first time home owners

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

everything is new

Published on November 30, 2018 by Jamie ShugartLeave a comment

Adventures come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes it is camping, hiking and exploring the great state of Arizona every weekend. Usually it is more of an everyday moment that turns into a great story. For us, our November was exciting and eventful, sad and overwhelming, and definitely a period of growth.

We closed on our house, refurnished almost our entire house due to our storage unit flood, replaced my totaled car, and got a puppy. We also sprinkled in some babysitting of my nephew, my getting back on the worship team at our church, and starting new jobs.

Home Life

We closed on our new house at the beginning of the month and were super grateful to get the keys the same day. (You can read all about buying our first house here) The very next day, our family and friends came out to help us move items from our storage unit to our house. Unfortunately our unit flooded in Hurricane Florence and we lost almost all of our furniture due to water damage and mold. We are still working through the insurance claims process. That blog post is linked here.

Within a couple days of moving in, the microwave handle broke off, which was not surprising since it had been glued back together. Despite all of the stress from no furniture, chaos in boxes strewn throughout the house, starting back at work, and replacing everything that had been irreparably damaged, we were still very grateful to be in our own home with a roof over our heads. The first few nights felt like a dream. An air mattress padded dream.

New Stuff

A few days after we closed on the house we bought a new (to us) car. If you haven’t read about my car being totaled on our move out to North Carolina, that is linked here.

If you didn’t know, you canNOT finance a car while you are under contract for a house because it will seriously mess up your mortgage process and you could lose the whole thing. Thankfully we were scheduled to close very shortly after returning home so we only had to wait about a week before we could replace my car.

My dream car is a 1996 4Runner, and while financially that is attainable for us, I wasn’t excited for the upkeep of an older vehicle with a lot of miles. While I may be drooling over the new 4Runners, we decided to be more financially responsible and get an all wheel drive RAV4 four our adventuring. I am super pumped! I love all of the bells and whistles that my little Mazda2 was lacking. Cruise control, bluetooth, and a sunroof? This girl is a happy camper.

While we had to replace a lot of things that were damaged, we also got to indulge a little on things we didn’t have before. We have a bonus room over our garage and our intent is to turn it into a cozy and fun movie room with a game corner and space for me to work out. We got this super beautiful sectional from Ashley Furniture and we are in love. It is so nice to unwind at the end of a long work day by watching some Brooklyn Nine-Nine in our nice little get away.

We ALSO got a washer and dryer and I am over the moon, even though I am doing laundry almost every day. I have never had my own washer and dryer and having them in my house feels like such a luxury. What do you mean, I can do laundry whenever I want?!

#everydaymoments

Our new dish set survived the #GreatFlood of 2018. We love them! We got them as wedding gifts and they are from the Ellen collection. I personally think that pizza looks very good on them, but I suppose all of the other healthy meals we have been having look just as good.

I also began reading Eragon (not for the first time, don’t worry) but it has been hard to find time to read while we are SO very busy.

My family lives in Fayetteville and every Sunday we all get together for dinner and quality family time. My nine month old nephew has grown six teeth since we saw him in June and is basically walking. He also ADORES music and he plays the piano with just one finger and gets frustrated when he can’t play as well as me or my mom.

I don’t think I have ever mentioned EyeBuyDirect on here but I LOVE them. You can get prescription glasses for a fraction of the price that you would spend somewhere else. You can also invest in more trendy frames if you’re feeling it. I spent less than $50 on these two pairs! Click here for $10 off your own pair.

Being back at church is amazing. We love all of our friends, the culture, and the events that Manna has. We arrived back in Fayetteville just in time for their yearly missions event called The ROC. Last year I played with the band through the event, which ended up being a huge time commitment but I had a blast. It was nice to just be an attender this year and not commit to serving. I did hop back on the worship band the Sunday before Thanksgiving, though, and I sure have missed it.

Holidays

We celebrated both Halloween and Thanksgiving since my last monthly round up. We had just arrived in North Carolina when Halloween rolled around so we were very “chill” with our costumes and dressed up as “Netflix and Chill.” You have my permission to steal this costume idea, because we sure did.

My nephew was an adorable lumberjack and at this point he was still pretty unsure about us. A couple weeks later he was giving me hugs and sloppy kisses though, so I’d say he has warmed up to us.

I got to eat three glorious Thanksgiving meals this year. Everyone brought their A game. Our Friendsgiving was probably the best ever, with our traditional southern fried turkey, sweet potato casserole, and my huge bowl of mashed potatoes. The spread at my mom’s was just as delicious and I made two dishes I have never made before. They both turned out great! I am so glad that we live here so that I don’t have to brave making my own turkey yet.

Adventures

Fayetteville had a fantastic Harry Potter themed event downtown the weekend before Thanksgiving. There was a horcrux scavenger hunt that involved riddles and we explored all of downtown while freezing our buns off. We stopped in at The Coffee Cup for some delicious Harry Potter inspired drinks (mine was a golden snitch coffee).

What would have qualified as an adventure in Arizona came in short number this month, but we have a LOT going on! Hopefully in the new year we will be able to get out of town a little and explore more of the east coast. For now we are content to work on the house and play with our puppy.

Yep, we got a puppy. Also on the weekend before Thanksgiving we drove up to Virginia to pick up our girl Blue (read her blog post here).

Blue’s November

We brought her home when she was 8 weeks old and weighing in at a little over 10 pounds. She was unsure and timid the first couple days but we worked hard to help her feel safe and loved with her new forever family. She is a Golden Retriever (my favorite dog breed in the world) and is super sassy, but also super snuggly.

Her first night here was the one and only night that she could fit under this couch. She almost immediately grew too big and if she tries to jam herself under there now, she just gets stuck. It’s super adorable.

We are making sure to have her meet a lot of people, men, kids, and other dogs while she is this age to get her nicely socialized. My nephew loved her when they first met and my sister’s dog got super excited! We were careful about those two meeting. Our friend also just got a puppy who is a month older than her and they had a great play date.

These were taken on her first few days with us. She is already so much bigger! I can’t wait to compare photos of her side by side. We think she is super adorable, a LOT of work, and are excited to help her become a good girl with great manners who loves hiking and exploring with us!

I hope you enjoyed this monthly round up! My goal is to do this on the last Friday of every month, so stay tuned for some glorious iPhone photos from December in a few weeks.

Hoping you all had an amazing month. Share your top three favorite things from your November in the comments below! If you enjoyed this post, please give it a like and don’t forget to subscribe and join our family if you haven’t already.

Until next time,
Jamie out

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