official living room tour

I shared a few iPhone pictures last week when my computer was dead but now I can share photos from my camera. I have to say that I think the living room has come together pretty nicely considering we moved in two and half weeks ago! I can't even tell you how good it feels to hear Rob tell his friends and any visitors we've had how "nicely it has come together" and that "Jyll did a really good job." It makes me happy that he loves it too because I really tried to think of him when picking everything!

Here we go!

I'm still not sure what the plan is for the wall behind the couch. Ideally we would like to put some sort of entry table there to catch our keys when we walk in the door. I'm thinking of building one with copper pipe and butcher block. We will see!

And here is the view from the front door. I actually love the aquarium in that corner so we can see it right when you walk in. I can't wait to have more coral and fish in it.

 And there you have it. I love how all of our thrifted/revamped/new items have come together. The little gallery wall makes me smile every time I walk in the door. I love the eclectic mixture of frames, washi tape and wooden thumb tacks. And Boba Fett of course. Did you notice the Star Wars poster? I think I win girlfriend of the year award.

Hopefully I can share more areas of our house soon!

this is some grown up shit

After living on my own (well excluding roommates of course) for the last five years, I knew it would be strange to move back in with my parents. So when the opportunity arose to move into a decently priced but super cute rental (my dad just happens to be the landlord), I jumped at the chance. I mentioned it to my boyfriend, also tired of living at home (for all of his 25 years), and he was on board right away!

YOU GUYS, this is some real grown up shit. I have to live with a boy!!! Okay so I've lived with two boys before (it didn't go well, sorry Dylan and Henry) but this is so different. It's scary and exciting and overwhelming and exhilerating. Who knew you could have so many emotions over living with a person. I think the biggest emotion is excitement though! We've been talking about this for a while and after living long-distance for five years, it will be so nice not having to say goodbye.

But now the real scary stuff starts. Figuring out what we each have, deciding what we need, and what can wait until after we move in. Rob is actually being much better than expected when it comes to the furniture and decorations. Usually he is very opinionated and hates most of what I love, so he's been surprising me a lot lately. For example, I sent him a picture of some couches I loved and asked him what he thought (expecting a "those are ugly as f***" reply). Instead the text in return was "I like them, let's pick them up tonight." Amazing!

Since I'm still looking for a job, we are trying to keep the spending to a minimum. I've spent countless hours scouring kijiji and refinishing hand-me-down furniture, but moving into a new place is always expensive. I thought I would share some of my progress via my iphone before some bigger reveals!

**Note: This are not pretty blog pictures, these are "real life, no time for staging" pictures!

I love the shape of this couch and chair. We got them for an awesome price and the upholstery is in great shape. While I'm not in love with the colour or style of the upholstery we will probably live with them like this for a while, but I can definitely see myself re-upholestering them one day!

I've been playing around with colour schemes and I'm thinking blues and greys and maybe even some black. But pops of colour like that citron patterned pillow keep catching my eye (and Rob's too surprisingly!). I'm also loving the way my grandma's 1950's chairs are turning out! Above is a picture of them after being sanded and with one and two coats of dark walnut stain.

I'm totally in love with these velvet blue curtains from West elm but since I'm trying not to break the bank, I'll likely go with these ikea ones.

Still on my to-do list: Find fabric for the dining room chairs, re-finish the dining room table, re-finish the buffet (to be used as a TV stand), re-upholester two (free and awesome) chairs, paint bed-side tables, build a sofa table, find curtains, buy a rug, buy table lamps for living room and bedroom .... I might be forgetting somethings. As you can see, the list is endless. I'm going to be a busy girl for the next two weeks!!