We've Moved!

We have been in our new house for over three weeks now, and we absolutely love it. We're still in the process of unpacking (strangely enough, it takes longer with two little ones around!) but have whittled it down to just a few boxes by now. I had so many plans in my "decorating notebook" before we moved in, and am trying to take my time and do them gradually, so that A) I don't spend too much money at once, and B) so that it doesn't look cluttered or overdone. Slowly but surely we're working on them, however, and it makes me smile every time I see the real thing instead of just the drawing in my book. :)

We painted several walls before moving in - again, not too many because we've never had the opportunity to paint before and didn't want to overdo it. I did not want our house to be a different color in every room (been there, done that in a rental!) but rather to have a basic color scheme flow through the house. So...I chose the darkest shade of cream that the builder had as basic paint colors (it still looks very white) throughout the house. Then we painted our dining room a rusty orange:

I love the color (sorry about the glare from the windows). It took a lot of convincing to get Levi to be okay with orange...and he still says we need a big University of Texas Longhorn symbol to complete the look...but the color is perfect with our dark furniture and cabinets. Our dining room table looks really small in our larger dining room...a new one is next on the purchase list!

This is our family room, painted a nice brown (I think the color was called "Burnt Almonds"). We wall-mounted the TV ourselves, quite an accomplishment for two people who'd never even turned on the drill they'd had for 3 years...We also bought a new coffee table from IKEA with no corners for Caleb to run into as he learns to crawl and walk.

Another view of the family room. That hallway in the back goes to our room & the guest bathroom. And of course, you can see the stairs to the far left.

Our room! I told Levi I wanted to paint one wall as an accent, and let him choose between an aqua blue and a deep red. I think his choice was perfect! It looks very lovely with our new furniture and the iron wall decorations. We've never had new bedroom furniture (or two nightstands) before, so this is quite a treat! I am trying to decide if I want to carry the red into the bathroom and paint one of the walls there...

This is my "family" collage in the stairway. Words cannot express how much I LOVE it. The pictures are in old-fashioned style (remember this post here?), in black frames, hung gallery-style. I'll be able to switch out the pictures as the kids grow, too. Every time I walk by the stairway I smile. :)

Our office space in the bonus room. Yes, those are boxes in the corner of the picture. Yes, those are still there today. :P

The kids' playroom area in the opposite corner of the bonus room. Those shelves filled up fast! I still need to paint that blonde bookshelf white...but would like to get the rest of the house put together before tackling a new project. Olivia loves this space. We often find her up there, sitting on the floor with a pile of books next to her or playing quietly with a puzzle. She's such a good girl. :)

Speaking of Olivia...this is her room! While Di Massey (Nana) was visiting, she generously helped to paint the stripes on the wall (and by "helped" I mean that she did it while I held Caleb...) and Olivia absolutely loves them. She calls this her "Princess Room." She also has new bedroom furniture, in a pretty white that looks so good with her purple & pink walls.

On the opposite wall in her room are 3D fabric butterflies.

And some 3D fabric flowers with stems and grass painted on the wall (also Nana's handiwork). It really is a very cute room. :)

Caleb's room! I love how the decal stickers turned out...and so does he! I often catch him staring and smiling at the monkey on the wall. :) 

Our back porch. The kids and I bought Levi a grill for Father's Day! 

Finally, the view from our back porch. Lovely, yes? We may have a small backyard but at least there isn't anyone behind us!

So that's it for now...as I said, it's a work in progress. We still have artwork to put up on the walls in some places, the bonus room to finish (my craft nook), and the guest room to decorate. But all in all, it looks pretty great and we love to call it home!

So....who wants to come visit? :)