I'm in love.

So last week I posed a question to everyone: should the armchair in my living room be teal or grey?
The overwhelming response was teal. But the very evening the post went live - not exaggerating - I spotted this lovely little number on South Jefferson MidCentury Modern's instagram post, and saw big puffy hearts all around it. Showed it to Brandon, and he loved it just as much as I did [he's good like that - we like almost all of the same stuff.  Makes putting this house together pretty easy :)]
And as luck would have it, I was available to go to their shop the next time they would be open [they're only open on Saturdays, and as a wedding photographer, that's pretty magical that I would be able to go!].  So I grabbed my friend Tracy, and we pulled up to the shop at about 11:50.  There was already a line of a couple dozen people, all waiting to get in at noon when they opened their doors!  Not gonna lie - I got really nervous and kind of competitive.  Sweaty palms aside - as soon as we could get in the door, I quickly swept the shop until I finally found it in the corner and made a beeline right for it.  It. Was. Mine.  And I brought her home!  Those who follow my instagram have already seen it a few times [and for just haus-related stuff, check out the new one here!], but here she is, in all her glory:

Fits perfectly, dontcha think?

I'm a fan of the color, but not for this chair, in this spot.  Lots of warm wood and a bit of yellow in the stone would just be way too much yellow with this chair.  Plus, the vinyl has seen better days...

But those lines tho...

So she'll be getting recovered in black, and she's going to look like $1,000,000 [a million bucks.] ;)

So everyone wants to know, what about the other chair?  I still love that chair, and there was a perfect corner in our room for a comfy armchair [and place to hide shoes & dog toys under] so I put it in there.  We were actually looking for a chair for that exact spot, so everything is working out perfectly!

[lots of dog toys around here.  Just keeping it 100. Though I did make the bed and dust a little before I took the pic]

I still want to get it recovered, but that'll be on the back burner, since it'll take a lot of fabric and won't be cheap.  And no one sees it.  Still thinking teal though - it'll just look so pretty against that walnut!

[there's frequently a beagle on the bed, and at least one toy underneath]

Stay tuned to see the update once I get the new chair recovered!  I just have to actually *call* someone about that.  I hate doing that.

Mustard, Avocado & Cow Print

Holy cow, that was a long blogging break!  Spring has come and gone, wedding season is in full swing, my sister had a baby in Texas [of course I went to see her and take some newborn pics!], and we had a housewarming party.  So it's been a bit busy, to say the least.

The party we had was great for two reasons: friends we haven't caught up with in a long time were able to come over and see the house, and - as a little bonus - it got our butts in gear to finish up some areas. Namely, our living room.  Last I showed it to you, in this post, it looked like this:

 and now it looks like this!

 We picked a credenza [picked up at Ikea while I was visiting my sister], hung up some art that was previously on the floor, and switched out the tired pillows for fresh new pretty ones!

Pillows are a mixture of Target, Ikea, and hand-sewn by moi, with this fabric.  And I adore them :)

 [and if you look outside, you can see a glimpse of our newly-furnished patio, which I'll write a post about soon]

 I decided on a very clean, modern credenza as opposed to a vintage one, to keep a good balance of vintage & new.  I looked all around at local furniture stores, but found nothing.  So - Ikea to the rescue!  We splurged on one of their more expensive ones, in the Stockholm line, but it's very solid and has a lot of solid wood.  So I'm pretty happy with it [and especially happy about having an anchor on that wall, with dvd & record storage]

On the other side of the fireplace, we have a new [to us] chair!  If you follow me on instagram you may have noticed the new acquisition a while back [and if you're not following me, you're missing out on all kinds of pics of my dogs, food, and sometimes house photos!].  I wasn't planning on getting something so soon, but ended up finding this lovely lady at an estate sale, for a whole $65.  I don't mind the avocado color, but I'm set on a darker teal to offset all of the warm tones in the house.  That and the velour has some patches where it doesn't look so hot, aaaaand it kind of has a bit of a smell... So it's heading to the upholsterer soon!  And I'm SO. EXCITED.  I just love that chair :)  I just can't believe how it fits that corner perfectly! 

So keep watching for an update on the patio, my pretty and newly-styled bookshelves, and - sometime soon - a freshly upholstered vintage lounge!

I can shut the doors!

The room off of the kitchen, which we've come to call the Magnitude Room [named after Magnitude from Community on NBC] has made HUGE strides since we bought the house.  It's even looking quite pretty, dare I say.  

When we bought the house, it looked like this:

 Pinkish beige everywhere.  Mismatched shelves.  Weird hardware placement.

So I filled in the holes from the knobs, primed and painted everything [which I shared in my post about painting ALL THE THINGS.] and then it started to look less pink:

 Then it pretty much sat in this state for, oh, a month.  Oops.  And every time I would instagram a photo that included that room, I'd cringe at the cabinet doors slightly ajar [if the doors would get shut, it would be a HUGE pain to try to get them open again.  You know, because of the whole 'no knobs = no way to open the door' thing].  But really, dear readers, the issue that was holding me up was a paralyzing fear of effing the new handles up.  I adore the handles I picked [these aren't the exact ones; looks like they're out of the size I got, but yes, they're super affordable!], but they're 9 inches long, and aaaannnnyyyy little imperfection in getting things square would turn out super noticeable.  And it would drive me so crazy, I would have to move.  You know, that old story.

I finally decided to nut up and just get it done, so I could close those damn doors again!

I tried the YHL method with the cardstock template and taping it to the doors...

And immediately abandoned it.  My cabinet doors are slightly rounded on the edges, and I just didn't feel like I could get things squared up enough to be absolutely perfect.  So I just did a lot of "measuring, marking, measuring again" business.  And got her done.  So now the doors are shut, and some shiny brass is classing up my house!  Add to that the new Nate Berkus rug I scored for $45, and it's getting soooo prettier:

 Let's see that before and after again, since it makes my heart happy:

 BUT THAT'S NOT ALL.  I'm just in all kinds of a sprucing up mood, and the very same day, I picked up some gorgeous midcentury sofas and a chair [I practically stole them, they were so cheap], and now the room looks like this:

 Not sold on the placement just yet, though I do love them.  I just need to live with it a while before I settle on something.  But until then, I'm just admiring these lovely ladies' curves:

 The matching chair, in its' temporary-yet-beautiful home, the palm I found at Walmart for $5, and the house maltese.

 I love this view :)

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The couches are only *mostly* perfect though.  They had been recently reupholstered in a lovely greenish tone that uncannily fits nearly everything in my house, but they did one side of the cushions in this:

And yeah, it's just...out. For all to see. So I'll keep you posted with a remedy, hopefully sooner rather than later.