We found a house in Tulsa! A few weekends back, the Hubs and I had a whirlwind house-hunting experience (read: view about 12 houses, make a decision on one, did negotiations and got a contract... all in about 36 hours!) Since we are pretty familiar with the Tulsa market we knew which neighborhoods we wanted to focus on, so that made the job a lot easier. BUT, for a variety of reasons, this move has been so much more challenging than our last two. We've had to work through a variety of real estate issues with this one, so it was an AWESOME birthday present to receive last week to hear that we are good to go!

So........ here she is! I say 'she' because I already have a name picked out for her --- Miss Flo. I arrived at the conclusion that this is her name because she is a pretty little thing and she lives in an area called Florence Park. I think it fits her perfectly.

All photos via Zillow.

1- Cute little entryway. 2- formal living. 3- dining room. 4- master bedroom. 5- master bath. 6- downstairs guest bedroom. 7- family room. 8- backyard!! Dais is going to be THRILLED. Not pictured- the entire upstairs, the kitchen and the breakfast nook and the basement. 

As you can imagine, my design wheels are already spinning :) And because decorating an entire home can be daunting and expensive, initially I am going to focus my efforts on the downstairs (formal living, dining, master, guest bedroom and family room). The kitchen we are going to live with for a few years, and then evaluate if we want to do a reno there. We'll see. We've become pretty non-commital with all of our moving around the past few years! The idea of living somewhere for more than 2 years is crazy! BUT super exciting at the same time. The good news- the current owners have great style! They've done a great job with a lot of the wall colors and finishes. Makes my job a lot easier up front!

I'll post my plans for each room eventually, but first we need to focus on closing. Keep your fingers crossed for us :) Counting down the days to April 4th!

Tulsa here we come!

Life News : Part 2

Weeeelllllllllll...... we are moving - again! This time, we will be headed back to good ole TULSA, OKLAHOMA. Aka God's Country. While it is a slight change of plans (I was 100% sure we would move back to Houston) we really are thrilled!

So, with a new move comes a new house! And, my favorite things- house hunting and decorating!!! Moving around so much has really been beneficial in helping the Hubs and I narrow down want we want in a more long-term home. So this time, we will be looking for something more traditional (than a Chouse), defined spaces, light and bright, with a backyard. Something we can just really make our own. Not tooooooo much to ask, right?! As you all can probably imagine, my mind has been running WILD with decorating ideas..... aaaannnndddd we don't even have our new home yet. Oh well - I am who I am :)

Here are some images that are currently inspiring my house hunting and decorating day dreams.

all images via here.

While I will be SUPER sad to leave Amie Corley Interiors, I know this move is a step in the right direction for me and my family. I have learned so much in my relatively short time there and am so grateful for that. All in all, I really can't wait for everything that is to come-- and to be able share it here! Thanks for following along :)

REALLY good staging

Like I've said before, I love real estate. So much that I look at it just for fun. Houston has an amazing realty website, http://www.har.com/. As I was perusing it the other day, I found this home:

It's in a very desirable Houston neighborhood. Looks nice and traditional from the outside and then inside... BAM!

It's really some of the best staging I've seen. OR the owners have impeccable taste. That rug. That footstool. Amaze-ing.

Looking at so many houses recently, I have gotten SOOO tired of the... Everything is from Hobby Lobby, and it's all blue and brown, and there's lots of faux plants and there are signs that say things like "Family" "Dream" "Happiness". Are you getting my drift? Am I the only one who feels this way? None the less. Let's get back to the good stuff.

Maybe I should go into the staging business... because on my latest house hunting trips, I saw WAY too much of this...

The above is from a house we saw in STL. It was staged by professionals. Seriously, I saw the card of the business who did it. I'm sorry.... what?

Another one for good measure...

Think I might have a new calling. To stop this.

xoxo, Emily

House Hunting!

So.... we are moving to St. Louis!!!!

It has taken me some time to wrap my mind around this move. I had many moments of "This is crazy, we just moved to Houston, I've made awesome friends, I got an awesome job, and now you want me to move AGAIN? You must be out of your mind, Cody, if you think I am just going to pack up all of our stuff and move AGAIN!!" (yes, that's how my brain works sometimes).

But, all that aside, I have really enjoyed starting the house hunting process again! Real estate is one of the great loves of my life and it is so fun to check out real estate in a new city. I found an awesome website (http://www.cbgundaker.com/) and got right to work checking out different areas. I am also a Google-aholic, and the map portion is so helpful because once I found a house I liked, I would Google Map the address and pan up and down the street to see how it looked. Oh, technology! Gotta love it.

Anyway, so we went house hunting last weekend. This is the one I fell in love with. It is an old church, renovated into individual condos and it. is. so. flipping. cool!!! It's in an awesome, historic neighborhood called Lafayette Square. All of the homes are old and unique, which I love. And this 'house' fits right in!

Here is is from the outside.

One of the best things about it is it sits right on a really cute park.

This is the landing area. I wish I would have gotten a better picutre of the stairs because they were amazing. Oh well.

Dining area at the top of the stairs.

Living area. First thing to change- that green paint.

Windows!!

The master aka favorite room in the house. LOOK at that amazing window!!

Details...

Now, I TOTALLY understand that this isn't everyone's cup of tea.  But, I LOVE it! Living in a re-purposed church is something most people will probably never do.

What do you think? Are we crazy? Keep your fingers crossed that all goes smoothly, please!

xoxo, Emily