A Front Porch that Screams "Sit & Stay A While"

When we first bought our house, I had a vision for my front porch that I shared on this blog. I wanted to create a calm and peaceful sanctuary that would transport me to Charleston or Savannah--where life moves at a slower pace. Well, I'm happy to say that it's finally complete! Just last week, my amazing father installed the pièce de résistance--the ceiling fan. On the most amazing of southern porches, you'll find a ceiling fan or two that provide the required breeze to keep you cool and make you feel like you're not far from the beach.

Since we first bought the house, we've made a bunch of updates to the exterior. We updated our house number, installed a new porch light, added faux shutters and painted all of our exterior trim a glossy black. In addition, my talented father (as previously mentioned) built an awesome planter that helps to create more privacy between our porch and the neighbor's porch. While we love our neighbors, it's always nice to feel like you have a little privacy when you're sitting out there with a glass of wine or cup of coffee. Check out more photos of the porch below!

As seen: Rug - Overstock // Porch light - Home Depot // Wicker chairs, love seat and end tables all scored on Craiglist // Ceiling Fan - Home Depot // House Number - Etsy // Rocking Chair - Overstock // Lanterns - At Home

My living room statement wall

Gallery wall?!? That's so last year. Statement wall? Totally on-trend. So, we had this wall. This big plain white (well actually, Ivory Mist) wall. Our full sofa sits against this wall flanked by two very old and beat up side tables that actually belonged to my father-in-law back when he had a bachelor pad in college. I had it in my mind that this wall needed to be filled with a collage of our most prized and selectively chosen framed works of art and photographs. Well, do you know how hard that is to actually pull together? It's damn hard. I suppose if you're a person that doesn't care about planning ahead you could just nail up your first frame and gradually build it out as you went along. But this girl? Hell to the no. I needed to have all of the pieces picked out and the layout determined before the first screw was drilled into the plaster. So after four months of careful thought and deliberation I have assembled...the living room statement wall. Horray for no more big blank wall! Check out more photos and product info below. 

The baby's "new" room

You might remember the nursery reveal from earlier this year. Well, about three months after the baby was born, we bought a new house! Unfortunately, that meant that she spent very little time in her nursery space in our former house (she basically took like one nap in that room.) However, in the new house, she received a serious upgrade in space and I'm so excited to reveal her new-ish room! I think this room is one of my favorites in the whole house. It gets great light all day long and it is spacious and airy. I loved the color that the former owners had painted the room, so we kept it and it totally worked with all of our existing furniture. 

This is pretty much the one room in our new house that is "finished" for all intents and purposes. All of the other rooms are sort of a slow evolution and need a few pieces of furniture or a project or two. I'll be sure to provide updates as we actually get the other rooms throughout the house more finished. Check out more photos of the baby's room below. 

My southern front porch

Remember when I shared some inspirational photos of beautiful Southern porches? Well, mine is coming along quite nicely, if I do say so myself! It's a bit of a work in progress but I scored the two large wicker chairs on Craigslist for $25 each (and they came with the cushions) I just needed to spray paint them a glossy black. Then I found the love seat and coffee table also on Craigslist for $80 (also included the cushion)! I already had the two mismatched small tables, so I threw them out there and then I purchased the rug from Ikea for $50. So basically, I stuck some plants and candles out there and now we have a living room of sorts on our covered front porch. It's the perfect place for a Saturday morning coffee or an evening cocktail. How did I do? Who's coming over for a bourbon cocktail on the porch?!

I thought about providing a tutorial on how to spray paint wicker chairs but there's really not much to it. Buy the spray paint color you like and cover your lawn or driveway with a large sheet of plastic and get to painting. If I recall correctly, it took almost three cans of paint per chair to cover them completely. There are so many nooks and crannies in a wicker chair, so just be prepared to keep looking at it from different angles and finding new spots that need to be painted. 

You might also be interested in: 

- Bathroom Makeover (Before & After Photos) 

- Tips for Finding the Right Real Estate Agent

- We Bought A House (And Painted Lots of Rooms!)

Bathroom makeover

So this is our downstairs bathroom. I love having a bathroom on the first floor because we spend so much time in the living room and kitchen, it's nice not to have to run upstairs every time you have to pee. Except, here's the thing, I hate that bathroom. I dislike using it so much that I actually choose to go up and down the stairs to the second floor bathroom instead of using the one that was just a room away. 

I always told Bry that this bathroom was a down-the-road project for me, but when I found myself not even wanting to step into it, I knew it was time for a change. I went to the hardware store, looked at paint chips for about two seconds, picked one that looked okay and went home and started painting. A fresh coat of paint was all it took to give this room some new life. Check out the before and after photos below. 

Finding the right real estate agent

When BryGuy and I started to get more serious about our house search -- besides just looking at million dollar homes on Zillow and drooling -- we knew we needed guidance. We had never done this before, we were as they say, "Property Virgins" (Sidenote: Can I just say that I love that show and pretty much all shows on HGTV...except Love it or List it and Flip or Flop, they are the worst.) Despite my wealth of knowledge learned from HGTV I actually had zero idea on how to go about the whole thing. Do you just start looking at houses first? Do you meet with your bank? Do you get a real estate agent? All of those questions were so overwhelming to me that I would freeze up and be like, "it's too complicated, we can do it." 

And along came Ana, who not only happens to be one of my very dearest friends, but is also a licensed real estate agent. I started to pick her brain with questions about the process. In all honesty, Bry and I weren't sure about whether or not we wanted our close friend to be our real estate agent. What if we weren't happy with the search process and didn't know how to tell her? What if something went wrong down the road and we felt uncomfortable, would it create tension in the friendship? 

After thinking about it long and hard, we decided that it was better to have a trusted friend on our side than a complete stranger, and it was one of the best decisions we've ever made. Not only did our agent/friend find us the home of our dreams in record time but she provided sound advice, kept us on budget, and made a complicated and overwhelming process feel straightforward and easy. 

Although I'm no expert at buying a home, I can tell you what worked for us and I think that if you're not lucky enough to have a close friend that can be your agent, that you should shop around for someone that's going to be the right fit for you. After all, this is one of the most important decisions and biggest purchases you will make in your life! 

In my opinion, these are the qualities that are most important when looking for a real estate agent:

Southern porch inspiration

Image from: Architectural Digest

I'm living in the wrong place. Please take me away to Charleston and sit me on a front porch that looks just like this and I'll be happy forever. I don't know what it is about a front porch, but I just love them. In my childhood home, it was a tradition on the weekends during the summer to have breakfast and coffee on the porch. Now that we have purchased a home of our very own that just happens to have a front porch, I'm dying to make it charming and cozy so that we can continue the weekend morning porch tradition. As I've turned to Pinterest for some porchspiration I keep being drawn to Southern inspired ones with dark wicker and bright upholstery. I'll need to paint the columns of my current porch white, pick up some wicker seating, spruce up the cement with an area rug and add a ceiling fan. Basically to get the true Southern porch feel, you need your outdoors to look like as styled and beautiful as your indoors. Check out more porch inspiration photos below. What do you think of this style porch in Philadelphia? Am I going to be the odd man on the block?

We bought a house!

Hello there friends! It's been a while. Let me give you a little rundown of what's been hap'nin' since we last chatted. Well, my maternity leave whizzed by and before I knew it, I was bringing my chubby little baby to daycare and rejoining the herds of folks commuting into the city for work. At first, it was so so so so sad (like, all the tears kind of sad), but now it's becoming the norm and every day is a little easier. But let me tell you, my gym time has taken a serious hit because when you come home from a long work day to your smiling happy baby, you really don't want to spend any more time away from her than is absolutely necessary. 

Oh also, we bought a zoo house! (Quick side note - have you seen that move We Bought a Zoo? It's quite precious and every time I start to say that we bought a house...I first think about saying we bought a zoo, which would be much cooler, but unfortunately, isn't applicable.) ANYWAY, I digress. Yes, we bought a house. The most perfect house with a nice front porch, gorgeous wood work, an updated kitchen (my happy place), and a cute little backyard. Here she is, Casa de Williams:

It's a twin home, meaning it's attached to one other property, so we own the left side. Well let's be honest, right now we own like the front door and the bank owns the rest, but in 30 years, this puppy will be ours! The neighborhood is so cute and perfect, we're walking distance to restaurants and shops, close to a couple of parks, but we still have a little yard and some more privacy than our existing spot.

My New Obsession: Affordable Artwork

I have a new obsession, I've recently become addicted to blowing up photos for artwork in my house. I mean artwork can be really expensive! I'm all for supporting artists but frankly, sometimes I can't afford their one-of-a-kind beauties. Also, if you're looking to get art on the cheap and you go the generic print route, you're probably going to get something that is in the homes of thousands of other people. So, if you want something original, you've got to do it yourself.

In the past, I've taken the time to paint some canvas artwork for some inexpensive home decor (as seen in the master bedroom) but I'm really digging the photo thing right now. With some recent Groupon deals and other sales I've been getting some cool stuff for a crazy steal!

For the longest time Bry and I have been looking for a piece of artwork to fill a spot in our living room. Last week, I took a photo through some dirty window of the Philly skyline, I was playing around with the photo and putting some cool effects on it, and all of a sudden it was this colorful, funky abstract piece with a little nod to Philly. So, I shared it with Bry and he was all gung ho about it, and said we should order it for our living room. Gallery Direct was having a 45% off site-wide sale (can you believe that? It's madness), so we got the 33" x 33" custom framed piece for $130 (regular price $235)! Looks like the sale is still going on...

Bedroom Decor: Where the Magic Happens

I'm one of those people that is never done decorating a room. I believe that as time passes, tastes change and a new home decor project can breathe life into a tired living space. With that being said, we moved into a new place almost four months ago, and I can finally say that I'm at near-completion with the master bedroom. 

In our former apartment, our bedroom was small and created some tension between BryGuy and I. My closet was located in the bedroom (his was in the living room), but my closet was really tiny, so things had a tendency to spill out onto the floor, which wasn't a good look. We also had somehow managed to fit two unmatched dressers into the small bedroom, one which held a television, so we were also jointly sharing the surface area of one dresser. The situation was no bueno. 

Our Cozy and Quirky Living Room

We've lived in our new place for just over a month now (yes, we've gotten past our renter's remorse). We've made really good progress on most rooms, but there's always more work to be done! As I learned from Diane Lane in Under the Tuscan Sun, when you move into new place you have to pick one room to focus on and make it your own. Since we spend a lot of our time in the living room it was important to me to get it feeling cozy and comfortable for us to lounge around and watch movies.

Our decorating style tends to be a mix of modern and old world, with some funky accessories and eclectic details sprinkled throughout. The home we moved into is significantly more modern than our previous apartment. The lighting fixtures, flooring and appliances are all updated, but the house still has some historical details, like the radiators, which are basically artistic sculptures in each room.

1. Built-in entertainment center (probably from Ikea) - Mirrored box from Home Goods (our attempt at hiding our cables, wires), some of our favorite books (Bespoke - The Men's Style of Saville Row by James Sherwood, Our engament photo album/wedding guest book self designed on Adoramapix, The Essential Batman Encyclopedia by Robert Greenberger, World Whiskey by Charles Maclean, Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, The Sartorialist by Scott Schuman), Media boxes from Ikea.

2. Built-in glass shelf above television from Ikea - Brown vase from Home Goods, Silver candle stick holder from Ikea (it doesn't seem to be available any more), Blue hand blown glass vase a gift from my bestie who lives in Egypt, large white vase and leaves from Home Goods, the copper bird was a gift from my grandmother (she has no idea where she got it, but it's really cool).

3. Pink Panther - A gift from my grandmother to my husband for Christmas. A little background, my grandmother was a world traveler, she's collected many antiques or unique artifacts from around the world. My husband has always talked about how he wanted some "manly" lion or tiger statue or artifact in our house, so I told my grandma this and she said she had the perfect thing for him.

4. Coffee table tray from Home Goods - Always complete with a fun book: The Sartorialist: Closer by Scott Schuman, and some magazines, GQ and Bon Appetit

We had renter's remorse. But we got over it.

This past weekend we did the big move... approximately four blocks down the street from our former apartment. Originally BryGuy and I were going to do all of the heavy lifting on our own. Don't laugh! I do CrossFit, I'm quite strong. But the Man upstairs decided that we needed a little more assistance and he sent my wonderful father and brother from New York. Looking back, I really don't know how we would've done it without them. They were the best non-professional movers a girl could ask for (Thanks pops and Z!). We started loading the truck at 8 a.m. and had everything into our new apartment by 12:30 p.m. 

The evil U-Haul and BryGuy
(doesn't he look happy to be moving?)

There were a few hiccups, like our U-Haul's battery dying, twice, and our queen-sized box spring not fitting up the stairs to our bedroom. But other than that, things went well. When all of our furniture was moved to the new place, we did a very thorough cleaning of our old apartment. As we stood there in our bare apartment that we had lived in for almost three years, BryGuy and I got a little emotional. We loved that place, it has been our first "home" together, it's the home we lived in when we got married, we've laughed there, we've cried there, we've entertained our family and friends there, and the truth is we were starting to miss it already! It was in that moment that we started questioning whether or not we had made the right decision to move. We were faced with all of these boxes of unpacked things (and we were really really exhausted), and we started having regrets and doubts.

We're Moving and I'm Getting a Dressing Room!

The hubs and I have been looking for a new apartment for about a month. While we LOVE our current spot, for its big open living room, separate dining room, and outdoor space. The main issues are that the bedroom is seriously tiny, closet and storage space have proven to be problematic, and we don't have a place for our guests to sleep comfortably. I feel that I'm of the age where I should no longer make my guests sleep on the couch or on an air mattress in the middle of my living room.

We wrote down the short list of our "must haves" in an apartment. That list included: outdoor space for grilling and dining, at least two bedrooms, a modern kitchen and bathroom, hardwood floors (BryGuy was really adamant on this one, he thinks lived-on carpets are yucky), and parking. After a few chaotic weeks of looking at apartments, we came across this lovely row home that had three bedrooms, two full baths and everything else on our checklist except parking. Truthfully, I'm a little concerned about finding parking everyday but if it gets horrible I could always pay for a spot or take a half-mile walk to get to the train station. 

Here's a sneak peek of our new kitchen: 

Since we will now have three decent sized bedrooms for just the two of us, I've we've decided that the smallest room will be my "dressing room". This will hopefully solve some of our disagreements about my girly things being thrown about in our current apartment. I'm most excited about this dream space in the new house, so I've been scouring Pinterest and a bunch of other sites for some inspiration. Since the room is pretty small (15' x 8') I want it to feel really bright, minimalist, and a little feminine. I would also like it to be able to function as a guest bedroom if need be, so that's where the futon or pull-out couch comes in. 

Below is my inspiration board for my new dressing room:

1. Silver mirror - Ikea $79.99
2. Acrylic chair - Sale Store (set of 2) $230.00
3. Black and white futon - Overstock $386.99
4. Silver dresser - J. Covington $1450.00
5. Lavender storage ottoman - Ballard Designs $527.00
6. Black and white chevron carpet - Overstock $167.44

Here are some other rooms that have the vibe I'm going for:

Closet featured on Song of Style 

Show house featured on Ana Antunes Home Styling

Showroom office featured on Centsational Girl

Clearly, I'm digging the black, white and silver/gray. I'd love to throw in a few pops of color to make it look a little less sterile. Do you guys and gals have any suggestions on how I should design my new dressing room?!