The Little Homey Touches I've Waited Years For

For the first six weeks or so, we felt like squatters in this house. Our kitchen cabinet project was eating up all our free time and energy, and we never really had a moment to unpack anything in any kind of official capacity. We would just take random things from random boxes as we needed them, so it didn't really start to feel like home until recently. When we finally started to officially unpack, the feeling of, "Oh hey, we actually live here!" set in, and things became even more real. For the past five years or so, we've been buying things here and there for this future house of ours, knowing that one day, we'd have the perfect place for them. In storage, I've had pillow covers I bought four years ago, but never was able to put out because I was waiting for the sofa (that we have now) for our future home. Other home decor things have been packed away for years, and part of me never thought I'd ever have a place for all of it, and a bigger part of me knew it would come together one day because I had meticulously planned out each purchase with a specific purpose in mind. The past few weeks, I've been very slowly unpacking the things I've been saving for our someday-home, and it's kind of weird and surreal to see them out - in our house - just as I pictured them in my head years ago. We've also been updating a few small things here and there that really have made this place feel like our home. Let's talk about 'em, shall we?

1. Switch plates - they're super boring to most people, but I had way too much fun picking these out. I think after you live in an apartment for years, and you have no desire to do much to the existing, often ugly, details because it's not really yours, things like this can be really exciting because it's such a small detail that you picked out that fits with your style. The house came with cheap, plastic, almond-colored switch plates that looked sad (like, I pictured them, frowning and giving me their best Ross Gellar depressed "hiiii" as I walked by). I don't even have a "before" photo of them because we took them out pretty fast. These bronze, leafy ones, though? I love. Our home is older and has a history that spans more than 150 years and while I didn't think I'd ever pick something like this, it just works, and I knew it as soon as I saw them. They just really make me happy. 

2. Switch plates continued. Once we painted the walls of our kitchen a very light gray, and with bright, white cabinets, the almond switch plates had to go because they were all you could focus on when you walked in (well, all I could focus on, Josh said they were fine). We found these wainecoating-y ones at Home Depot, and I was sold. Never mind that we don't have moulding around our doors - we have cute switch plates that match the paneling on our island! Score.

3. So, minor detail, but we have a little rug at our kitchen sink now. And I love it. It's all kinds of silly, but having a cute little rug over here just makes things so much more homey. This little guy was from Homegoods, and he was $13. I love the french-country cotton woven with the natural jute - it was meant for our kitchen. I'm considering buying a back-up in case this one gets ruined. 

4. Right before our one-year wedding anniversary, I bought these initial teacups from Anthropologie. I envisioned them lined up on our kitchen windowsill, surrounded by happy little flowers or plants. Years later, that vision is realized. And it definitely adds a little much-needed coziness to our kitchen.

5. What's up, chicken butt? Josh and I both love farm/all animals, and for the better part of the past two years, I've been favoriting farm animal photography prints on Etsy that we could use in our house someday. This one, by Lucy Snowe Photography, was destined for our kitchen shelves. 

6. I've had this sofa from Pottery Barn picked out for years. YEARS. We ordered it the day we closed on our house, and it was delivered toward the end of August. Before this sofa, we were living with the IKEA Ektorp sofa, which has a similar look, but infinitely less comfortable, and built for small people, not husbands who are 6'3", and not wives that like to take naps without a constant feeling of falling off said sofa. I saw the orange and taupe paisley pillows four years ago, and knew that they'd go perfectly with the sofa fabric I wanted, and I just bought them because they were on sale. Over the years, I started to collect more pillows and pillow covers, and while I was able to use some right away, most of them sat in storage until just now because our little Ektorp wasn't large enough for all of them. The day I took out that paisley pillow, and put it on the sofa with the crisp, white cotton pillow, navy blue ticking stripe pattern and our little Cape Cod pillow we got this year on vacation, it was perfect. We'll change them up for fall and the holiday season, but for now, I've fallen hard for this little arrangement. 

7. Once our entryway was painted (as you see here in the photo - post about that to come soon), we could finally - FINALLY- start to hang photos and such on the walls. Shortly after we moved, I had some Target coupons and Gift Cards to cash in, and I used a portion of them to buy these three window pane decorations. They're meant to display photos, but I kind of like them without anything in the glass, so we'll probably just keep them like this. I love how they add a rustic touch without being too country. And they were pretty inexpensive with my coupons! Score, again!