Our first house was one that we owned. The second was a remodeled barn. The current one is a rental. There's a certain comfort factor in renting and knowing that if something horribly wrong happens to the house, it's not our financial burden to fix. When we decided to move out of the barn (insert long story involving a crazy man and a gun, and me being scared to death that I was going to have to kill someone), we were so blessed to immediately find a beautiful rent home in a safe, peaceful neighborhood. There's a park within walking distance, and the grocery store (among many other wonderful things) is only a mile away- convenience!
As has apparently become tradition for me, I shall of course post pictures of the "new" home and decor. The different this time is that we did NO remodeling or painting whatsoever. You should know that white walls are generally a dislike of mine, but I've come to terms with them.
Let's begin at the front door, shall we? Upon entering, you are greeted by a vintage green chest (from an antique store going out of business), scarf from Bangladesh (good friend lived there), beautiful antique silver tea set (belonged to Michael's grandma- his sweet parents polished it and presented it to us at our wedding shower), and a small Chinese/English blessing verse (which I bought on a trip to China).
To the left is the coat closet, ugly air vent, more lanterns, and two Chinese scrolls that I had special made at a Christian-owned shop there. The teal butterfly has my favorite verse, 2 Corinthians 5:17- "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come!"
The other side of the brick wall holds the fireplace.
The vases on the mantle are from various flea markets, and the painting is a KW original (the full extent of any artistic ability I have), birdcage holding candles on top of a book about China on top of the H family Bible (which has been in Michael's family for around 100 years!). I can't wait to use the fireplace this winter.And here's the couch side of the living room. Nothing overly special here. Couch and love seat were Michael's in college, tables found us via Craigslist, basket for holding the remotes (I highly recommend using a cute basket) from a church garage sale.
This is the TV side. Blue chair from a flea market, giraffe from Jamaica, bamboo from our wedding. See the giant flowery art? I made them with wood and fabric. EASY. You pretty much just glue fabric to wood. There's a matching pair by the recliner in the above picture.
<---Here's a little up-close-er look of the suitcase-on-a-table. Start with a flea market suitcase, add a lamp, candle, and favorite books.
Now moving into the kitchen, where we find homemade curtains (thanks, mom!), an Ethan Allen table that my dad found at the dump a few years ago and we stripped and refinished, and mismatched chairs (two were with the dumpster-table, one that's been at my parents' house for maybe longer than I have, and the fancy one on the right was $12 flea market find). By the way, the top picture is the more accurate color representation.
I sanded/repainted/stenciled the chest of drawers on the left- there's an old blog post about it. It holds linens and our silver stuff. Not real silver, just the awesome kind you don't have to polish. And some of it you can bake in. Awesome.
Double doors in the living room open up to our roomy backyard...
The lounge chair is the only piece of furniture that Delta is allowed to even THINK about getting on. I like to use it for reading while under the (so far false) pretense that my running-shorts-tan is being evened out. Then there's the grill, hanging lights, table, tiki men thing, and a plant with ONE tomato. It's very pleasant
This concludes Part 1 of the Home Tour! Soon to come: Bed and Bath. Oh yes, be excited...
Your house is beautiful! That suitcase is awesome. And flea marketing is awesome, too!
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