the owner came across it at the Scott Antique Market in Atlanta for a steal of a deal. It is an old plate rack, that the owner now uses to display old sepia family photos.

In my family, we are blessed to have lots of old family photos. We have childhood photos of Preston's namesake, my great-grandfather Preston Johnson from the late 1890's. On my father's side, we have old photos from my grandmother's childhood growing up in Jersey City after her parents came through Ellis Island from Czechoslovakia. My mom gave me copies of all of our old family photos. We also have some from Brian's family in the 1950's.

So for the last year, I have been stalking estate sales, Craigslist, Ebay, Etsy, you name it, trying to find not only an antique plate rack like the one pictured above, but also old picture frames. The picture frames have been pretty easy, having now purchased several from estate sales. The plate rack was the hard part. Last winter, I stumbled across this French beauty:

But it was $2,000 and had to be shipped from Europe. Um, no. But I loved the detailing at the top. Then just this week, I came across this photo on Craiglist.


I don't really think this picture does it justice, but it is big like the one featured in Southern Living. It lacks detail, but it is antique, very sturdy and only needs a little work to be gorgeous. The best part? I got it for $75.

I can't wait to fill this with old family photos, and plan on hanging it above the couch one day. I love Craigslist. One man's trash is another girl's treasure.

25 Weeks

This month the baby is the size of an eggplant!

According to Babycenter, the baby is about 13.5 inches long. He is fattening up for sure, because my belly is certainly growing. Here is what he looks like:

And here is what I look like:



25 down, 15 to go!