Books books books!

Whether you are a book lover & want to display your favorites, or if you're just looking for an inexpensive way to add color to a room; add books! Any books will do. Grab your old college books (the ones collecting dust on a bookshelf that you can't bear to get rid of because of the fortune they cost), or add some of your favorite coffee table books. Not a book collector but like the look? Visit your local thrift shop. You can find some cool cover bindings to match your color/style for under a buck.

I have some of my favorite books stacked on an accent table in my living room. A couple of home decor books, a Christian read, and a silly book by Kermit the Frog. A random reflection of my interests.


I used books on this stand to tier some photos of my girls. Stacking a couple of books to set a photo frame on did the trick.

Fireplace Facelift

One thing we love about our living room is our fireplace. Who doesn't love to cozy up to a nice fire on a cold evening?! It serves as the focal point in the room (although it is competing with our ginormous flat screen). Originally I planned on using natural stacked stone, but with a million other costly projects going on, I opted for a less expense look. It turns out that I actually like it and I'm not so sure I will go with the stacked stone later on. We will see.

Here is our before...a dirty dingy old red brick.


...And here is our after!

Our wall has that oh-so-popular 1960's wood paneling that was repainted white by the sellers but still distasteful to my aesthetic eye, so I kept the paneling for texture and warmed the room up with a natural beige paint color. The white paint used for the fireplace was left over from the sellers in our garage (score!) and matched the mantle. We found the fireplace screen and accessories at Target.

About that ginormous TV. I really did not want to hang the TV above the fireplace, however I really had no other logical place to hang it. If we had a living room and a family room, it would be a different story. Now I'm on mission to hide the hideous TV wires. The mantle candle holders also came from my old house. I purchased on clearance from KOHL's (double score!).


I've dreamt of a beach house my whole life, so I brought a bit of the ocean home to me. The glass/metal lantern came from my old house. I bought it at IKEA a couple of years ago. I added a cheap non scented pillar candle and a white starfish from Wal-mart.

1963 Abode

Buying my first home was quite the adventure. The long awaited anticipation, the emotional roller coaster of searching & offers & escrow & every other real estate term that will be forever ingrained in my memory. Finally, a home of my own. Andy was with me through the entire adventure and has truly made this house into a home, our home. A humble abode really. But our humble abode to make into our dream home. Just two months in and we've done so much already. This blog will record our adventures as new DIY homeowners. The good, the bad, and the ugly! We invite you to follow us on our adventure.