Congrats Dales!

I could not be more excited for my sister Dailey, who just landed an awesome first job in New York City.  She'll be working for News America Marketing and will be moving up to the Big Apple in the next month or so. 

Fifth Avenue, Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Times Square, Broadway shows...I sense a trip to NYC in my future. :)

Laundry Room: Before and After

Our laundry room "before:"

Laundry room "after" fresh paint (on the walls and three doors) and door knobs on the doors leading from the hallway and kitchen:  

Cabinets "before" (note: the lovely border above the cabinets):

Cabinets "after" fresh paint and new hardware:

Pantry "before:"

                                 Pantry "after" new closet dooors...

...paint, lots of cleaning...

...wonderful wedding gifts...

...and a perfect sign. :)

Hallway: Before and After

The hallway "before:"

Where do the five doorways lead?

 

Our hallway "after" adding new paint, hardwood floors, and wall hangings:

T-minus 7 days

...and it will officially be kickoff for football season.  We can't wait to be in Atlanta with many of our friends to watch our team beat Boise State. GO DAWGS!

Pillows and Paintings

Here is our den in the "during" stage.  I bought the paintings, which are hard to see in this picture, in Puerto Rico when my family and I went this past Christmas.  I absolutely loved them and had them framed as soon as they arrived at my doorstep.  But I quickly realized they were waaay too small for the space.

This summer I fell in love with these bad boys from my favorite store in Richmond called Fraiche.  My wonderful grandparents and family got them for us for a wedding gift, and my mom let us use two peach-colored lamps that had been housed in our basement at the river. It was a match made in heaven.

So the pictures went up and the Puerto Rican pictures found a new home in the kitchen. But then the pillows just didn't seem to match.  

 

I found blue pillows I loved from Pottery Barn that not only matched our rug (from Lowe's), but the paintings, as well. The only problem was that the pillow covers were $25 each and the 20x20 pillow inserts were $16 each.  With shipping costs new pillows would cost us close to $100.  

That's when I channeled Sherry Petersik from Young House Love and found (pretty close to) the exact same pillows from Lowe's for $7.97 each.  Since I already had the 18x18 pillow inserts, new pillows only cost us $15.94 plus tax!

So here is our den and we just love it.

Eventually we want to get extra seating, but for now it works. :)

Den: Before and After

                                               Our foyer "after:"

Gaines' parents and sister were so amazing to paint the den (and just about the entire house!) and Gaines installed hardwood floors not long after he moved in.  

Our den "before" and "after:"

You are the...

Gaines and I had joked we would write our own vows like this, so when we got it as a wedding gift from our friends Eddie and Laura (you can check her out at LBR), we instantly loved it.  It is a constant reminder of our wedding...which was two months ago today. :)

It sits on the cabinet under our T.V. with three of my favorite frames, one of which is from Lindsay!

A brother shares childhood memories and grown-up dreams. ~Author Unknown

Last night Gaines and I had two special visitors! Sam and Meghan drove down from Columbia to eat dinner with us, and I could not have been happier to see them.  Sammy's been out west for two months promoting BMW and the 2012 Olympics, so it was wonderful to see them and catch up in person.  I am constantly reminded of how special my family is, and I couldn't ask for a better brother. ;)

This picture was taken with my camera phone, since I found my poor little Cannon camera swimming in two inches of water after I accidentally threw a water bottle inside my purse that didn't have a tightened cap.  Oops. That camera had lasted a whole year, which I must say is pretty good compared to the many, many others I've managed to break over the years...

Home Sweet Home

Here it is! Gaines bought the house back in May 2010 in his hometown of Waynesboro.  It was built in the '60s and needed a lot of updates. As I walked through it with him for the first time, I could instantly see potential everywhere.  I would lie in bed at night thinking about the projects we could complete and the ways I...I mean we...could decorate each room.  We slowly worked on projects in our free time, and I worked on some of the decorating after I moved in this summer. I love looking back at pictures and seeing how our ideas developed and how the rooms changed.  Here is a small example...

Our windowboxes in April:

And now in August:

More to come later!

Hello!

Well, it looks like I'm officially a blogger.  I love reading blogs (Young House Love is my inspiration...and they live in my hometown!), but I never thought I would make one of these.  Never.  But life passes quickly and I wanted to rememeber all of the details of this new chapter in my life.  I don't know how often I'll post or what they'll be about, but I wanted a place to share those small details of my life with my close family and friends.  :)

As for the name, if you like it, I came up with it.  If you don't, it was Gaines' idea.  Just kidding, it really was his idea. And I love it. I thought it fit perfectly, since we're two Storys sharing our first home together...and loving every minute!.  But the ironic part of it is that our house really isn't two stories.  It's just one. One cute little story that I'll probably blog about more than neccessary.

So check back as often as you like, and thanks for joining me on this ride!