Merry Christmas Mantle

If you do not already know this, know it now: I love Christmas. It is my favorite holiday. I have unashamedly been listening to Christmas music since just after Halloween. (No, I do not hate Thanksgiving.  I sing "Happy Holidays" with gusto on that day, and pass the Turkey with joy.)

Even more specifically, I love decorating for Christmas.

DIY Dropcloth Curtains

***Welcome Pinners!! Thanks for showing some interest and pinning this! If you decided to try out this project for your home, please email me a picture or leave a link to your blog in the comments, I'd love to see it! Also, if you're interested in purchasing a set of panels like these, I'm interested in making them for you. :) Click on the "Comments & Contact" tab and shoot me an email! Thanks for dropping by!***

Before anything happens, let's address the yellow elephant in the room.

Horrible pictures. 

I know, I know. I'm like a bad picture menace.  And those that are in this post are particularly awful.  I'm so sorry.  I am a big Apple fan...but an iPhone camera can only do so much. If you stick with me for, oh, nine or ten years, I'll be able to afford a nice DSLR camera and provide you with decent quality photos.  As for now, please just accept my most sincere apologies, and know that the quality of my pictures are as embarrassing to me as they must be disappointing to you. *Sigh.* 

Moving on. Don't you wish there really were a yellow elephant in your room? Me too. 

Moving on again. When Dan and I first moved into this house with all of its big beautiful beautiful windows...I immediately felt a desperate desire to cover them up.  I blame that on my mother.  There are two things that can always be expected of her: 1.) She will always turn down the music and, 2.) she will always close the curtains.  I can't blame her.  She values both her ability to hear and her privacy.  What are you gonna do? 

Either way, we had all of these big beautiful windows and were in need of some curtains.  For months, we settled for screws in the walls that held up several of Dan's old curtains from his apartment.  It looked awful. I don't have any pictures, but just believe me.  The curtains weren't so bad in and of themselves, but they were pretty much the exact color of the couches and so the whole living room was like this big den of dusty blue.  For a girl that thrives on contrast, it made me sad. 

And so I made myself some new curtains. Out of a dropcloth. Hoo-ray. 

D.I.Y. Newspaper Table Tray

When we first bought our house and began thinking about renovating and making big changes, I became acutely aware of the "past" of our home.  I was thinking through color schemes and decorations and floor layouts...and it caused me to think of the people who must have stood in about the same places and who must have made the same kinds of decisions.  Evidence of those people and their lives kept popping up as we dug deeper into our home; we found old toys, some pictures, and even a memento of a baby's baptism. 

My favorite finding of our home's past was a collection of old newspapers stuffed between the studs in the walls, most of them from the 40's, when the house was built.  I started trying to think of a way to display the clippings, in order to sort of honor the home and let it stay connected to its past in spite of all the renovations.  I wanted to do it in a way that wasn't super obvious (so framing them wasn't an option) but that was cute and functional (as I believe most decor should be). After a bit of hemming and hawing, and some inspiration from this blogger who posted on my Pinterest challenge post  (of which there is a better picture on this post) I came up with this project. May I introduce my D.I.Y. Table Tray.  Come on down after the jump for a little how-to.

Kitchen Sneak Peek

There is something about the fall that makes it seem as if every part of life is crazily busy. Dan and I don't have school schedules, or kids with school schedules, or kids at all...but it doesn't change the fact that the busyness of our daily lives increased tremendously in September. Now, as we tumble toward the holiday season at an alarming rate, it doesn't seem like there will be an end in sight.

I suppose that's not all bad. We had a few (and I mean maybe two or three) glorious weekends in the summer that were unscheduled, but for the most part, we are booked. This past weekend we squeezed in eight events. Eight. We are busy people.

I bring all of this up because I have come to realize that my heart's timeframe for the completion of our house is not the same as reality's timeframe. That is okay. I just need to make some adjustments.

Brand New Fall Decor

As Dan and I continue to settle into our house, taking my time on the little details is becoming increasingly important to me. Since we moved in, I have been making a conscious effort to fight that little voice that has been screaming, "DECORATE EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW RIGHT AWAY!!" And do you know why I fight that voice? Because that voice is the one that I can blame for my far too large, totally uncoordinated, paid-too-much-for, didn't-really-even-match-or-work--in-my-space-when-I-brought-it-home collection of weird, punched tin "wall art" that was big time trending when I moved in to my first apartment. Anybody else been there? Anybody else caved in to that awful pressure that is a new, empty space?

I learned my lesson. With our house, I'm trying to be thoughtful. I'm giving things time. I'm thinking of decorating our house as a lifestyle of projects instead of a one time event.

(It's been a big help in saving money...If I'm out, I don't buy decorative things just because I like them. I have a rule that a decorative purchase has to have been premeditated...I need to have had some previous notion that a certain space needed a certain thing. If I can't look at something and know exactly where it would go and that it would definitely work, then I don't get it. It's so good for me.

Sorry for that tangent...)

Anyway, in light of that commitment to slow, thoughtful decorating, I am really excited to share with you a few things that have been coming together! Keep reading after the jump to get a little more up close and personal with the decor in the Hig house.

The Dog Days are [Not] Over

I feel like a lot of you already know this, but as the most life-altering decision Dan and I have yet made as a couple, I feel that the blog world deserves to know....

....that we got a dog.

Adventures in Wifedom: Tips for Savvy Shopping

No shame, I'll just say it: this one's for the new wives.  For the out-of-our-parent's-housers. For the keeper's of the pad, be it a bachelor's or a bachelorette's. This one's for the people who are finding themselves suddenly responsible for themselves. For those of us that have recently had the sudden realization that houses do not just exist in harmony on their own, those of us that thought at one point, "Oh. So all that shopping and cleaning...that's a regular part of life now, a regular part of my life...oh." For those of us who immediately feel like a four year old as soon as we've had that thought.

If you are one of those people, can.I.get.a.HEY-O!

If I ever get current enough to do *features on this blog, you can bet one of them will be dubbed "Adventures in Wifedom" and it will chronicle all the epic moments I have learning to be a wife. Oh heck, let's pretend like I already have a feature. Here we go.

Around the House Weekly Five

I recently had a chat with a friend where I explained how she could set up her RSS feed to keep up with her favorite blogs, using mine as an example. We talked about how great it was that the most recent posts from all her blogs would just come directly to her; no longer would she be required to jump from page to page across the Internet tracking down blogs. It was great. I was so excited for her. Then, a few days ago, she sent me this text:

"Have you blogged recently? Cause if you have I did this rss thing wrong!"

Um, hi. Embarrassed, party of one. You did a great job with the RSS feed...but I haven't blogged since my last weekly five.

Called. Out.

Well! To make amends, I bring you another weekly five, this time centered around a little theme. Follow me after the jump to get in on five sneak peeks at the goings on at our place...

Challenge Accepted

Hey all! This post is going to be a special one, because it incorporates a lot of things that I'm super jazzed about.  One of my favorite blogs, Centsational Girl, is hosting a link party inspired by Pinterest! I am going to link up with a post that involves a little DIY furniture remodel I did for my wedding. See? Favorite blog, Pinterest, DIY, paint, wedding...it's bound to be a good time.

Demolition Smack Down

There are about a million things going on right now...I'm taking a little break from tea-staining and spray painting everything in sight to do a little blogging. I'm looking forward to posting the bathroom reveal soon (it's looking sooo good!) but for now I thought I'd give you a little glimpse of what taking down the walls looks like. The bathroom wasn't the only place we rearranged the blueprints, a couple of bearing walls also made their exit from our kitchen space...

Moral of the story? There was a lot of demolition.

Which.
Was.
Awesome.

Tearin' Down the House: the Bathroom

Happy Tuesday friends! Would you believe that I've been working on this post for over a week? Things have been busy busy busy. Sorry I've been a little unfaithful with the posting...I think that maybe subconsciously I was hoping that someone somewhere would get inspired to comment on the wedding invite post before I shadowed it with another house post but, alas, here we are, and there sits that last post, commentless.

*Sigh.*

So you like house posts more? Okay. I can roll with that. I mean, I'm totally still going to post about the wedding, and all the wedding details, and all my wedding feelings...but at least I'll be thinking about the fact that you would prefer something different.  And it is, after all, the thought that counts. Right? Right.

All kidding aside, today I am thinking house. I am thinking about the most important part of the house. I am thinking about the bathroom.  Our first and foremost concern with the house is to get the bathroom in working order. And that's simply because, well, you gotta do what you gotta...nahh. This is no place for potty talk. Moving on.

The bathroom required a complete gutting and redo.  Aside from the, uh, "unique" decor, the room was cramped, the fixtures were old, and the plumbing needed redoing. I know I showed you at least one pic of the bathroom when I posted all of the house's "Before" pictures, but let's take a gander at a few more, shall we?

1.5 Stories, 3 Bedrooms, 1 Full Bath...and a Whole Lot of Work

My goal is to post twice a week. It is thirty minutes to twelve on Saturday night. Let's do this. ;)

I know that you all want to hear about this little beauty, and it is my desire to please you. 

It wasn't too long after Dan and I got engaged that we started house hunting.  We are blessed to have here in Sturgis three of life's necessities: