Welcome to Our Humble Abode

In addition to our work on the second bedroom and the living room, we've also been working on the entryway. 

Before.

After.

We picked up the little sandstone owl bookends at the Portobello Road Market in London. 

Aren't they the sweetest little things? They survived the transatlantic flight wrapped about ten times in our sweaters. 

I also found this classic British telephone decoration at Hobby Lobby this past weekend:

LOVE IT!

We've been working on the house since March 2011, and I'm just now feeling like bits and pieces of it are coming together to look like a real house. Here's to 2012 and more house updates/ decorating!

The Evolution of the Den

Of all of the rooms in our house, the den is probably the closest to being finished. We figured that most people who come over will see this room, so we concentrated our efforts there.

The den had humble origins.

Before the curtains were up. Pretty much the first day we moved in.

Then, we decided to scrape the popcorn ceiling. NOT my favorite project.

Here it is, in all of its newly painted glory (Valspar Churchill Hotel Wheat, for those of you interested). The furniture is mostly in place:

Next comes a rug from Target to tie everything together.

For Christmas, I got a desk and a papasan. Yay for more storage and seating!

Spot the puppy!

Second Bedroom, 2.0

Whoooooo's happy about our second bedroom/ office? 

We are!

In large part to some amazing Christmas gifts from my sister, the second bedroom is turning into something worth looking at.

Behold it in its original glory:

This is a particularly rough picture of the room, as it was right before painting. I promise, we don't usually keep our house looking crack-den chic.

After painting the pale yellow walls to a grey-beige, and a visit to Pier One for pillows and lamps:

Sloooooowly, sloooooowly, we're getting there! Note the completely empty bookshelves--a sight that may never happen again in our household.

AND NOW! Here is it today: 

The design rundown:

• New white 5-shelf bookshelves (Walmart. $25/each)
• Sleeper sofa (free. Donated by a friend)
• Glass lamps (Pier One. On sale for $50/each; regularly $75/each)
• Velvet pillows (Pier One. On sale for $20/each)
• Long bird pillow (Pier One. $40/each)
• Blue and white chain pillows (Target, two years ago. $15/each)
• White sheer curtains. (Bed Bath and Beyond, two years ago. Given as wedding gifts)
• Owl mirror (Earthbound Trading Company. $30)
• Owl tryptich (Pier One. Given as gifts)

Master Bedroom: In the Works

When we bought the house, before the master bedroom was painted: 

After the bedroom was painted--with no decorations and with the bed in the middle of the room:

Then, the bed was moved over to the side of the room, giving us more room on the left:

To come: more wall art, a bookcase, and a chair! It may be taking a while to tackle all of these projects, but I'm excited to see them slowly come together!