All of the House Things...For Now

As those of you who follow me on IG know, Adam and I just bought our first home about 6 months ago and it’s become one of my favorite projects to work on. I’ve still got a long ways to go but I’m super excited to share the details of what we’ve accomplished so far!

Before I dive in, here are some home styling tips that have really helped me in this process: Go with what you love and what you gravitate towards i.e. what feels the most like YOU. It doesn’t all have to fall into one style category to be acceptable in the same room. In fact mixing styles looks SO MUCH better than if you just stuck to one style. Also, if you’re like me and you have to see it all together to know if it will look good I recommend making boards. This is what interior designers do for their clients to give them an overall vision of what a room will look like. You take photos of different items a certain room would include and you arrange them all on one page to see if they will look good together. I’m not super tech-y so I just screen-shot the online photo of the items I’m trying to decide on (preferably one with a white background), crop the photo as close to the item as possible, and then add them to a google doc. I make sure the “wrap text” function is selected and then I resize and arrange the photos to look like they would in a room. It helps SO MUCH. Putting these things into practice is how I have made and how you can make your home YOURS. 

My last tip I’ll give you is to TAKE YOUR TIME searching for things and wait for sales! Browse all of the sites for ideas (Pinterest, Wayfair, Allmodern, Amazon, Ikea, Overstock, Home Depot, Lowes, Urban Outfitters, CB2, West Elm, Article, Living Spaces, etc) wait for a sale and then pounce! Search on Etsy or Ebay for rare finds. And NEVER forget to check craigslist/KSL or FB marketplace. You can find absolute gems on there for a fraction of the price if you are just patient and diligent in searching.

The Kitchen

I’ll start with our kitchen since it was the first project I decided to tackle and it’s where I spend the most time in our house :)

barstools // pendants // cabinet knobs // drawer pulls // faucet // backsplash tile

I learned this quickly: that when furnishing a house, finding seating should be one of your top priorities. Barstools were the first thing I bought because we needed somewhere to eat dinner hahaa. I’ve always loved the design of the leather slope ones from West Elm (linked here) but didn’t want to pay the arm and leg required to afford them. The ones I found and ended up getting are the PERFECT DUPE down to the shape of the legs. Eeeek. *Other barstools that have come out since I got mine that I also love: Opalhouse Ceylon Woven Barstool; Project 62 Wire Barstool

For our kitchen pendants I loved the 70s vibe of these ones. But, I also looked at getting bell-shaped terracotta ones or woven rattan/straw ones. The problem with all the rattan ones I found was that they were way too big for my space so if you have a larger kitchen those would be a really pretty option.

For our knobs and pulls, I knew I wanted gold but there weren’t any pre-paired sets out there that I loved. So I ordered a bunch of knobs and a bunch of bar pulls and compared which matched best. I ended up with these two. Both I got off amazon. Both of which are extremely high quality.

Since we did gold hardware, I decided I wanted a black faucet to tie in the black from our island. This is really random but I’m very obsessed with our faucet. There were a couple other ones that were cheaper but none of them looked as good as this one. A friend of ours also had the same one so I knew I liked it and had to have it. I’ll admit, it’s kind of pricey but it is such amazing quality. Adam put up a bit of a fight because of the price but we ended up getting it and I have no regrets.

The last thing we did was our backsplash. It took me a long time to decide what tile would look best. It’s a tough space in that we have a mounted microwave above our stove instead of a cute hood which causes our backsplash area to be super small. We also have this weird wall situation on the far right side that I had no idea how to approach. I ended up going with this mini herringbone tile which, unbeknownst to me is an EXTREMELY HARD tile to lay yourself. (My stepdad did it for us. I would’ve butchered it for sure.) My recommendation if you decide to do this type of tile is to either hire a professional or pick a different tile. It was cheap, though, which was awesome. (Also, I chose to do a really light gray grout so the contrast wasn’t so stark.)

Other great things that don’t count as decor but that you need to know about is first, THE BEST TRASH CAN IN THE WORLD. It takes special garbage bags but this trash can is a freaking dream. The bags are no hassle and fit PERFECTLY inside. No weird tying or fussing at all. Ever. And you get get them on Amazon. Second, my AIR FRYER that you see plugged in on the right. You will be seeing lots of this guy in future posts because I use him daily. He’s a cross between a toaster oven and an air fryer so he essentially does it all.

The Living room

While I was still working I would literally yearn to be at home while I was at work; just to sit in my living room. I love it that much.

All I wanted to be cuddled up on my couch with a blanket. Which brings me to the main attraction of any living room - the couch. The couch you choose is super important because not only is a couch one of the largest purchases and decisions you’ll make, the style of couch you choose really sets the style and tone of a room. After much discussion (i.e. I wanted a sofa and 2 chairs but Adam was adamant about getting a sectional for the extra seating. Needless to say, Adam won.) we got this particular couch because we decided on getting a sectional but needed it to be small enough to fit comfortably in our small living room. I searched high and low and was over joyed when I found the Haven Sectional by West Elm. I also love the color we went with. In person it’s a really pretty, light gray. However, if you have kids or plan on eating or wearing shoes on your couch I would NOT recommend getting a light colored couch. You will be a nervous wreck (especially if it was expensive). Another sectional I had my eye on was the Utopia sectional from Living Spaces but it was just too wide. Another one that is very similar to ours but also just a tad too wide, and is a fraction of the price of ours (YAY) is the Kelsey sectional at RC Willey. However, if you are wanting to get our couch (or any other furniture from West Elm for that matter) I suggest waiting til their Labor Day sale. The more you spend the more you save which is AMAZING.

For our accent chair, I really wanted something midcentury modern that was either really light colored fabric or a camel leather. I found this one at Target that has a boho midcentury vibe and knew it was the one. I got it in the color Mill Husk. I’m also super here for these pink distressed velvet swivel ones from West Elm, though. Or these gorgeous rattan ones from Urban Outfitters. Chairs are one of my love languages for sure.

For our living room rug I really wanted an authentic Persian Oushak or a Turkish Kilim rug without the accompanying price tag. For those of you who aren’t familiar with rugs, this is a TALL order lol. I’m also drawn to warmer colors like rusts, pinks, and reds. So when I found this Loloi one on Overstock I was PUMPED. The colors and design were spot on and the price was amazing. I actually found this exact one sold on several sites but the one I have linked here is the cheapest I’ve found it. It’s a different name on the linked site but it’s still the Loloi brand because I checked the tag when it came lol. Side note: If you are interested in authentic hand knotted rugs then I recommend looking on Etsy or even Ebay for real vintage rugs. I’ll also dedicate a whole other post to different Etsy shops I recommend and just how to choose a rug in general because I’m that obsessed with them.

I got our pillows after I decided which rug to get. I kept it pretty simple and went these rich, blush-colored velvet ones and this white Moroccan pom pom one. (Both from Woven Nook.) The velvet is stretchy and so soft and matched the rug PERFECTLY. The velvet also added an extra layer of texture to the room which I loved as well and the white added a pop of contrast I was looking for against the gray couch.

For our TV console…we mounted our TV over our fireplace so we didn’t need a large console/TV stand so we created this one ourselves using two of the single cabinets and one base to house all the wires from the TV, sound system and router/modem because exposed wires could be the ugliest thing ever.

One of my favorite things about our house is the vaulted ceiling and the floor to ceiling windows. I’m a huge sucker for natural light and these windows let in all of it. So when it came to finding a way to cover them up for privacy (and so the sun didn’t fade the couch or the rug), I wanted to preserve as much of that beautiful light as I could and knew I needed curtains. I’ve also always felt that curtains make a space look much more elevated so I was sold on getting curtains. However, the issue with our space is that no one sells curtains this long or if they do, they’re a million dollars. SO, I figured out the measurements (6 inches above and 6 inches wider on each side of the window) and paid someone I found on google to sew two linen IKEA panels end to end to add the needed length and voila! We had the perfect curtains.

couch // accent chair // console cabinet // console base // curtains // pink pillows // white pillow // plant pot // seagrass basket // blanket basket

The Dining Room

Finding this dining table might’ve actually been the death of me. It took me SO LONG because I was not about to settle on something I didn’t love. I toyed with so many different styles: the live edge look with black metal U-shaped legs, the midcentury modern look with perfectly tapered, splayed legs, the vintage farmhouse look with pretty, turned legs. It was so hard, you guys. I only knew for sure that I wanted it to be a lighter, oak-y color and I also knew I didn’t feel like spending over $700 on it. This made it EXTRA HARD. Good quality tables that are large enough to seat 6 people are normally around $800-$1000+. I’ll admit, I was more excited about getting the dining chairs than the table but I couldn’t decide on the chairs til I had the table. One night while Adam was out of town I randomly wandered into an Athome store and found the table we have now. I had just pinned an Australian inspired table that looked just like it a few days earlier. The price was half of what I was preparing myself to spend on a different one. I was in shock and promptly purchased the matching bench as well. The only sucky thing is that Athome items are sold in store only. They don’t ship. So, if you have an Athome store near you, you’re in luck! The rest of you, I’m sorry. I’ll link the other ones I was debating on getting.

For our dining room chandelier, it was between a sputnik style or a large bell-shaped rattan fixture. I ended up getting the one we have now off of FB marketplace but would honestly go for the more ethereal, branched kind if I were to buy a sputnik style chandelier again. I ultimately decided on getting the sputnik because too many people scared me about how annoying the shadows created by the woven design would be. Honestly, I don’t think it would bother me but here we are. Maybe in the next house.

The other table and chair combo I toyed with:

Article Seno Oak Table with Black Windsor Chairs

The other chandeliers I was considering:

Branched Sputnik; Rattan Bell; Rattan Dome

dining table // dining bench // dining chairs // chandelier

Anyways, I hope this helped! I always love when people share where they got their stuff because it takes ages to find it all. Anything that helps save time and money is always much appreciated in my book! Now hurry and go buy my living room rug! :)

xxx,

Sam