Beds Beds Beds

John and I celebrate our 2 year wedding anniversary on this upcoming Monday, the 15th of November. I can't believe that it's already been 2 years since we got married!! Time sure does fly!!

Last year, we took a long weekend up in the mountains of North Carolina and had the best time. It's not often that we get to escape just the two of us, and I definitely like having my husband's undivided attention!

So, this year we were wondering, what to do?, what to do?..... We spoke of gifts. I absolutely love some jewelry and trips, but I mentioned the idea of since we are still acquiring all of our new, really nice things, around the house still, that we should purchase some new furniture! Currently we have a Queen size bed, which was fine when it was just a Queen sleeping in it, but now that I married a King, we must get a bed that is just as well!
In other words, 'we've been married for 2 years, honey, now it's time for you to scoot on over in the bed!' John loves be right next to me in the bed, and I kinda like the edge (when I'm not being pushed off of it). And everytime that we stay in a hotel, we always get a King size bed. I love it! We love it! We sleep so good and soundly!!! So, we are in the market for a new bed! But never, never, never did I think that we would have this hard of a time picking something out! (Not the mattress, there we are all the way- SOFT!, but the actual Bed!)

I learned a long time ago that I needed to find a couple of 'inspiration' pictures of rooms that I just loved, keep them in a file, and use them later when redoing a room. Well, you'd be surprised when doing this, (and it makes it so much easier) to see what is similar in all the pictures you love (i.e.: All white bedding, dark dressers, lots of windows, a certain type of floor, etc,etc, etc....)

So, I showed John my file of 'I love you Bedrooms' and he really liked some of them. When I went back & asked, "Honey, what exactly did you really like in this picture? The bed? The windows? The nightstands?" He says, "Oh, I don't care about any of that, the bed just looked really soft and comfortable, and that's all I'm really interested in. Pick whatever, just as long as it's a soft and comfy bed, then I'm happy...." And hearing that makes me OH SO HAPPY!
(I don't know what I'd do if I had a husband that was as into as designing and decorating as I am! I love that these little things don't matter that much to him, but they do to me! We definitely even each other out!)

So, I'm drawn to Upholstered headboards. I've been wanting one for our bedroom since I was in college. I just love the soft look to them, plus my taste is Classic Traditional with some French Country in there (not in a roosters or toile way, people, but in a rustic, mountain lodge, exposed beams, linen, burlapy kind of way....)

Love Love Love this bed from Restoration Hardware

Plus I love benches at the end of a bed instead of a footboard. I loathe footboards! (actually my legs do, since I always turn a little too early to round the corner of the bed, and end up with a bruise the size of my palm on my thighs!)


Love the softness of this room! I'm all about some white bedding with accents being with pillows, throws, etc. And I love that this headboard is higher than usual to display the nailhead trim



This bed definitely has 'JOHN KING' written all over it. It would definitely be a compromise of the two of us: Upholstered Headboard for me, and leather for him, but I just don't looooove it.

I have had this picture saved in my file, and after looking at all the other ones next to it, I'm convinced that I have it saved for the windows in the back rather than the actual bed. I love windows and especially when they look like that and trimmed in that wood. So rustic yet refined!


Not liking this bed, but I thought I would throw out some other examples of different kinds of upholstered headboards out there:

This is totally NOT me, but cute and different

I just like this picture because it's different. The upholstery on the footboard is too far out there for me, but I'm liking the fabric hanging canopy around the 'headboard' along with the detail of hanging a mirror on the fabric as well. Would love this idea in a guest room!!!!

So, we will keep you posted on what we find/ pick!

Money Management

The past two Sundays at our church, Pastor Scott has been preaching about Money Management and tithing. The bible says that you should give 10% of your earnings to the church or to charities or religious organizations. Of course, John was in heaven when he started his sermon last Sunday, because John is.all.about.finance..... He loves it. Needless to say, he is definitely the one in the family that is all about stocks, investments, etc, etc. A couple of weeks ago I asked him what he would do if I told him that I had $75,000 in a hidden account that I had been socking money away one day to surprise him. (Note- I wish I had that, but I definitely do not!) I would think that most husband's responses would be: "What? That's awesome!!" No, No, No... Not John! He said, "I would be really angry." When I asked why, he said, "I mean, that's great, but I would much rather have that money to be able to invest and make a lot more money with it, then what a little ol' interest rate at a bank might give you...." Yep, this is pretty typical in the King household.... Never fear, my dear, you definitely don't have to worry about that! ha ha In fact, about 5 minutes into the sermon, John whispered to me of what I thought about moving me to the front row to listen more intently.. (Ha Ha- NOT funny!)

But Pastor Scott's sermon was perfect timing for us. Just 3 weeks ago, I installed Quickbooks on our home computer. I have been entering all of our banking information into it. We love it, because in about 30 seconds you can pull up a report (after you enter stuff in) of where exactly all your money is going. That night at dinner I was telling John the amount of what we average a month in eating out, shopping, gas, bills, etc,etc.... And it's. not. pretty! Well, not even a week after we have this information in front of us, Pastor Scott starts in on finances. John says that he thinks God is speaking directly to us, but I also think that everyone would be stunned to see where their money actually goes every month.

I want two new lamps for our living room. I read in a magazine somewhere that they said that your lamps in your rooms are like earrings. They can make or break an outfit (or room....). Of course, I am looking at our living room lamps ,which were hand me downs from John's parents that I have since spray painted and topped with new shades. After 3 years of them, I told John that it was time that I purchase us some new earrings for our living room.... errr, lamps. Well, I have fallen completely and utterly head over heels in love with a pair of lamps at a local store in Columbia. Only thing is they are about 3xs what I was thinking of paying for a pair of lamps.... So, I waited and waited. I wanted to make sure that I still absolutely loved these lamps 6 months from when I first fell in love, and I do. I really really do! Well, thanks to good ol' Quickbooks, I am aware of how many "lamps" I have hanging in my closet that I've purchased over the last 6 months. Just lovely.

I urge everyone to purchase Quickbooks. It's a little pricey at $200, but I promise you that it will show you how much you can save and how much you are really spending on items. That whole, "$20 here, $40 here, etc,etc"- It really adds up!

Projects Projects Projects and a Party

In the last 2 weeks, we have been very busy over here at the King household. As stated in a previous post, we have been doing a lot of projects around the house, hoping that it will sell sell sell.... Plus, these are some projects that we wanted to have done anyways.


List of Projects
#1: Clear out Basement Bedroom


- We have a wonderful finished basement in our home. One of the rooms is rather large and was currently used as an office/ holding spot of my old living room furniture that I had before John & I got married. We had some realtors mention that it could be a great Master Bedroom, & would probably show better if people could see it as a Master Bedroom. So John & I cleared out this large room. John & I both view homes differently. I can walk into a house, view a room & clear out the ugly decor, paint and see the possiblities of what it can be in my mind. John is not that way. He thinks if it has a bed in it, it has to be a bedroom, and has to stay that color, etc, etc.... So, I'm thinking that maybe other buyers have the same mindset of my husband. With that, we thought that if people view a room as a "blank canvas" it might get their wheels spinning in their heads of what they could do..... Onto the work- I never knew how much stuff accumulates, and how much stuff we neeeeeeeeeed to keep. This room has definitely been the landing spot of unused & unwanted things. We donated tons to Goodwill, but in John's eyes it wasn't enough! But Project #1 was marked off the list (of course, I have a list of all of this, you know me!)- as completed.

Basement Before:


Now the room's just empty.... Kinda sad, but we were going to have to do it anyways.....

#2: Pressure Wash the back deck, Stain & Seal it

-I loooooooove me some power tools. However, growing up, I didn't really see a lot of them.... well, unless the workers came over to fix something. My dad, bless his heart, is not a Mr. Fix-it. If something went wrong in our house, he called his handymen to fix just about anything. So when they would come over, I was always just wanting to hang around within eye sight to watch them to their thing.... Especially when it came to power tools. And when I saw a pressure washer being used, I immediately went downstairs & asked, "Do you mind if I try that thing?" Well, from that moment on I was hooked! There is just something about being able to see something go from being SO dirty to clean in a matter of just a few seconds! So, I decided that our back deck needed to be pressure washed, and then stained & resealed. It took about a day to do and wasn't hard at all! Check!
Before:

After:

I know that you can't tell a huge difference, but if you realized that in the before picture all of the darkness on the wood was due to dirt & grime is was just a tad disturbing to me. Now, it's still close to the same color as before, but it's because of the stain... :)

#3: Paint front door

-While at Lowe's a couple of weeks ago, I was looking at the paints & decided that our front door needed a face lift. This was super easy and we love the look of the front of the house from the road. It definitely gives it more of a pop!
Before:

After:

Please excuse the water on the front of the porch. I had just watered my Mums....

#4: Paint basement bathroom & update

- In my opinion, our basement bathroom could have qualified for ugliest bathroom in America. When we purchased this house, it was our full intentions to gut this bathroom and expand into our laundry room to make a large bathroom. However, since we were only in this house for 1 1/2 years before we decided that we wanted to be down in Columbia full time, it fell off that list of things to do, along with lots of other things. But while compiling my project list, I decided that I could give it a small face lift without spending a bunch of money or hiring a handyman, meaning, if I couldn't do it myself, then it wasn't going to be done. So, I painted the bathroom, refinished the countertops as well as the sink. Pictures to be posted later on this week. (I'm waiting on the paint to dry so I can tear off the painter's tape & take a pictures).....

#5: Hang storage in our laundry room.
- I hung a long 9' closet rod in our laundry room last week. They are super easy to install & this was done to show buyers that if they decided to use the Basement Bedroom as a Master Bedroom, then they would have plenty of closet space. It is wonderful!

#6: Wash interior & exterior windows.

-Ugggggh! I don't know if I will do this again. Interiors aren't that bad. Problem is it's the exterior that really needs all the washing due to the weather. And no, no, no... It's not as simple as I thought. I figured that you could just wash them the same way as I did inside. I even purchased this little device to make it easier.....

Since we have older windows, I soon discovered that I had to remove the "screens" however, they are glass, so instead of cleaning the inside & outside, it was really like cleaning the inside of the inside, then the outside of the inside, then the inside of the outside, then the outside. Needless to say, I got finished with the 7 windows in our basement & said, "never, never, never again!" John's response, "I told you that you should have just called that Handyman that your dad uses to do it, but nooooooo, you said that you could do it yourself and save money since you had the squeegee...." Yea, yea,,,, Whatever!

But now I know that when we build our next house, we will definitely have these

See, even Grandma can wash the outside windows......

#7: Decorate for Fall

-Ahh Fall! I love you! My favorite season, hands down! I decorated our Dining Room for fall. I just love it because you can decorate in September and keep it up until Thanksgiving. I've done a little more to decorate since this picture was taken, like added acorns to the bottom of the vases as fillers and such, but everytime I walk through this room, I smile!

#8: Rearrange the Living Room

-This wasn't actually on the list of things to do, but has been something that John has been wanting to do ever since we purchased our married living room furniture almost 2 years ago.....

And I don't really mean rearrange, he just wanted the big leather couch (the "manly" couch) to be moved up where we always lounge to watch tv, where "my" couch (a soft cream curved back sofa)- . So one night I told him, let's move the leather couch, and then go to sleep & when we come downstairs tomorrow, see what we think. Well, for the next week I kept saying, "You were right honey (because he doesn't hear it as much as he would like me to say it....), it was a great idea to move the couch...." And I mean it. It is wonderful. We purchased this couch because of how big it was. It is a little over 8' long and just shy of 4' deep. We love it because both of us can easily lay together on the couch to watch tv, or you could fit 5 people on this couch to sit comfortably. It's a very curl up & relax couch. And surprise surprise, it is nice & we are enjoying it, along with our nights watching movies sharing the same couch & not saying, "Move over, I'm about to fall off the couch!!!!"

Before:

After:

*Note: I know my camera sucks & I'm just waiting patiently for a new camera, but I've got to do some research before I decide which one I want more!*

#9: Host Shower for our Best Friends

Bentley & Suzanne are some of our very best friends in Nashville. Bentley was one of John's groomsmen in our wedding and we just think the world of him & his wonderful fiance, Suzanne, whom we have gotten extremely close to as well! This past Saturday four of us couples hosted a "UT Tailgate Party & Shower" for Bentley & Suzanne. Mark & Emily hosted it at their house, which is wonderful and they have a fabulous deck. We had about 40-45 people attend, which was perfect crowd! The weather was a little warm, but soon cooled off and turned into a wonderful night!

The Couple of the Night: Bentley & Suzanne

Suzanne & I

Emily & Jo Marie, two of the other hostesses, and two of my very best friends!

Some of the girls of the party having a good time!

Lauren, Jenni, Krista, Suzanne, & Louise

The theme was UT Tailgating, so they got lots of fun gifts ranging from: a cooler, UT plates & platters, Coach Coasters, picnic baskets, Pyrex casserole totes, etc, etc...

Ya know, I see a lot of Moms wear this contraption & wondered what it was all about! Let me tell ya, it actually is pretty comfortable & really does the job of letting you have 2 hands free, like to hold a cup with one hand and pour a beer with the other..... Luckily, Blair & Holland (some other of our great friends in Nashville) are very laid back parents to their 4 month old sweet daughter, Mary Knox, and when I asked if I could drink while wearing Mary Knox, she laughed & said, "ABSOLUTELY!!"

We had a lot of this going on too...... drooling!

*Please note- John & I aren't quite ready for a baby just yet.... Our time will come, but we did have fun with Mary Knox during that party!

#10:

I had 2 wedding cakes due in the last 7 days, so in the midsts of all of these projects, I had to put out:

Whew!

Mums the word......

Yes, I said this to Mr. John King & we both got very excited! He thought I was talking about babies, which was immediately followed by a disappointed frown when I told him that I was talking about potted Mums for our front porch. Which didn't seem to excite him as much as it did me after my little explanation on how mums can be so beautiful!.... Oh well.... Onward! I say......

I went to Costco yesterday.... Oh, Costco! I love you, Costco! (I sure do hope there is one in heaven! Along with those people that serve you all those free samples.... )- I'm getting my usual stockup on household supplies, food, and of course, my baking stuff- when I saw Costco has brought in their mums for the season! I immediately grabbed 3 of these beautiful babies up! Lowes sells some pretty mums too. They are about $10 each (same as Costco) but they are about 1/2 the size..... Yet another reason why Costco is on my "love you" list.
*Note- When purchasing Mums, you are probably automatically drawn to the Mums that already have some buds that have bloomed- but I was informed last year to make sure that you purchase Mums with not a lot of buds that have bloomed (if any)- this will insure that your Mum will start to bloom a little bit later and you will be able to enjoy it longer....*

While setting out my Mums on our front porch, I started thinking of all the beautiful fall decoration pictures that I have saved in my little file on my computer for future ideas..... These pictures sure do give me some inspiration to decorate, enjoy the seasons as they come, and save our $$$ to one day have front porches like these..... I decided that I would share some of my favorites to hopefully inspire you to enjoy such a gorgeous season heading our way!

Note- I am not digging this witch with a broom on the front door....

BUT, I do like the pumpkins & mums and ferns.....

And I saved my favorite two for last......
I have had both of these pictures in my "Saved file" for about 3 or so years....
I just love them!