fixer upper fanatic

Two weeks ago, in the depths of a long weekend filled with nothing except feeling really sick, and moving between the couch, bed and the bathroom, I decided to buy a season of Fixer Upper on iTunes to watch while feeling miserable. Somewhat unexpectedly, I got sucked right in and became a total fanatic. Even Martin (mostly) enjoys watching with me.

Now, after having binge-watched Season 4 and most of Season 3, this PNW mountain girl is oddly ready to leave Switzerland for Waco, Texas, and establish a new country home we can call our own. Of course, it helps that Waco is so much more reasonably-priced than here. (I mean, we could find what we wanted and redo it for less than $300k while that would get us barely a normal down payment on a similar property here.) I’m also always drawn to the idea of a smaller, college town that’s not too big but still has some personality, and I love that it is along a river.

So, while I keep dreaming, considering what we could actually do in Waco besides enjoy our house, and developing our application (we would be compelling applicants internationally relocating, right?), I thought it would be fun to some of my favorite Fixer Upper homes and rooms from seasons 3 and 4 so far. Read more

dr13

haus to home: our dining room, again

Upon reviewing my *haus to home* posts, I see that our dining room is a popular room to update. Really, this space has been a work in progress since we moved into this apartment just over two years ago. We added the wallpaper in summer 2014 and even though we got a new table not long after that, it’s taken awhile for the rest of the room to come together. In fact, one wall remained completely bare until February. Read more

babar and friends

haus to home: reese’s cozy nursery

Thanks to a weekend of snowy flurries, I’ve finally gathered together all the best shots of Reese’s sunny, cozy nursery. Despite the fact that we’ve lived in this apartment for nearly two years, Reese’s room is the only one that is really *nearly* complete. It was a true labor of love, and the resulting space is a favorite for all of us. Read more

haus to home: dining room progress

Just over two years ago, I shared my first *haus to home* post, featuring our old dining room. In that room our table was really the perfect size for the small, sunny space.  Then we moved and while we love our little (really heavy) table enough to have asked three men to finesse it up the stairs (see below), it is a little small for our new space and most probably will require a size upgrade prior to our next Thanksgiving. While we’re still trying to decide on what we want, we’ve found other ways to move forward with settling in to our new dining room. Read more

haus to home: our dining room

Since last fall I have been asked for updated photos of our apartment. You would think after living here for more than one year the place would be furnished and in order. Yet I kept putting off the updates as we are still looking for some critical pieces. (We only acquired a coffee table in the last month,  the lighting and wall decoration is still up in the air, and the guest bed moves from wall to wall as I try to finalize the layout.) Still, the four-day Easter weekend left me with no more excuses. I had the time to spruce up the blog, photograph our spring table setting, and hopefully build more momentum to share more regular updates with you. Read more