I personally wanted to buy a house. However with my graduation coming up in December, and my place of chaplain residency still up in the air, home ownership was the not the best choice for us as husband and wife right now. Hopefully around this time next year we will be moving into a home of our own. Waiting is really hard. Seeing other friends and family moving into their own houses makes Chase and I want to buy a home of our own right this second. We both know deep down though that this upcoming year of living together in this small space will draw us closer to one another, and it will allow us to save money for the starter home that we have always dreamed about.
In the mean time we both wanted to make our new place as husband and wife as cozy and home-like as possible. We shopped thrift stores, consignment stores, discount shops, and antique malls for the perfect pieces. We also were very lucky that the items that we placed on our wedding registry were gifted to us to tie everything all together. With the help of our parents we were able to settle right in.
At the moment, everything is in place in our apartment except for pictures in all of our picture frames. We are patiently (well not really) waiting to receive our wedding photos back from our photographer so we can proudly display the happiest day of our lives all over our walls. Chase and I wanted to share a few of our favorite things and places within our apartment. I know that some of our friends and family have been curious about we have decorated things, so this is the perfect way to show it off.
The entryway to our apartment is kind of small, but we were able to spice it up with an antique storage unit and some pictures on the wall.
Side note: our walls are not white and that is a blessing. They are more of a taupe color and it makes the entire apartment seem more like a home. Our previous apartments had stark white walls and it was so hard to make the space feel cozy.
Our favorite entryway decoration has to be our family welcome sign. Chase bought this for us as a Christmas present this past year. I smile every single time that I walk into the door and see this. After more than six years together, we are finally the Smith family.
Our kitchen is also small, but it has a plethora of cabinet space! It makes my heart happy to be able to fit all of our kitchen stuff in our tiny kitchen. We have so much kitchen equipment. It is seriously a problem. But Chase and I both love being in the kitchen so we would not have it any other way. Our favorite spot in the kitchen has to be the baking corner.
It is the perfect space to fit my kitchen-aid mixer and to whip up some yummy treats. The sweets sign was given to us by my sister and brother-in-law. It matches perfectly with our red theme.
The cake stand was passed down to me from my grandmother, and the baking containers were a wholesale purchase spiced up with some chalk board stickers. I am in love with them.
And while I am talking about our kitchen I just had to share these new towels that I picked up from HomeGoods. They were super duper on sale and I just could not pass them up!
The master bedroom is one of my favorite rooms in the house. It is a sanctuary from the craziness of life and we have a huge window on one wall that lets in a ton of natural light. Our favorite thing about the master bedroom is our monogram above our headboard. I picked up the monogram at a cute boutique in the local mall right after Christmas, and the frame around it came from my parent's antique shop. It just brings the whole room together and makes a bold statement. We love it.
We have both a master bathroom and a guest bathroom. Out of the two of them our favorite thing has to be the master bathroom color scheme. Yellow and grey has always been a favorite of mine. So to be able to use those colors somewhere in our new home together was a great thing. We found these beauties at Target. I can spend some serious cash in there. It really is dangerous.
Because of the open floor plan of our "condo", the dining room and the office are in the same area. Honestly, Chase and I don't use our dining room table too often. We normally end up around our big antique coffee table when dinner time arrives shouting out answers to Jeopardy, or watching something on Netflix. But we do love our office desk. It was a furniture consignment find and it is perfect for us. Not to mention it matches the bookshelves that we already owned perfectly.
I mentioned before that my parents own their own antique shop. Well part of that shop is architectural salvage. When we realized that we were not going to buy a house I was a little bit bummed because I was really wanting to live in a space with a fire place so I could have a mantle to decorate. When we moved into our condo my parents gifted us with this fake mantle so we would still have a space to decorate. I seriously love this part of our home. With the recliner and the basket of blankets in this corner, it is the perfect reading nook. I could spend hours curled up there with no cares in the world.
One more thing about our living room. See that pillow in the picture above? It was a gift to Chase and I from a super awesome camp friend. They are monogrammed with our family monogram and wedding date. I want more of these for every room of the place. Gosh how awesome they are!
Our guest bedroom is pretty sweet. Part of our wedding vows to one another was to promise to make our home one of hospitality. Knowing that we both wanted a second bedroom to accommodate whoever was in need of a place to crash. We are excited that in a couple of weeks will be welcoming one of our sweetest and closest friends to stay with us for the entire summer while she completes a summer internship for her graduate school program. We have been wanting to put this room to good use for a while now. Our favorite part has to be this cute shag rug. It is so soft and cozy.
Our favorite picture that is hung and ready to be displayed is our wedding canvas. We both love this picture because you can see the rolling mountains in the background, and the love on our faces is radiant. We hope that that love continues to be held in our hearts for years and years.
The last space that we wanted to share with you is our deck space. The only thing I told chase that I wanted if we were going to live in an apartment was a deck. He really did great finding this one. We have a great view and tons of green space right at our fingertips.
Our favorite thing however is our NC State theme. Because lets face it, who does not like a little bit of red and white? The weather is just starting to get warm enough to begin having dinner and late breakfasts out on the deck. It is so peaceful and we could not be happier.
So come on by and hang out for a little while. I am sure we will have some sort of sweet treat ready for you to eat, and there is always room if you need to crash. Enjoy this warm weather my friends!
- S & C
