Inspiration Obsessed

I can't stop researching ideas for a fixer upper.  I have an addiction.  Here are a few inspirations I stumbled across today.  Some of these are a little out of the ordinary for me, but for some reason I love bits and pieces of all these designs!

Stole this from mom's blog.  I just like it.

Inspired by this vanity ~ not the color of the walls.

Must have a claw foot tub and huge mirror!

A little too frilly, yet fantastically shabby!

Jake and I want a dining room table with random chairs (inspired by the Baumeister's) 

from the flea market.

White bathrooms are great with a pop of old photos.

love the white

This linen couch from Restoration Hardware is amazing!

Decor addicted,

Liz

North Carolina Sunday

Jake and I have been going to church Saturday Nights.  We actually committed to doing this late summer, but we just didn't stick with it because it's simply weird going to church Saturday afternoon @ 4pm.  Several weeks ago we showed up sunday morning to absolutely zero seats in the main auditorium or "the bay" (additional space where people watch a live feed of the service).  People were watching the service on tv's in the lobby.  This was a red flag that we needed to move back to our original commitment of going saturday night.  We didn't want to take up a seat that a guest could be sitting in.  With all that said we are loving saturday nights, meeting awesome people, and trying to get connected at the Summit (our church).  It's been an absolutely amazing experience.  We've met lifelong friends here.  Jake and I will be driving down the highway,  and randomly conversation will break to how God has TRULY had His hand in our lives.  We've prayed and prayed for God to not only put other couples in our lives that we can develop relationships with, but friends that foster our relationship with God as well.  Boy has God answered our prayers, not with only 1 couple, but FOUR...and still growing.  I'm not writing this to brag about how many friends we have, but I AM bragging about God's forever grace in our lives.  It's unreal...and I am thankful every single day!

Soooo, now that Sunday afternoons are wide open, we spent part of our beautiful, 70 degree, sunshiny sunday afternoon (sorry have to brag to my Midwesterners) at the flea market.  Check out this find for $2.  I'm thinking decorative pillow cases or framed artwork.  Ideas?

Another random side note.  Katie, Christie and I had a coffee date Thursday night @ Starbucks.  Randomly Christie whips out a homemade loaf of bread to snack on.  Who busts an entire loaf of bread out of their purse at Starbucks???Christie does.  Oh our special little RANDOM friend/pastry chef ;)

Flea Market Shopping, God loving freakazoid,
Liz

House or Home

Well...today we calculated, sulked, and came to the conclusion we need to hold off on making an offer on "THE house."  To my utter dismay we are going to save save save, see if the house is still available come end of March (dear God PLEASE), and HOPEFULLY put in an offer at that time.  Luckily by this time the house will have sat on the market for a while, and we can go in with a pretty decent offer.  I did so gosh darn well not getting emotionally tied, then thursday...friday...a few drive-bys....neighbor stalking...and second viewing saturday all had us pretty convinced this was THE house.  It has great bones, a great neighborhood, great fenced in yard with a white picket fence, HUGE screened in porch, hardwood floors, and the list goes on.  Yes, the kitchen and both bathrooms need gutted, new windows are a must, wiring may be an issue...but it is a heck of a blank slate.  If this is where God wants us, then this house will become our home, however until then God is teaching me a little something about patience, faith, trust, and all those other things that are great but difficult to grasp...especially when you are emotionally attached.  I already envisioned walking my kids to school just down the street, but I think dreams like this are what partially did me in haha.  With all this said, I continue dreaming, digging for home improvement blogs, filing pics away in my "house dream" folder, and most importantly praying for where God wants Jake and I to be, not just where we want to be.

Seeking His plan...and occasionally doing a drive by,

Liz  

Fire Hazard

Ok girls...you don't have to worry about our safety anymore.  We got a new ironing board cover :)

Safe and Sound,
E

Getting Mentally Prepared

Sooo I'm a dreamer.  It's a blessing and a curse at the same time.  So here is the house I WANT in the PERFECT location...the heart of Raleigh.  It's surrounded by historic homes and the charm is oozing out of this house.  The bummer is that there is barely a driveway, let alone a garage....it's tiny....and there is this huge electrical tower thing to the left that is less than attractive....oh and the price tag is not to our liking.  This is where reality hits.  Where do you make sacrifices?  Do you sacrifice space for location.  In most cases I would say yes, however the pocket book comes into play as well.  Our goal is to find a house we can afford with one of our incomes.  Who knows what the future holds, and I don't want to be depending on both of our jobs to make ends meet...

...so this is where the compromises come into play.  What about an area like Fuquay Varina?  It's about 20-30 minutes from Raleigh, but we are close to friends, and we would could live in downtown on one income.  I'm trying to keep these positive thoughts in the forefront of my brain.  We are going to look at a house in FV at 6pm tonight.  We're hoping to get it for a knock out price so we can afford to do the much needed TLC.  Let's just say it's the worst house in the neighborhood, but it has potential (with a lot of imagination).  I'm still holding off on showing pictures.  I don't want to scare anyone.

With the thought of possibly getting a fixer upper I started dreaming.  It ALWAYS comes back to that. 

Love these floors.

love this seating

love this kitchen...

...and this one

...and this one

love the subway tile

I love white fireplaces

As Jake would say...I love a lot of things ;)

Dreaming,

E

Our Random Sunday

Today has been an eventful day.  Jake worked all morning and into the afternoon.  I slept in, did some cleaning, laundry, and made a tasty lunch.  Don't judge me.  We went to church last night :)

We then headed over to the other Winfield house to get some Jason, Becky and Indy time in.  Becky, Indy and I took a walk while Jake and Jason dug some post holes, and then we all had some hang out time together...well, except Jason...he kept digging.

Jake and I then headed for Raleigh late afternoon to check out some houses we were interested in.  Yes, including the ones posted on a previous blog.  Don't worry, the location of House A was HORRIBLE, and House B not so impressive.  After hours of traipsing around Raleigh, Jake insisted on driving by one in Fuquay Varina despite the fact that it is now pitch black outside.  We checked it out....and I think we might have a winner.  We're not getting our hopes up yet, and I'm not posting any pics until we know more.  I don't want to jinx this thing.  It may not be meant to be, not to mention it's a little early for us to be finding a house.  We needed to stumble across this treasure a few months down the road.  We'll keep you posted.  I'm calling a realtor to schedule a showing tomorrow.  Fingers crossed....actually prayer usually works better.

Signing off,
Liz

Year at a glance....or in a jar.

I have a small obsession with stalking blogs...ok I have a HUGE obsession.  I just stumbled across this idea and had to share with you.  What do you think?

This family creates a time capsule for each decade (if they did it yearly they would run out of shelf space) in a jar.  They throw in a picture, ticket stubs, hospital bracelets from an e.r. visit, a lucky rock from family vacation, or whatever have you.  I thought this was not only a great keepsake, but a great decoration piece.  I love this and can't wait to steal the idea.  You should too!  If you want to read more about this project visit this chicks blog.  

http://kellicrowe.typepad.com/kellicrowe/2010/12/kid-craft-time-capsule.html

time capsule jar lovin' fool,

Liz

Ikea trip

Last saturday Jake and I headed to Charlotte to hit up IKEA!  We were in heaven.  Here is one of our finds, and main mission of the trip....a dresser!!!!

Ice Day = House Hunting Day

So far here are my finds of the day.  I'm in love, but our wallet isn't.  You don't get a lot of house for your buck in Raleigh, NC.  Oh how I miss home prices in Quincy.  Check out these finds, both in historic areas.  

House A is somewhat close to price range, it's cute, has a decent sized yard for the dog, HOWEVER it has a car port instead of a garage and only 1 bathroom.  

house A

house A living room

house A backyard

House B most likely out of our price range :(  Actually pretty sure it is.  They would most definitely have to come down on the price tag, but now's the time to try...right???

 house B

house B backyard

house B kitchen

young house love hunting,

Liz

On the Hunt

The hunt has kind-of-sorta begun....the hunt for our home in NC.  We are in our apartment until late summer/early fall, so we have about 7 months to find our nest.  Jake and I have talked about the checklist over and over.  Do we purchase a fixer upper?  Do we land in Raleigh, Apex, Cary, Holly Springs?  Our dream location is downtown Raleigh, however in order to afford this a major fixer upper is in our future.  The words fixer upper are scary.  We have multiple friends enduring this process, and it can be a long, rough road, so we hear.  We are reassured by our amazing friends that they would help, but yikes!  What a commitment!  Jake is good at building shelves and putting together ikea furniture, however major renovation would be a challenge for both of us.  I've searched the web high and low, and nothing has quite caught my eye.  All of the houses look the same.  We desire an old house oozing with character.  It's funny what I find myself drawn to lately.  I never thought a house like the one above would fancy me, but blogs like young house love have me thinking outside the box.  I'm thinking this house would be great painted white, and the red accents would most definitely have to go.  I think there is potential though!  Young house love made their first home below look amazing!  I think the one above could be great too!  If you haven't already you should really check out www.younghouselove.com.

...House Love,
Liz