Home Makeover: New Furniture

We moved into this house, our first house, almost two years ago. We're on an air force base which means that A) we only have/had three years here and B) strict rules about what you can and can't do. No painting unless housing approves it, you have to use a certain kind of nail to hang things on the wall (they really gave us a detailed description of what kind of nail to use), etc etc. Needless to say, I was terrified of damaging something because I knew we'd have to pay a hefty fine when we moved out. I just hung curtains and a few pictures on the wall and left it at that...



As you can see, it was terribly plain. And our couch was falling apart but that's a different story. Now that we've lived here for nearly two years, with only one more to go, it seemed like a perfectly logical time to start making this house our home.

Also, the in-laws are coming up for Christmas which stresses me out just thinking about it. I made a list of decor ideas and started on it this weekend. First up? New living room furniture. Craigslist is a wonderful thing (if you don't get a masseuse that turns out to be a serial killer, that is.) I found this lovely set from another military family nearby. Can you guess how much we paid for all of it? There's a couch, loveseat, coffee table (that opens up and you can put blankets and things inside!) and an end table...

Floating cat, oooohhhh.

$10 to whoever can guess which movie we were watching. Just kidding, you don't get $10, just a virtual high-five from me.

So how much did we pay? $250. For all of it. I can hardly get over it.

The little end table I bought at Target when we first moved in looked silly next to the new, big couch so I moved it to this remote corner of our dining room...

My husband's friend helped him move the furniture yesterday and stayed for dinner. After dinner, he noticed the Shel Silverstein books on the table and said it was awesome that I had them. (I've had them since I was about eight.) That made me smile because Kyle had never heard of Shel Silverstein and his mother was a first grade teacher for over twenty years, which makes me wonder what kind of family I married into.

But anyway. I'm going to be hanging some art and whatnot in the living room and our white-walled bedroom and of course I'll be sharing before and after shots.