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oasis

Published on March 25, 2019July 17, 2019 by Jamie Shugart2 Comments

Our backyard oasis begins! At least that’s what Blue thinks.

Our little five month old golden retriever can’t get enough of being outside. For the first several months we had her, we didn’t have a fence. Literally every time we took her out to go potty (which is A LOT with a puppy), we had to put her on a leash and go out with her.

Related post: The Pitfalls of Potty Training

Luckily, in late January, we had a fence installed.

Before I get ahead of myself, if you want to follow along with our adventures of newlywed life, turning a house into a home, and all of the highs and lows of everyday life, click the subscribe button on the right (or at the bottom if you’re on mobile). It doesn’t send you crazy emails or give your information to anyone—it just sends blog updates directly to you!

A few weeks after we installed the fence and began enjoying the blissful life of dog parents and home owners with a little more privacy, we had gutters installed.

We learned while house hunting that a lot of homes in the area do not have gutters. This was super weird to me. As someone who basically grew up in the pacific northwest, as well as someone who has a lot of experience with southern rain storms, the fact that our house had no system to divert water away from the foundation of the home (that rests on sand, might I add) was insane to me.

I am happy to report that these first time home owners continue to fall in love with our home a little more every day. Especially now that our yard is fully fenced and now that we can rest easy every time it rains.

Until next time,
Jamie out

refurnishing our home was a nightmare

Published on February 25, 2019September 6, 2019 by Jamie ShugartLeave a comment

Wamie house update!

In this cozy place we call home, we have been working hard to make it everything we want it to be. We have added pantry shelves, gone through countless paint samples to find The One, installed a fence and gutters, and so many other odds and ends that we are so excited to share with you in future posts.

But first thing’s first, if you want to follow along with our adventures of newlywed life, turning a house into a home, and all of the highs and lows of everyday life, click the subscribe button on the right (or at the bottom if you’re on mobile). It doesn’t send you crazy stuff or give your information to anyone—it just sends blog updates directly to you!

Okay, let’s be real for a second.

Some of us only dream about fully refurnishing our home, but rarely get to do it. Especially not all at one time. Usually we painstakingly save up for that new couch. We stalk Black Friday sales for our new flatscreen. We refinish cheap furniture that we find at an estate sale. Refurnishing from scratch only happens in our dreams.

Well friends, let me break it down for you. I’m not sure that it should be a dream. I would call it more of a nightmare.

If you want to read all about how we lost all of our furniture in Hurricane Florence, click here. If not, here’s a quick breakdown.

We searched for and put an offer in on a home in North Carolina while we were living in Arizona. The day we left for North Carolina, my car was rear ended in a tiny town in New Mexico and we found out it was a total loss (read about that here). Because we were under contract for a home we would be financing, we couldn’t replace my car until we closed on the house. Luckily, everyone we worked with was a rockstar and we closed just a few days after we got into town. The following day, we emptied our storage unit and found out that we had lost a LOT due to water damage.

On some level we were expecting some damage. But to lose all of our furniture? We literally kept our kitchen table and two chairs, a tiny desk, a drink cart, and our bed frame. Those were the only furniture items that survived.

Luckily we had insurance and had saved some money while in Arizona. Through our own savings and the generosity of others, we have been able to mostly refurnish our home and are loving everything. Here’s a breakdown of everything we have so far:

Couch

We found this beauty at Ashely Furniture, which is actually where be purchased almost everything for our new home. We found that the value and quality met exactly what we wanted at a price we could afford. This three seater is soft to the touch, firm, and perfect for our living room.

Chairs

These chairs are one of our favorite things. We bought them the same day we got our couch and the sectional we put in the bonus room. They are a similar fabric to the couch above but are not from the same collection. They are situated right next to our window and are perfect for afternoon book reading sessions with a big mug of tea, or for a late night blogger who may or may not writing this from one of these chairs.

Bookcase

If you are ever in need of anything for your home, Wayfair is like the Amazon of furniture. We have been so excited to find some great pieces on their website.

We actually purchased two of these bookshelves, intending to put them both in our office. However, while arranging our living room, we found that putting the bookshelf here tied the whole room together and made it exactly how we wanted it. It’s a grey wash finish and we only put very specific and limited books here so that we wouldn’t overwhelm the space.

Bonus: my parents were getting rid of their coffee table and end table and we were able to snatch them!

Nightstand

We got our bedroom pieces from Ashley Furniture on Black Friday. We were blessed with some very generous friends who gifted us a mattress and therefore only had to replace our nightstands and dresser in the master. I wasn’t so sure about the arrangement of this nightstand initially, to be honest—with the shelf on top and the drawer on the bottom—but it has actually been great for this bookworm who adores reading before bed.

Dresser

The dresser is from the same collection as the night stand, and like the bookshelves is a grey wash. It is a good size dresser—not too deep or gargantuan, but has great drawers that offer a lot of storage space. Bonus: being a newlywed and learning to share space for clothes is teaching me how to declutter and get rid of things I don’t need. Also, having your storage unit flood will do that to you too.

Mirror

So funny story. I put this mirror on my amazon wishlist (linked here if you want one!) and got two of them for Christmas! I am putting the second one in our guest bedroom.

Sectional

This stunner is from Ashley Furniture. It is a four piece sectional that we specifically chose so that it could fit upstairs in our bonus room. Our bonus room is the the only room in the house with a TV so we have to be intentional about any time spent watching shows or movies. We are so excited about this space, and this sectional has been perfect!

Side tables

The sweetest girl who I used to work with gifted us their old end tables that fit perfectly in this space. We have loved them!

TV Stand

Yet another gem we found on Wayfair. Our TV stand is our newest piece and I absolutely adore it. Again, it is a grey wash modern farm house furniture item and I can’t stop ogling it. God bless my William for putting it all together (some assembly required!).

Really this nightmare of refurnishing our home is a blessing in disguise. We get to choose everything we want and build a cohesive home. We get to start from scratch with items we picked together and can build our marriage in the comfort of new beginnings.

While the stress and time spent on insurance and trips to the dump was overwhelming, and the time spent in stores and online searching for what we need was only lessened by the fact that I love shopping—while all of this is real and hard, we can find joy in our time spent with one another. Our lives in this home will be much more enriched because of everything we have been through.

What do you think of our progress so far? Let me know in the comments! If you enjoyed this post, please give it a like and don’t forget to join the family and subscribe if you haven’t already!

Until next time,
Jamie out.

Mini House Tour (Before)

Published on December 6, 2018 by Jamie ShugartLeave a comment

We bought a house! Our very first home purchase. It is a big deal and we are excited and nervous. But mostly excited.

So excited that we are bringing you along on the adventure of home ownership. From the $300 microwave that needs replacing within the first month, to the fun paint colors and new furniture, we are bringing you along for the ride!

First up are our “before” photos. I took these literally the day we moved in, and as moving days go we were running behind so my photos have some of our stuff in them, despite my best efforts. Oh well!

Our living room! It has an electric fireplace and is the central hub of the whole house. Right now our intention is to not have a television in our living room and make it a place of conversation, reading, and quality time.

Here is our little kitchen, with not quite enough cabinet space and no pantry whatsoever. That door leads to our tiny laundry room, which we will be creating additional storage space in to use as a pantry.

It is a three bedroom, two bathroom house. As a couple with no kids but a good amount of friends who will likely come over, the second bathroom is ideal for guests. Eventually it will be great for kids too, but for now it is just a luxury to have two bathrooms and we LOVE it.

The master bedroom is just the right size for us and gets great natural light throughout the day. There is a perfect amount of space for me, Will and Blue and once we got our furniture it became a lot easier to keep it pretty clean. Also, I never knew that a jetted tub is what my life was missing, but that thing is a dream.

The bonus room is our favorite room. We are going to create a great relaxing hang out space. We are going to have movie marathons and game nights and plenty of room for my at home work outs. We literally get so excited to go upstairs and watch a show or just relax together as a family.

Last but not least is our beautiful, roomy two car garage. I never knew that I as a grownup could get so excited about a garage. I love that our cars get to live inside. That I don’t have to go out in the cold or the rain to get in my vehicle at home. That we have a place to store our lawnmower (that we will eventually purchase). I feel like such an adult, but honestly. Pulling into our garage every day is so cool.

Stay tuned for updates and decor throughout our time in this home. We are so excited to share!

Until next time,
Jamie out

We bought a house!

Published on November 21, 2018 by Jamie Shugart3 Comments

We are first time home owners! And we did it all from over two thousand miles away.

What a rollercoaster this process was. I was super surprised that the part I thought I would love—the actual house hunting—was the worst aspect for me. When it got down to the nitty gritty though, we had some amazing professionals on our team who worked super hard behind the scenes to pull it all together in less than 30 days.

Our realtor was a good friend of mine who has been building me up and encouraging me for almost four years now. She is a rockstar. When we told her we wanted to buy a house in North Carolina, but do basically all of it while we were in Arizona, she didn’t bat an eye. She was down for the challenge.

My parents, who coincidentally LOVE “window shopping” for houses were game to go look at houses for us. They looked at neighborhoods, the condition of the property, the drainage of the lot—all of the things you can’t change and all of the things you can’t see in the photos.

Our realtor took us on video walkthroughs so that we could get a feel for the place as well. We talked over all of the positives and negatives. We searched for over a month and we fell in love with multiple homes. We were so ready!

Finally we found The One and we got an accepted offer. It was smooth sailing from then out (for us, not so sure about everyone else on our team, haha!) and we were so excited to close and get our keys just four days after we arrived in North Carolina.

Since leaving Arizona, everything has been a little crazy for us. We got in a car accident and my car was totaled, but because we were under contract on a house, we could not buy a car until we closed, otherwise it could mess up our mortgage. Luckily we were able to close just a week after the accident and our insurance was understanding so they let us keep our rental car a little longer than normal.

We were also super lucky because we closed on our house on a Friday and got our keys the same day, which doesn’t always happen in North Carolina because of the legal process here.

Even though we had no furniture, food, or toilet paper, we booked it to the house as soon as we got the call. Just thirty minutes before the courts closed, our realtor called us to tell us that the house was officially ours! We drove through the rain and pulled up outside just after five. Will even insisted on carrying me over the threshold. It was amazing.

We spent the evening at the grocery store buying toilet paper and frozen lasagna, and then back in our house to just soak in every foot of its perfections.

We are so excited to make it our own. To fill it, and decorate it, and host in it. It is our favorite investment, and we are so very happy.

Until next time,
Jamie out.