An Empty Mantel

First, let me say this is the first time I've had a mantle to decorate in our house.

When we moved into our new house, it was the first week of November. Once the boxes were unpacked and I actually began to decorate, I decided it was easiest to go straight into Christmas mode.

So up went the Christmas decorations on our new mantle. Here's a look.

-->I didn't get any good photos, but you get the picture :-)

We did end up buying the clock at Kirkland's and I still love it. Not only is it a great decoration, but it's practical and Sadie is learning to tell time from it.

But then January came and all of the Christmas decorations were packed away.

And now I'm left with this. (Excuse the toys... I'm a mom.)

So I'm starting from scratch! I've been pinning like crazy and here is some inspiration I've found.



So far, I've purchased three things for the mantle. The small gold circle thing is from Home Goods.

I already had the two candle sticks, but I'm not sure I want to use those there.

And the two small topiaries are from Amazon.

I am on the search for the remaining items to hopefully have it finished next week.

More to come...


Share your ideas with me! I'd love to hear them!

Less than two weeks until closing!

Life in settling in for us here in San Antonio. We actually  got to take the kids to the Zoo this weekend which was a lot of fun.

We are less than two weeks away from closing on our house! I can't wait to start decorating! It's been SO long since I've seen our stuff, especially the things that have been in storage for 2+ years, that I'm scared to actually start buying anything until I see what I have exactly.

But I have been using an amazing tool, called Olioboard to help me with my vision. So far I've started with the living room and master bedroom and I love the way they are turning out.

My plan is to not actually buy anything until I have my vision board with me so that I KNOW it fits with what I am looking for. I'm horrible about buying pillows, taking them home and only liking them for a week.

I might not buy the exact objects on this board, but it will at least give me a feel for what I am looking for.

The media stand for the TV above is the one we already have. If it doesn't end up going with the theme of the living room, it will get moved to our loft room eventually. 

We are putting our Queen Bedroom Suite in the guest room and starting over with a King bed in the master. My parents gave me a dresser/mirror combo that is a beautiful wood passed down from my great grandmother. We will be refinishing it and I love the finish on the dresser above. 

I still have a lot of vision to create and even more to actually accomplish, but I know our house will be a home that we love eventually. 

Pinterest Inspiration

As our move gets closer and closer, I am getting SOO excited about decorating our new house.

The past 4 years we have been moving every 6 months - 1 year. So I haven't really done a lot of decorating. We just made due with what we had and what we could find for cheap.

This time, I plan on doing it right. Planning out each room and really considering what I want the room to look like, feel like, and portray for our family. I don't want to buy anything just because it's on sale.

So of course I've been glued to Pinterest looking at ideas.

Here is a few photos I've found to inspire the look around our new home.

I absolutely love these barstools. Our kitchen is not white, but we have plans on the horizon to paint the cabinets while pretty soon. 

I love this living room. The neutrals with a pop of color is what I love. The window treatments are particularly my favorite. 

I think I could feel right at home in this romantic and cozy master bedroom. 

We actually have an outdoor fireplace in our new house. I can't wait to decorate the area and add some big comfortable furniture. I think I might just live out there. 

More inspiration coming... in the meantime, feel free to follow me on Pinterest! 

GMarket [A Review]

Here in Korea... things can be a little expensive. Okay, a lot expensive. They either break the bank or just skim the wallet. It's hard to find the in-between.

When we moved here we decided to put our dining table in storage. It's a large butcher block dark stained table that fits six with a leaf to extend to eight. We knew we weren't going to have enough room in our new space, so we left it.

Fast forward to the present. We moved into our apartment, household goods were delivered, and we have no kitchen table. Here enters two weeks of eating dinner at the coffee table. Sadie loved it, but it grew old.

So here began our search for a kitchen table. We visited furniture stores, but they all seemed to be a minimum $300 plus chairs. There's a furniture alley in Daegu, but most items there were special order to custom made. Also expensive.

There's a store here called EMart(entire post coming soon). It's similar to a Target crossed with a Bed Bath and Beyond. It calls on my organization. However; it had no dining tables in store, and the website is completely in Korean.

Enter GMarket. I read about it on a few different sites and decided to try it out. It's basically the Korean Amazon. Don't get me wrong, I still love you Amazon, but you won't ship large items to me.

There is an option on the GMarket website to translate the page to English. While there is still some Korean since each item is individually sold by sellers, it's enough to understand and search through.

After searching through endless options, we finally found the table that spoke to us. And the eclectic green chairs we saw in a store window... half the price on GMarket. So with a little help from Google Translate to make sure I was ordering the right stuff, I entered my address, my payment and BAM. Done. Easy as that.

Okay, here's where it gets good. They have AMAZING customer service. No joke. I guess I confused them a bit by ordering a table from one seller and chairs from another. An english speaking customer service representative called me to clear things right up. He also translated my address into Korean for me and e-mailed me a copy to have it for future orders. Then he informed me about the delivery charge. With Gmarket, you don't pay for shipping, but for large items you may have to pay the person delivering the item a fee. He checked and sure enough it was 30,000 won for our table. Chairs were free. But this also includes the guy putting it together for you.

All in all, I had a great experience with GMarket. I will definitely be ordering again. I ordered my table and chairs last Thursday and I am currently sitting at them now. If your in Korea, check it out!