But you know how it goes.
At any rate, here it is…the super-deluxe tour of our new house! Woo hoo!
For those who don’t (or didn’t bother to try to ) remember, here’s the outside:
Jeff and I have spent the past two weeks buying lots and lots of things to fill up the inside…more things than one might imagine.
And believe you me, the irony is not lost on me that just 3 weeks ago we held a massive yard sale to get rid of most of our Stuff, the majority of which we just turned around and replaced with New Stuff (albeit, much better New Stuff).
Par example, a real welcome mat!
($9.99 at Target, made of recycled tire rubber. It also happens to be the *only one* Jeff and I could even remotely agree on.)
and as if that’s not enough, we’ve also got one *inside*! (Whoa now, livin’ like fancy people!)
(that Cards one was a wedding gift from one of my favorite high school teachers)
You walk in the front door and immediately head up the stairs (wow, that writes like a Choose your Own Adventure story.):
doesn’t it look so warm and inviting?
Now we’re standing on the landing, looking back down toward the front door:
I’m currently in the process of looking for a really kick-ass wrought iron wall sculpture to hang on that big blank space–give Jeff something else to bonk his head on 
I picked this shelf up at a garage sale for $2.00:
The pottery was done by art students at my alma mater, and I just picked up that plaster carving of a fairy at the St Louis Renaissance Festival, which we went to on Saturday (it’ll get its own entry someday soon).
Now let’s follow Jeff up the rest of the stairs, into the living room!
And here it is…
We just bought that awesome sofa–got a great deal on it at Weekends Only. The lowboy (currently serving as a coffee table) is a family piece from my side, and the chair is from Jeff’s.
This is what I see, when I sit on the couch:
The reason the couch is in the middle of the room, is because our TV is (obviously) too small–we tried putting the couch against the back wall, but then it was like watching video on an iPhone held at arm’s length. We also need something cool to hang above the TV–I’m thinking a quilt wall hanging. Someday. Oh yeah, and we need new easy chairs. And a new coffee table. And a new entertainment center.
Here’s the huuuuge radiator under the front window, and the side table that we just bought.
Only $34.00 at Lowe’s, and it fulfills one of Jeff’s life dreams: to own a table and lamp in one. Fine by me…and now he can never say that I don’t let him have any input in the decor! (also, see our nifty new digital picture frame? A housewarming gift from my parents 
And speaking of ‘warm’, the radiator makes a nice resting place for my current WIP)
This is the wall opposite the picture window, and it’s home to our wall cubbi (cubbies?):
From bottom to top…
Jeff’s daschunds (a gift from my mom):
(I love their sweet little faces)
The big cubby holds a wooden rose (also from this weekend’s Ren Fest), and my fairies:
The mom of one of my students made them for me–they’re supposed to represent me and Jeff–and I love ‘em so much:
And finally, the top cubby:
The bigger vase is from the dollar store, and the smaller cup is from a garage sale (hey, *everything* can’t be special. Make up an interesting story about them if you want–perhaps they were an archaeological find from my trip to Persia when I was a tender lad of 9.)
Now we zoom back out, and look across the way, back toward the front window. See this clock?
This, my friends, is no ordinary clock. Oh, no.
This is the clock which resulted in a nearly 20-minute discussion in the middle of Target–to purchase or not to purchase? Should we get the smaller one with the pendulum? The larger one that’s just plastic? On and on and on in circles…so I really hope y’all FREAKING LIKE IT! BECAUSE WE’RE NOT TAKING IT BACK!!! You’re stuck with it now, Buster!
Ahem. Allow me a moment to compose myself. I’ll just take ya out to the balcony:
We have our camp chairs set up there, because we’re Classy People. Classy People who can’t afford a proper outdoor seating arrangement, TYVM. It shall be forthcoming soon, lest the neighborhood association (there isn’t one) cite us for it.
Or, now that I think about it, maybe we’ll just swing the other way–start eating KFC and watching rasslin’ on our portable TeeVee right there on the balcony, spittin’ our chewing tobaccey over the side of the balcony, down onto the Camaro up on blocks that we’ll leave in the front yard.
Or, um, maybe we won’t.
Now because I’m all about honesty, here are the flowers I bought last week, with every honest intention of planting:
Obviously, I fail. I think this is one of my Johnson genes at play, as these tendencies are well documented throughout my mother’s lineage–just like the affinity for baking, and the moles on our right thighs.
Back inside, here’s that empty, sad, abandoned, back half of the living room:
(see that TV stand holder? I assembled it myself! Be proud! And see that TV stand that’s acting as an end table? That’s a temporary measure! I assure you! And see that ugly white pole lamp thing? I hate it! I really do!)
We have big plans for the back half of the room–maybe a sofa table and some bookshelves? Maybe an aquarium? Maybe getting a bigger TV and moving the sofa all the way back? So many possibilities…I know y’all can’t wait to see which one we go with. It’ll be like Christmas when you find out, won’t it? I know, I can hardly wait. Hardly.
(PS: remember these wall hangy things?):
It’s such a nice feeling to see everything fall into place, isn’t it?
Now we move into the dining room:
where there must apparently be a carbon monoxide leak, given the comatose state of these cats:
(I took this picture 3 hours ago, and the cats are still in the exact same position. I just went and poked them and they glared at me, though, so I know they’re OK. Or at least, as OK as they ever are)
The table and chairs were lent to us by Jeff’s parents, as a stand in until we find the type we’re looking for:
They also lent (though hopefully for a longer period of time–I really like this piece!) us a corner cabinet thingymajig:
Right now it’s displaying a few things fro m the wedding and some of my Currier and Ives (the blue and white china), though hopefully someday I’ll have a full china cabinet for all that.
(Top row l-r: toasting flutes, a cobalt vase, and our cake topper. Middle row: a Currier and Ives covered vegetable dish (very rare, very expensive, very treasured by Yours Truly) and some milk glass from my grandma. Bottom row: Currier and Ives creamer and sugar set, and a melty candle wax tealight thingy)
Aforementioned china cabinet will also, hopefully, serve as a more appropriate storage method for our wedding china:
Something about the “cardboard boxes in front of the radiator” aesthetic just doesn’t really appeal to me…iunno.
Next up is our super-exciting and highly unusual…bathroom!
All right, you caught me. It’s neither super-exciting *or* unusual.
But it does have a nifty brown and blue shower curtain!
And matching towels!
And a (entirely coinciental) matching floor! This matchy-matchy business…soooo not me, but I admit it is rather nice–in a small space like the bathroom, at least 
I bought this at Bath and Body Works yesterday:
It has been five years since I had regular access to an actual bathtub, so I indulged in a bottle of “foam bath” (they’re too fancy to say ‘bubble bath’ round those parts!) in my signature scent. I fully intend to use some later tonight!
Heading into the kitchen…
Immediately on the left is our napkins/phone charger/keys/mail/cookbooks station:
(those j, k, and h magnets came from Target’s “dollar spot” a couple years ago)
The fridge is populated by my fine art watercolors, which have moved with us into what is now our third home in as many years:
And my trusty friend “Ow” the plant, and our small collection of Aldi’s finest wines, are comfortably at home on top:
Across the room, here’s half the kitchen counter and cabinets:
complete with my small carnival glass collection on the cabinets above the stove:
The dishwasher and sink are just down the way:
and we’ve already put the dishwasher to use a time or two:
(obviously that was taken before we’d finished unpacking!)
I’ve hung my doll-sized collection of cooking utensils on the cabinet closest to the sink:
and set up all the windowsill essentials (recipe box, garlic keeper, kitchen timer, herbs, bowl for my jewelry, candle, small plants, and cat treats):
I got these also at the “dollar spot” last week, and now it’s just a matter of getting them started–or attempting to, anyway!
(y’think the tomato one will grow miniature tomatoes? 
)
We even have a real proper pantry, with real proper space to hang my real proper aprons!:
And next to the pantry is my memo board, which I bought before I went to college:
(Aunt Anita? I love the graduation card you sent! See it up there? It makes me smile every time I pass by )
While I was taking pictures in the kitchen, Macbeth took it upon himself to puke, so Jeff got down the paper towels to clean it up:
We avoid using paper products whenever possible (we use cloth napkins and rags when we can)–that’s why the paper towels are so ‘hidden’, but cat puke is our one big exception!
Mmm…now that we’re discussing cat puke, who wants a brownie?
peanut butter chocolate chips on top!
Just for kicks, I opened up all the cabinets to show the wedding gifts they’re filled with:
I like it so much, I may just keep them that way–it’ll remind me of home (sorry Dad! But I guarantee Mom’s laughing)
And also just for kicks, here’s the silverware I picked out–also from Target (Target has been receiving more than its fair share of our money lately):
I picked it out knowing Jeff would love it and, sure enough, as soon as I showed it to him he said “It looks elven!” So I guess that’s a compliment from him
And these are the super duper awesome salad tongs that were a wedding gift:
Don’t ask where they came from–I don’t know. But I love them! Love, love, love them!
Becha you’ll never guess where I found my super cool canisters!
(Hint: T_rg_t). I love them because theyr’e vintage-y and remind me of fresh-baked bread, gingham aprons, and home grown tomatoes. I have high expectations for these canisters (can you teach a canister to grow tomatoes?), they’d better not let me down!
Finishing up the tour of super awesome kitchen stuff, here’s our kitchen wall clock:
Also picked out by Jeff, and more than a little Dali-esque, no? I <3 it
All right, I think that’s enough of THAT nonsense…if y’all would let me, I’d go on all day about other things in my kitchen that I love…my Henckel knives, my Pyrex storage set, my collection of unusual bundt pans, my ice cream cups. So you’d better just stop me now, m’kay?
Here, let’s look at the nook instead:
It’s rather empty right now, home only to odds and ends, and these little bits of necessary evil:
Yuck. Who wants to come clean these for me? I know I have St. Louis area readers! Please? Pwease?
We’ll skip the boring linen closet (contents: towels, sheets, and the vacuum) and head toward the bedroom:
Jeff’s mom and I painted one area a darker green (“Shakespeare”, according to the folks at Valspar), and the other two walls a lighter chartreuse color (“Reed Yellow”, they say–though any idiot can tell it’s green).
That’s the darker color above–I love how it envelopes the sleeping area–very cozy and calm.
(ps–we’re getting a bedframe and nightstands soon–just as soon as I can find the perfect ones. For now, a mattress on the floor shall suffice)
The brighter color works well with the opposite wall’s windows, and the area that will ultimately display our quilts:
(Yeah, I’m lounging on the bed). Also, notice all those boxes? We’ve only got one dresser so far–more on that in a moment–so my clothes are still living in boxes until we can get another one. Whee.
See? My clothes. Boxes.
And now, photos of my bra collection all over the Internet. Shame? I have none, apparently.
Speaking of dressers, here’s one we bought right before we left Kirksville:
I found it for $98 in a used furniture shop. It was filthy, missing part of its hardware, scratched and in a generally shitty state. But I thought it had good bones and loved its (approximately) Depression-era age and style, so I convinced Jeff to let me take it home, where I bought new hardware from T_rg_t (the hardware it had on it wasn’t original, so that was already a lost cause) and a finish touch-up pen. I scrubbed it down twice with a damp cloth then gave it three coats of lemon oil, switched out the hardware and repaired every tiny scratch and dent in the surface and now–WOW. I’m really stinkin’ proud of myself for this one, dudes. I just wish I’d taken a before picture.
And, just because I can, I put a picture of Turk and Carla on top:
Okay, okay, ya got me: it’s the photo that came with the frame. But since we have no wedding photos of our own to speak of, this one will have to suffice until I get ahold of my own. Besides, she’s prettier than me anyway.
The last interesting bit of the bedroom is, of course, our closet. It’s the most closet space I’ve had in a looooong time–it was even big enough to fit in Jeff’s clothes, too!
And check out the fancy light I installed all by myself:
Installing it was a bitch. I had to cut a hole in the drywall, then send down a trained rat to find an appropriate wire. I lured the rat back with a bit of peanut butter on a spoon, then used my mad electrician skills to join the wire to..um…another wire. Then I returned the rat to the pet shop, and attached this light and used, um…hidden screws? to hold it in place. Yeah! That’s what I did!
(reality: insert 4 AA batteries. Drive a nail. Hang light on nail. Stand back proudly and admire the soft, moonlight-esque glow of your brand new stick-up lamp)
Meanwhile, the Orange Blur came to investigate:
We’ll round out the tour with the catch-all room, the room that needs the most work (and needs a name):
right now it houses Jeff’s computer and study area:
my laptop and sewing table:
all our books (still boxed up, due to lack of bookshelves):
and my yarn closet:
and a dead mouse:
Somehow, we’re probably going to try to rearrange things, and fit in a futon for guests as well. And we’ll also hang things on the walls.
So, what do you think? There’s still so much to be done, but I also can’t believe what we’ve accomplished in just 10 short days! With lots of help from Jeff, of course, and from both sets of parents
I’ll keep y’all updated, of course, as we make it better and better!
