Our House is a Very, Very, Very Fine House

That title's for you, Mom! (It's a song she used to sing to us when we were little).

Before I show you the long-awaited pictures of our house, I have some exciting news. Darby got a Teaching Assistantship for this semester! That means he gets a full tuition waiver and a stipend. We are so excited! We were able to cancel all our loans for this semester, and, more importantly, we got to go out to dinner! :) We are so thankful that God provided for us in this way, and it definitely takes a lot of stress off both of us. Now, on to the pictures...

The Living Room

Here's the view as you walk in the front door. We just got the couch and chair from Ashley. The chair is a glider recliner. It is soo comfortable. We are going to get an end table to go on the left side of the couch eventually. On the right-hand wall is a big window. I will post pictures once we get the curtains that Darby's mom is making for us. The living room opens up directly to the kitchen. I like the open-floor plan. The door you see in the background leads to the garage.



Here's the other side of the living room. Darby got the TV with his graduation money. It's awesome having such a huge TV and cable. We probably enjoy it a little too much :) The shelves were already on the wall. which is why it appears there's a vase on top of the TV. Oh well!

The Kitchen

The table also belongs to the owners. It's not my taste, but it was free. The door in the back leads to the laundry room. I love having a washer and dryer! Laundry doesn't even feel like a chore any more. There's a big sliding glass door on the right that leads to the backyard. We have a nice patio and yard. I didn't take pictures because the lawn is pretty overgrown right now. Eventually, I want to get patio furniture, so we can actually enjoy sitting outside. All in good time.


This is the centerpiece I made for the table. I combined a couple of ideas from Rachael Ray and Martha Stewart. I have to be pretty creative to decorate with almost no money.


Here's a closer view of the cabinets and appliances. There's a Lazy Susan cabinet in the corner. which is awesome! I have so much more storage space than in our old apartment. I love cooking in this kitchen. I could probably still fill up a kitchen twice as big, though! Most of the decorations on top of the cabinets were already there, but I added a few of my things.

The Study

This is the view as you walk in the door.


In between the bookshelf and the desk is a window. I need to get a valance for it, so I didn't take a picture of it. Darby mainly uses the desk for his schoolwork. In exchange for the desk, I got...


A scrapbook closet!!! There was a nice-size closet with built-in shelving that was perfect for my little workspace. I just set up a TV tray as my desk, and I move a chair in when I want to work. I love it because I can leave stuff that's in progress out and just shut the doors.

The Bathroom

Pretty much your standard bathroom. We do have A LOT more counter space than our old bathroom, which is nice.

The Bedroom

This is the view as you walk in the door. Both dressers belong to the owners of the house. We really don't need that much clothing storage, especially with the...


Giant Closet! You can't really tell from this picture exactly how big it is, but it could almost be another room. It's awesome!


Here's our bed. We have basically the same set-up as our old apartment. I still love it!


Here's a close-up of the "art" I made. It's six pieces of coordinating scrapbook paper in a Wal-Mart Frame. Take that, HGTV!

I did not include pictures of our guest room because it's still kind of crazy. We have an inflatable Queen-size air mattress that we get out for guests. When we don't have guests, Darby uses the room to play his guitars, so they stay out most of the time. It's a good arrangement for us, but I haven't found a way to make the room look like it's not just a junk room. I'm working on it.

We both feel so lucky to get to live in such a nice house. It is definitely a HUGE step up from our apartment in Abilene. It actually feels like a real grown-up home. There are definitely some things we would change if we owned the house, but overall we love it. This spring, we're going to concentrate on improving the flowerbeds and yard. I'll post pictures of the outside once we get it in somewhat decent shape. I'll also continue to change the inside, especially once I have money to decorate. Having a house is so fun!