When I was pregnant I traded in hours of Law & Order SVU marathons for HGTV. Mind blown. I cannot even begin to tell you how inspired I was by all of the DIYing and house flipping. If they can do it so can I...

This summer we purchased our first home!! New construction and a blank space. I instantly decided that all of our hand me down, college furniture was NOT to make an appearance at the new house. After selling what we could on craigslist (guilty pleasure … please don't judge), we used the money for items for the new house.

I wanted to start with the living room. We spend most of our time there. Having a toddler my goal was functional but cozy and cute. We were able to keep the budget low thanks to good will, ana-white, and pinterest ideas.

The first thing I "DIY'd" for lack of a better term was the blanket ladder. 

The frames are a mix between good will finds (spray painted antique gold) and some frames that Brandan's grandpa made years and years ago.

Ikea sells pillow covers for like $4. Who knew?? They make such a big difference. 

When I asked B to help me with the picture ledge, he thought I was crazy for wanting it 8 ft long… but I am thrilled with how it turned out.

This is actually what our house looks like …. I figured why not be real? 

Moral of the story. Take on that project! You can totally do it.  Happy Monday all. xx