Hey Friends!
I was invited to guest post over at my good friend Emily Miller's blog today!
Emily is a close friend I made while living in the great city of Chicago, and has taught me many things including a reverance for Patron Saints.
She is a newlywed that blogs over at EmMillerWrites, writes for Start Marriage Right and The Chicago Sun-times!
Over on her blog she has been doing a FANTASTIC series on Hospitality called You're Welcome.
This series has a lot of awesome stuff about being hospitable and why being hospitable is important so go check it out!
Also-Emily is in general really fun and witty....so take some time to check out her blog in full.
Don't worry-she gave me permission to let you blog stalk her!
Have a good weekend!
Showing posts with label Home Decorating. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Home Decorating. Show all posts
Friday, October 26, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
A peek!
House Tour Continued!
So first things first.
Well, second since I have already shown you the home decor of much of the house....lol-you can tell what I'm most excited about huh?
Anyway-this is the front of our house....you cannot see is the little landing and a paved path that goes almost out to the street but not quite.
I don't really get that part...why pave up until there is two feet and leave grass?
We have big plans for the front of this place. See that planter area? We're going to rip it out and put up a lovely front porch complete w/a porch swing.
When Mr. Gill and I were dating I lived in a great house w/a screened in porch w/a big wicker swing and a lot of our memories of falling in love happened on that swing....*sigh*.
Yea-we're planning on putting up another gable and making it a nice big porch....maybe even wrap it around to the side entrance....which is the one we use most often anyway.
Here is the living room-see the front door and fireplace!
This is probably one of my favorite paint colors EVER!!!
Oh its just so great. It's the mud room/laundry room....the laundry room was um....being used...by all my dirty laundry so I didn't take a picture.
Next time.
Anyway this is where the door off of the driveway leads-and this room also connects to the kitchen or the hallway.....
This is our old-timey backyard patio-
I couldn't help but put an old filter on it and let me tell you why.
The awning (I had to look up how to spell that) is Soooo old store-front style. I kinda want to print out Life in the Fish Bowl in vinyl letters and stick 'em up there.
Also-notice the steps to the back door...they look like steps for the shallow end of the pool! It patio is totally great though, its nice and big and we'll be able to have lots of dinner parties out there w/out being cramped like we were at our last place. And that tree has the perfect bend of branch for a rope swing! :)
This is the view from the patio-our big backyard. What you can't see is the trash heap of yard clippings the previous renters left for us. We're working on getting rid of it slowly.
I'm planning on having a garden this year-our yard gets lots of nice sun, and I hope to be able to grow something to eat. We'll see how it goes-I've enlisted the help of people who know what they are doing and I've spent some time reading up on it. I'm not quite ready to start composting yet....
Expect updates on that throughout the summer.
The house tour has not yet concluded, but will take some time as we're still finding boxes we shoved into the spare bedroom a couple of months ago :/
*Jenny G
So first things first.
Well, second since I have already shown you the home decor of much of the house....lol-you can tell what I'm most excited about huh?
Anyway-this is the front of our house....you cannot see is the little landing and a paved path that goes almost out to the street but not quite.
I don't really get that part...why pave up until there is two feet and leave grass?
We have big plans for the front of this place. See that planter area? We're going to rip it out and put up a lovely front porch complete w/a porch swing.
When Mr. Gill and I were dating I lived in a great house w/a screened in porch w/a big wicker swing and a lot of our memories of falling in love happened on that swing....*sigh*.
Yea-we're planning on putting up another gable and making it a nice big porch....maybe even wrap it around to the side entrance....which is the one we use most often anyway.
Here is the living room-see the front door and fireplace!
This is probably one of my favorite paint colors EVER!!!
Oh its just so great. It's the mud room/laundry room....the laundry room was um....being used...by all my dirty laundry so I didn't take a picture.
Next time.
Anyway this is where the door off of the driveway leads-and this room also connects to the kitchen or the hallway.....
This is our old-timey backyard patio-
I couldn't help but put an old filter on it and let me tell you why.
The awning (I had to look up how to spell that) is Soooo old store-front style. I kinda want to print out Life in the Fish Bowl in vinyl letters and stick 'em up there.
Also-notice the steps to the back door...they look like steps for the shallow end of the pool! It patio is totally great though, its nice and big and we'll be able to have lots of dinner parties out there w/out being cramped like we were at our last place. And that tree has the perfect bend of branch for a rope swing! :)
This is the view from the patio-our big backyard. What you can't see is the trash heap of yard clippings the previous renters left for us. We're working on getting rid of it slowly.
I'm planning on having a garden this year-our yard gets lots of nice sun, and I hope to be able to grow something to eat. We'll see how it goes-I've enlisted the help of people who know what they are doing and I've spent some time reading up on it. I'm not quite ready to start composting yet....
Expect updates on that throughout the summer.
The house tour has not yet concluded, but will take some time as we're still finding boxes we shoved into the spare bedroom a couple of months ago :/
*Jenny G
Friday, February 17, 2012
Finally!
So I finally found my little camera!
This means two things.
#1 I'm not going to get a brand new camera with our tax return. I like my little one enough for now AND Mr. Gill is going to maybe get some new recording software so he can start producing higher quality tunes.
#2 You get to see pictures of our house!!! :)
I'll be doing them as a series-mostly because I don't want one post of a bajillion pictures AND this is my sneaky trick to keep you checking back....muwhahaha (my evil laugh).
This is our front door/entry into the living room. It's more for looks than actual use by us....because there is a door right off of the driveway BUT people who come to visit us use this door often so, I put up some little coat hooks.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE how this looks! I of COURSE love the teal w/the yellow-and surprisingly-this is the most teal-ish thing we have in the house, besides the couch pillows and my bedspread.
The other thing I love about this frame/hook idea is that I didn't steal it off of Pinterest-like I did almost everything else in our house :)
Our mantle! It's taken @ a funny angle (sorry) but you can see everything on it-the Ampersand, a picture of Mr. Gill and I in Chicago, the camera my grandfather gave me, our photo book, the little carving my friend Kestelle gave us for our wedding-our salt covenant from our wedding, and a nice big tin star, along w/a photo of Chicago and a little plant in a Chicago mug.....a theme maybe?
I really value the years I got the opportunity to live in the Windy City-for real! I moved there very naive (maybe I still am a little bit), but I learned how to navigate that city on my own and took that time to figure out, at least in part, who I am and what I want to be about. I got to spend loads of time with my grandparents and be there with them through some difficult times. I made some beautiful friendships there and I still feel like a real city girl when I ride the El! But anyway-that's our mantle! :)
So this is the wall directly opposite the front door.
I am realizing that I didn't actually take any pictures of the layout of the room-just the decorating tidbits that I'm super excited about.
Expect a layout photo in the next post :)
Anyway-this is a engagement photo, a pic of us taking communion @ our wedding, the lyrics to our first dance (partially) and our wedding feet!
For all but the feet photo I did a little bit of editing on PS and then had them printed @ Wal-mart. I know, I'm so a cheater but my photographer/best friend lives in Indiana AND I didn't decide which photos I wanted until like 5 days before our housewarming party.
So anyway I had them printed there and I picked up some canvases @ HobbyLobby on the cheap. Using a technique I've pinned on my favorite website Pinterest I ModPodged the photos onto the canvas, using acrylics to paint in the edges to give it a finished look and then ModPodged over it all after it was dry to give the brush-stroke look of a canvas photo print. Way cheaper and I feel good about doing it myself! I did the same thing for the lyrics except I just typed them up, printed it out on my home printer and did it. It was a little hard keeping air bubbles out of regular paper-I think next time I'd use the aersol spray adhesive and then ModPodge.
So this is the wall to the left of the wedding photo wall, and is directly across from the fireplace....does that make any sense? Don't worry-I'll take a picture to
show how this all goes together and isn't just random walls.
Anyway-these are super cheap floating shelves I've had from my Chicago days from Ikea (I miss Ikea). I spray painted them black and then we just have some fun stuff up there. Mostly photos of family or things I've taken, a little russian doll, our guest book, vases and gifts and in the branches I have prayer cards and cards of saints.
I really like the layered look-I totally stole the idea from Pottery Barn....although it was Mr. Gill's idea to off-set the shelves, and I really like that a lot. Especially when his guitar is up against the wall in the corner filling in that empty space.
This is the incredibly awesome COUCH I found on Craigslist!! I stalked it for a couple of days....and it took me a while to convince Mr. Gill that we'd actually love it....but-we got it!!!
Isn't it so beautifully old lady?
Oh man. It really was the wood framing around the edges that stole my heart.
Anyway....I also thrifted some suitcases from a side table and I already had a book that was falling apart of I just tied some twine around it to be all vintagey and that photo is of the head of Mr. Gill's guitar....taken though back when it belonged to my baby sister.
A photo is just of the transition between the living room (yellow) and the dining room (gray).
Nothing too wonderful here except that I LOVE this color combo.
And yes-I did pin lots of pictures of yellow and gray rooms before we painted so I would know what I wanted.
I just love Pinterest!
Stay tuned for a tour of the rest of our new little nest!
*Jenny G
This means two things.
#1 I'm not going to get a brand new camera with our tax return. I like my little one enough for now AND Mr. Gill is going to maybe get some new recording software so he can start producing higher quality tunes.
#2 You get to see pictures of our house!!! :)
I'll be doing them as a series-mostly because I don't want one post of a bajillion pictures AND this is my sneaky trick to keep you checking back....muwhahaha (my evil laugh).
This is our front door/entry into the living room. It's more for looks than actual use by us....because there is a door right off of the driveway BUT people who come to visit us use this door often so, I put up some little coat hooks.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE how this looks! I of COURSE love the teal w/the yellow-and surprisingly-this is the most teal-ish thing we have in the house, besides the couch pillows and my bedspread.
The other thing I love about this frame/hook idea is that I didn't steal it off of Pinterest-like I did almost everything else in our house :)
Our mantle! It's taken @ a funny angle (sorry) but you can see everything on it-the Ampersand, a picture of Mr. Gill and I in Chicago, the camera my grandfather gave me, our photo book, the little carving my friend Kestelle gave us for our wedding-our salt covenant from our wedding, and a nice big tin star, along w/a photo of Chicago and a little plant in a Chicago mug.....a theme maybe?
I really value the years I got the opportunity to live in the Windy City-for real! I moved there very naive (maybe I still am a little bit), but I learned how to navigate that city on my own and took that time to figure out, at least in part, who I am and what I want to be about. I got to spend loads of time with my grandparents and be there with them through some difficult times. I made some beautiful friendships there and I still feel like a real city girl when I ride the El! But anyway-that's our mantle! :)
So this is the wall directly opposite the front door.
I am realizing that I didn't actually take any pictures of the layout of the room-just the decorating tidbits that I'm super excited about.
Expect a layout photo in the next post :)
Anyway-this is a engagement photo, a pic of us taking communion @ our wedding, the lyrics to our first dance (partially) and our wedding feet!
For all but the feet photo I did a little bit of editing on PS and then had them printed @ Wal-mart. I know, I'm so a cheater but my photographer/best friend lives in Indiana AND I didn't decide which photos I wanted until like 5 days before our housewarming party.
So anyway I had them printed there and I picked up some canvases @ HobbyLobby on the cheap. Using a technique I've pinned on my favorite website Pinterest I ModPodged the photos onto the canvas, using acrylics to paint in the edges to give it a finished look and then ModPodged over it all after it was dry to give the brush-stroke look of a canvas photo print. Way cheaper and I feel good about doing it myself! I did the same thing for the lyrics except I just typed them up, printed it out on my home printer and did it. It was a little hard keeping air bubbles out of regular paper-I think next time I'd use the aersol spray adhesive and then ModPodge.
show how this all goes together and isn't just random walls.
Anyway-these are super cheap floating shelves I've had from my Chicago days from Ikea (I miss Ikea). I spray painted them black and then we just have some fun stuff up there. Mostly photos of family or things I've taken, a little russian doll, our guest book, vases and gifts and in the branches I have prayer cards and cards of saints.
I really like the layered look-I totally stole the idea from Pottery Barn....although it was Mr. Gill's idea to off-set the shelves, and I really like that a lot. Especially when his guitar is up against the wall in the corner filling in that empty space.
This is the incredibly awesome COUCH I found on Craigslist!! I stalked it for a couple of days....and it took me a while to convince Mr. Gill that we'd actually love it....but-we got it!!!
Isn't it so beautifully old lady?
Oh man. It really was the wood framing around the edges that stole my heart.
Anyway....I also thrifted some suitcases from a side table and I already had a book that was falling apart of I just tied some twine around it to be all vintagey and that photo is of the head of Mr. Gill's guitar....taken though back when it belonged to my baby sister.
A photo is just of the transition between the living room (yellow) and the dining room (gray).
Nothing too wonderful here except that I LOVE this color combo.
And yes-I did pin lots of pictures of yellow and gray rooms before we painted so I would know what I wanted.
I just love Pinterest!
Stay tuned for a tour of the rest of our new little nest!
*Jenny G
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Traditions
Tomorrow is Dec. 1st.
Which means.....Christmas is just around the corner!
I feel like is was just labor day-I mean, for real.
But as a *relatively* newlywed, Mr. Gill and I have been trying to formulate what our Holiday Traditions will be.
Growing up my (Jenny) family would always do the tree and on christmas eve we'd come home from church and have a little buffet and watch silly christmas movies. We'd also get to open one present before we went to bed to hold us over until the next morning.
For Mr. Gill and I though we haven't had much time to start traditions. Our first year of being married we had a christmas tree that was filled w/teal and silver ornaments from our wedding only weeks earlier.
Our second christmas together we didn't have a tree because we packed up our little apartment to move across the country the morning after the holiday and decided that dealing w/a tree would be just too much work.
This year, we will probably put up a tree, but as we are in the process of purchasing our first home (!) we'll wait until we're all moved in. While waiting for that fun event, we have something that we've been participating in for a couple of days now that we think we'll keep as a tradition for our family-an Advent Wreath!
The wreath has been great because we get to take time right before dinner and light a candle, read the scripture for that day and remember the waiting of people for thousands of years and then we get to eat by candlelight! It's fun for us as a couple, and we've been inviting friends to join us! It makes for great conversation and who doesn't love eating around a tiny little table by candlelight with their friends!
It also kind of forces us to eat at the table together (which we don't normally do) and we really like it. We might even keep the candlelit dinners as a norm!
What are your Christmas Traditions? Are they new or have they been passed down in your family for a long time?
Happy start o' the holidays!!
*Jenny G
Which means.....Christmas is just around the corner!
I feel like is was just labor day-I mean, for real.
But as a *relatively* newlywed, Mr. Gill and I have been trying to formulate what our Holiday Traditions will be.
Growing up my (Jenny) family would always do the tree and on christmas eve we'd come home from church and have a little buffet and watch silly christmas movies. We'd also get to open one present before we went to bed to hold us over until the next morning.
For Mr. Gill and I though we haven't had much time to start traditions. Our first year of being married we had a christmas tree that was filled w/teal and silver ornaments from our wedding only weeks earlier.
Our second christmas together we didn't have a tree because we packed up our little apartment to move across the country the morning after the holiday and decided that dealing w/a tree would be just too much work.
This year, we will probably put up a tree, but as we are in the process of purchasing our first home (!) we'll wait until we're all moved in. While waiting for that fun event, we have something that we've been participating in for a couple of days now that we think we'll keep as a tradition for our family-an Advent Wreath!
The wreath has been great because we get to take time right before dinner and light a candle, read the scripture for that day and remember the waiting of people for thousands of years and then we get to eat by candlelight! It's fun for us as a couple, and we've been inviting friends to join us! It makes for great conversation and who doesn't love eating around a tiny little table by candlelight with their friends!
It also kind of forces us to eat at the table together (which we don't normally do) and we really like it. We might even keep the candlelit dinners as a norm!
What are your Christmas Traditions? Are they new or have they been passed down in your family for a long time?
Happy start o' the holidays!!
*Jenny G
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Indiana we love you
Mr. Gill and I are in Columbus IN today visiting our family. We've had a really great time visiting all of our family and friends.
A couple of highlights include:
1. Spooky Memorial! My family has a golf outing every fall and it's like a mini family reunion for the Lentes side, I'm really glad Mr. Gill and I were able to see so much of our family while we were here.
2. The covered bridge festival.....which was like a big flea market (I got a CUTE big green purse on the cheap). I got to encourage the aggressive driver that's been hiding in my mom as we were trying to get out of the parking lot and then We got stuck in traffic for 2 hours....and the house was only 20 miles away.....but it was quality car time.
3. We've spent SO much time visiting with old friends! It was so great to hear how everyone is doing and to talk about how God is shaking things up for us in Boise.
4. Seeing all the baby mommas and new babies! There is something in the water....it seems like everyone we know in Indiana has or is getting ready to have a baby!
5. Karaoke with Mom and Pop Gill and Ronald! Mr. Gill and Ron each sang a song on their own and the they did If I had a million dollars by the bare naked ladies....Mr. Gill sang the higher part (but not a real green dress that's cruel) and it was AWESOME!
We still have a couple more days here in the Midwest, and I'm sure we'll have more fun stories to share.
In other news....I'm posting from our new iPad, which I don't think I really know how to use very well at all. It's all this app stuff, I can't really figure it out....but maybe someday soon I'll at least figure out how to move pictures off the iPad onto the blog or picasa...so, unfortunately no pictures today......which would have been of Mr. Gill playing video games since thats how he's spent 80 percent of his time here at the Gill house ;)
Anyway, pictures to come in the next post when I'm back at a device I know how to use!
Jenny G
A couple of highlights include:
1. Spooky Memorial! My family has a golf outing every fall and it's like a mini family reunion for the Lentes side, I'm really glad Mr. Gill and I were able to see so much of our family while we were here.
2. The covered bridge festival.....which was like a big flea market (I got a CUTE big green purse on the cheap). I got to encourage the aggressive driver that's been hiding in my mom as we were trying to get out of the parking lot and then We got stuck in traffic for 2 hours....and the house was only 20 miles away.....but it was quality car time.
3. We've spent SO much time visiting with old friends! It was so great to hear how everyone is doing and to talk about how God is shaking things up for us in Boise.
4. Seeing all the baby mommas and new babies! There is something in the water....it seems like everyone we know in Indiana has or is getting ready to have a baby!
5. Karaoke with Mom and Pop Gill and Ronald! Mr. Gill and Ron each sang a song on their own and the they did If I had a million dollars by the bare naked ladies....Mr. Gill sang the higher part (but not a real green dress that's cruel) and it was AWESOME!
We still have a couple more days here in the Midwest, and I'm sure we'll have more fun stories to share.
In other news....I'm posting from our new iPad, which I don't think I really know how to use very well at all. It's all this app stuff, I can't really figure it out....but maybe someday soon I'll at least figure out how to move pictures off the iPad onto the blog or picasa...so, unfortunately no pictures today......which would have been of Mr. Gill playing video games since thats how he's spent 80 percent of his time here at the Gill house ;)
Anyway, pictures to come in the next post when I'm back at a device I know how to use!
Jenny G
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Fun with Yarn
Today Mr. Gill and I fly to Indiana.
But I want to share with you picture of one of my new craft projects!
A Yarn Wreath!
I've seen these all over the blog world so I decided to make one for our little apartment!
And ALMOST everything was from the Dollartree!
The yarn is left over from the Bears scarf I made my brother, and the sign I made myself ;)
So if you come to Boise to visit us (which you should!) this is what would greet you when you get ready to knock on our door. That and the smell of the worlds best chocolate chip cookies! You'd come over for cookies right?
Next you hear from us we'll be in Indiana!!!
Woot!
*Jenny G
But I want to share with you picture of one of my new craft projects!
A Yarn Wreath!
I've seen these all over the blog world so I decided to make one for our little apartment!
And ALMOST everything was from the Dollartree!
The yarn is left over from the Bears scarf I made my brother, and the sign I made myself ;)
So if you come to Boise to visit us (which you should!) this is what would greet you when you get ready to knock on our door. That and the smell of the worlds best chocolate chip cookies! You'd come over for cookies right?
Next you hear from us we'll be in Indiana!!!
Woot!
*Jenny G
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Celebrations
Happy Last Day of June!
Goes by so quickly :)
On sunday one of the girls that is part of church here in Boise is getting married!!
We had a shower for her a couple of weeks ago and I was assigned a dessert (my favorite) and decorations!
I made some paper flowers!! I love all the bright colors.
And Peach hand pies....using my Grandma Lentes' perfected pie crust recipe :)
Here are some of my fun pictures of Mr. Gill and I on our wedding day! It was seriously one of the best days of our lives....thanks again 1 1/2 years later to everyone that made that day special!
Have a great 4th of July!
Goes by so quickly :)
On sunday one of the girls that is part of church here in Boise is getting married!!
We had a shower for her a couple of weeks ago and I was assigned a dessert (my favorite) and decorations!
I made some paper flowers!! I love all the bright colors.
 |
| bright and happy |
And Peach hand pies....using my Grandma Lentes' perfected pie crust recipe :)
 |
| See that beautiful crust? Thank you Grandma |
Here are some of my fun pictures of Mr. Gill and I on our wedding day! It was seriously one of the best days of our lives....thanks again 1 1/2 years later to everyone that made that day special!
 |
| Yes he REALLY is jumping over me! |
 |
| Right after we kissed!!! |
Have a great 4th of July!
Friday, January 14, 2011
My Favorite Space
Some of you have been asking for pictures of our new place, and since almost ALL of it is chaos due to my ability to be distracted 90% of the time.....it will remain in chaos for at least a little longer.
I DO though, have a place in our apartment free from corrugated cardboard and clutter. I breathe a sigh of contentment every time I enter that space. Although most of my visits there are brief.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Jen
I DO though, have a place in our apartment free from corrugated cardboard and clutter. I breathe a sigh of contentment every time I enter that space. Although most of my visits there are brief.
It's our stairwell. Yes, I admit here that I am only finished putting together a total of 15 stairs in our entire apartment. Yes, I know that I have NOTHING else really productive to do with my time and I've been 'working on it' for almost two weeks.
Remember what I said about being distracted?
Jaymay. I have rediscovered my love for her music-why did I forget....um....I don't know but she's SO GOOD. Check it out right now.
And then know she was invited to sing at a corduroy convention. She's THAT awesome.Have a wonderful weekend.
Jen
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