Tour Our Home: Master bathroom

This is the first of the "Tour Our Home" series! I will lead y'all on a tour of our home over time. I will show you the space, the features, and the decor. I will be honest with you- I am starting with the master bathroom because it was the cleanest when I took pictures. We, and our roommates, are not messy people, our house is generally very clean. But the hubs and I are surprisingly very good at keeping our bathroom clean. So here we go!

Our master bathroom is perfect for us and our needs. When we started making a must-have list for our home before we started house shopping, the only thing I really cared about for the master bath was a big bathtub. We both LOVE to take baths, and the hubs is 6'3", so a dual shower/tub wouldn't  likely cut it for him.

When we saw this house, I fell in love with the bathroom. It is not huge, but it's a great size, and fits all of our needs/wants. Here is the vanity. The hubs wrote a scripture to me on the mirror (using a dry erase marker) recently, Song of Songs 1:15. He is so sweet. :)

Just to the left (you can see the door in the reflection) is our bedroom. It is great having a door to separate the bathroom from the bedroom so that my poor hubs is not woken up by the light when I am getting ready for work at 6 am. Yes, 6 am. I know a lot of people really really want a double sink vanity. But, as a nurse (and future NP), I get up really early, so we are almost never getting ready at the same time. So having a single sink, with ample counter space, was perfect for us! I also love that the cabinets, light fixtures, and tile are all nice-- no work needed here!

Having so much storage space in the bathroom is awesome! As you can see, we have a medicine cabinet (which I love) and three nice big drawers in addition to the under-sink cabinet! Plenty of room for all the things that keep us looking so good! :)

The counter has some style, as well as utility. Our soap dish (seen in the big picture above) is a 50 cent white saucer from a local thrift store to hold our soap, a great new find from our local farmer's market. Good smelling, homemade soap for cheap-- holla! :)

This is our little tribute to "his and hers" in the bathroom. I saved an old cologne/perfume bottle of each of ours that looks perty, and stacked them on top of copies of one of our favorite devotional books, My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. Just a cute little addition of flair and a reminder of our faith to the bathroom.

I love Mason jars. There will be a post later (hopefully soon) all about my adoration. For our bathroom I utilized the Mason jars for storage. And plus, hello, they look so cute!

Now, onto .... the bathtub!!! Ah, the serenity. Our tub is nothin' fancy. No jets or anything. It is just really deep. A genuine soaking tub. We use this ALL. THE. TIME. We even have one of those book-holder caddies for it. But, my books are too darn heavy to be held by it. Boo.

I wanted our tub to be very calming and relaxing. Black lanterns from Ikea hold tea lights on two corners of the tub, and then I put together this (below) for the others. Beachy-cottage- chic is our bathroom theme! I love drawing a tub, turning off the lights in the bathroom and lighting all the candles (well, I do that with the lights on) and just relaxing.

The bath curtains are so cute! Originally it was a single, long panel given to me by our roommates several months ago. I thought the colors and length would be perfect for our bathroom! Using a no-sew method (which I will explain more in another post about curtains I made for our bedroom) I made them into two panels! Using jute to tie them back, they look marvelous! We are very fortunate to have white wooden blinds on every window of the house, which looks great and provides so much privacy and  deflection of heat. But curtains give life to a room!

This old typeletter tray was scored at a garage sale for $1! There are lots of little squares for where all the letters for old printing presses would have been held. The only way I knew it's original use was because the handle on the bottom has a label, with the font (POINT GOTHIC) and size (18 and 12). I love this piece so much. It has such character, such patina, and an original use that the hubs and I can appreciate, as we are both bookworms! Seashells from a craft store were placed in alternating spaces to continue with beachy-cottage-chic theme.

 Our shower is right next to the tub, and is a great size! There are two awesome features about it: the shower head is high enough for my tall hubs, and it has a big shelf great for putting bathing goodies. Now, I kinda miss having a shower curtain because we had two really cute ones. But, this is nicer in reality, and that's what makes the window curtains so great!

 
Across from the shower is the toilet. You can see the door to our closet in the picture below. Our closet is, again, perfect for us. It is a walk-in, but it is not huge. It is the perfect size so that we don't acquire too much stuff. You can see that we have a storage cabinet above the potty (yup, and I don't even have kids) for our TP, towels, travel toiletry bags, and other goodies.

On the wall are two pieces of decor we found at a garage sale that first inspired the beachy-cottage-chic theme. I love the look of weathered postcards coupled with the shells, and the distress of the frames.

Growing up by the beach, I love using accents of the beach like shells (which is also about all you can find here), but am not a fan of crazy-everything beach decor. To me, the bathroom decor is relaxing and give you gentle reminders of the ocean. Our bathroom is simple, while being stylish and utilitarian. I like using pieces for storage that look great, so you don't feel a need to hide or disguise them.

Everything in the bathroom we owned before moving into our home (except the soap dish! and a few candles), so I didn't have to spend any moolah on the bathroom. Instead, I used pieces we already had, but may have been used in another room in our apartment. This not only saved us money, but also gave a fresh, new look!

I hope you enjoyed our bathroom! After gushing about it, I can't wait to take a bath tonight! :)

Our awesome fireplace

After enduring several Texas winters, I decided a fireplace was a must-have when we started shopping for houses. Now, the winters in Texas are not that bad. We're talking maybe in the teens or 20s at night or in the mornings. But it has snowed almost every year I have been here. And hello, I'm from Southern California. Our winters meant wearing closed toed shoes and a sweatshirt. So yeah, I'm a wimp who needs a fireplace.

In addition to giving off heat, fires create ambiance, cool sounds, and make the room so cozy. All things I love. So when I saw the fireplace in our house, I was stoked. (yup, I still say it!) Big, white, chunky mantle with beautiful tile surrounding the fireplace that matches the backsplash in the kitchen. Swoon. It was my dream. So much fun can be done there!!!

All of the things I used to decorate the mantle I already owned! The big window was given to us from my husband's step-brother, who was our neighbor in Waco. He and his now fiancée (yay!!) redid their ENTIRE HOUSE. I'm talking GUTTED EVERYTHING. It's beautiful now. They replaced all the windows and offered them to us. I happily took 2!

For a while, in our previous rental house and apartment, I used double sided tape to display pictures of us. But now that it is so high, I wanted to leave the windows bare, for simplicity and so you don't have to get a step-stool to look at the photos. Actually, a couple of the panes are missing, because my first attempt to use the window for decor involved nails... Bad idea.

The grey topiary cage on the left is a sale find of my husband's from a high-end antique store in Waco.

The silver trophy vase on the right was a garage sale find. The woman I bought it from was well along in age, and said it had belonged to her grandmother! I don't know about that, because she let it go to me for a couple of bucks. But, I love it all the same!

The blue birds were on sale at Hobby Lobby, and the wreath in the middle I made from old hymnal pages that were coffee stained. I will do a blog of the tutorial about that another time! :)

I like the symmetry of the decor, but it's not matchy, you know? The silver/grey pieces on the ends are about the same size and height, both have a vintage look, but are very different. And I love the pop of color the birds give. I love birds! Overall, the mantle decor is very balanced with neutral colors in the end pieces and the wreath, the clean lines (but vintage chippy finish) of the window, and the beautiful color of the birds.

The white candle holders were a garage sale find and were originally brass. I gave them a couple of coats of white spray paint to freshen them up.

I LOVE my mantle decor right now. There is even a light that shines on it! While I am excited to decorate for the holidays, I might miss the current decor!

Georgetown, where everybody knows your husband's name

The title is pretty much true for me. I think I mentioned before that my husband is a youth pastor here in town, and so a lot of people know him. This makes life pretty interesting. We see someone we know almost everywhere we go. But this is something I love about Georgetown. It is not a small town- about 60,000 people, but it feels like it. Maybe it is the ADORABLE town square. :) To me, Georgetown is great because it somehow exudes the small-town feel while offering tons to do! I wanted to share a few of my favorite things I do in Gtown, as I affectionately call it.

ANY event on the square.
We have been to multiple "Market days," Christmas on the Square, and Red Poppy Fest. I have loved all of them- I feel like I live in Stars Hallow (from Gilmore Girls, one of my favorite tv shows), because for those weekends, life revolves around the square. There is awesome food, vendors selling all kinds of crazy homemade (or not) wares, and entertainment. The entertainment can be live music and dancing, local dance schools performing, a live Bethlehem, antique car shows, or even Who-ville (my fave)!

You definitely see people you know when there are events on the square, which makes it that much more fun to share in the merriment together. I can't wait for the holidays!!

These are the Red Poppies the festival is named for. So purty!


The food.
While Austin is not far and boasts tons of yummy restaurants, Gtown has some great ones to offer as well. Here are a few of my faves:
The Monument. Truly Monumental. From the free biscuits to the FRIED CHICKEN. Yumm-o!!! Even the bathrooms are cool. Can't wait for their new Mexican restaurant to open!
Mexican food. Dos Salsas is a classic, with fantastic salsa and awesome tortilla soup. But we just went to La Playa for the first time last week, and I was finally able to get a. Fried. Stuffed. Avocado. I had my first (and only other good one) several years ago in the valley, and this one was awesome as well! Same restaurant name in fact. Is it a chain? I dunno.
Roots. This used to be Down the Alley Bistro, and is on the square. Awesome salad with grilled chicken, cranberries, and walnuts (or pecans?). And the dressing is fab.So are the cookies. :)
Cianfranni. Old school coffee shop that roasts their own coffee. Again, on the square, which gets you in the middle of the action even when you have to study on the weekends like me. I am
kinda picky about my coffee, I can't just drink anything black like my hubs, but their Chocolate Europa is delicious. And you can get a never-ending cup for just a few bucks!!

The outdoors.
Georgetown is beautiful!! The parks are awesome! San Gabriel Park is great for parties and walks, and even has a river with ducks to feed!

Blue hole is fun to swim in (especially when your pool is closed for maintenance) and watch people. One day I want to take the dogs there. Speaking of, the Bark Park is not only so fun, but beautiful as well!!

And of course there is Lake Gtown. I camped and kayaked there a few years ago with friends, but we have only walked around there since we moved here. Even driving in Serenada and taking the back roads home is pretty!

I'm going to talk about the shopping in Gtown in another post! Don't worry. :)

If you have never been to Georgetown, I encourage a visit! If you know me, you are welcome to stay with us!! :) I love living here because we have the small town feel in a city with tons to do!

Zoe and Cooper

We don't have any children yet. But you would think we did. I don't know that I would say our dogs are spoiled, but they are definitely loved. Four months after we got married, the hubs and I moved into a rental house-- with a yard. That week we went to the humane society and found her: Zoe.

Zoe is our beautiful, sweet, loves-to-lick black Labrador. She is a fantastic dog, and at times not very lab-like. She doesn't really like to fetch. She does not like walking in the mud. She doesn't like getting wet. But she LOVES chasing squirrels at the park. And she is a great snuggle-partner when the hubs is out of town. We adore her.

Last Christmas we adopted Cooper, because we wanted a friend for Zoe.

It's a good thing he is gorgeous, and his ears are crazy soft, because he is ALL Lab. He sheds like crazy. He loves the water... mud... digging.... escaping from our yard.... ugh. He likes to chew:

Thankfully, usually he only chews his toys. He is a sweetheart, and loves going to watch the hubs play softball (because he is good on a leash and Zoe is not).

They are friends now. It was rough going at first, but now Zoe will even lick Cooper, it's sweet. When Zoe is watching squirrels at the park, jumping around the tree, Cooper just runs around her in big circles. I don't think he has any idea what she is doing. And when the hubs throws a ball for Cooper (because he likes to play fetch- if that means getting the ball and running around with it), Zoe runs in front of him to try to stop him from getting the ball. Once she side-tackled him. It was awesome. And then I made sure Cooper was ok.

Zoe and Cooper are our kiddos-for-now, and they are wonderful. Part of our family-- we even miss them when we are on vaca. :)

This is home

Once upon a time I lived in Southern California, and loved living there. The beach, the weather, the food, the shopping... I loved it all. However, I ended up in Central Texas for college. Before I left, I had numerous friends and family telling me that I would never come back, I would marry a cowboy, etc. I swore up and down neither of the above would happen. Well, fast forward four years and I had married a Texan, the love of my life, Steven. My loved ones were right on one count: I wasn't coming home. But, I didn't marry a cowboy. While Steven has had some "hick" tendencies (he used to work at a feed store, used to country dance regularly), I believe those are in the past. :) If he had been to California before meeting me, he would have felt right at home.

We moved cities twice within the first 16 months of marriage, but have settled outside of Austin, in Georgetown. This city is a lot like Carlsbad, where I am from: It is definitely a suburb, but also boasts plenty to do of its own. On our two-year anniversary this May we moved into our house.

 
After months of dreaming, looking, and hoping, we couldn't believe it was ours. This house is perfect for us in so many ways and we are so blessed by it. Making wherever we live feel like a home has always been a goal of mine. But when we were first married and living together, I didn't really know how to do this. We had little money, so we had gone to many garage sales to fill our apartment. The result was not pretty: clutter, lack of cohesion, and a color scheme I quickly grew tired of.

Over time, my sense of style, my vision for what I wanted our home to look like was formed. I looked at magazines, read blogs, and after much hesitation, joined Pinterest. By the time we moved into our house, we had a "grown up bed" (which replaced the $85 CraigsList bed I purchased during college), had replaced some of the more sorry previous garage sale finds, and I had a plan to make our house into a home.

My first attempts at doing anything crafty/DIY-related was Modge Podge. But over the past year, I have dared to do more-- and have LOVED it. Using a hot glue gun, spray paint, a sanding wedge, all free my spirit. I am a nurse and am pursuing a master's degree as well, so being creative brings balance to my life. I love looking around my home and seeing what I have created. The thought, meaning, and care that has gone into the details. Details that reflect our interests, our style, our soul.

I have been inspired by women who didn't let tight budgets prevent them from having a beautiful home. Rather, they picked up paint and power tools, armed with ingenuity, and made their houses homes loved to be lived in. It isn't just "that person on HGTV" that can make your houses lovely, it's you. I am living proof.