This week, we've been working on our living room and den. The formal living room is called, "Hannah's living room." It has our beautiful Andes sofa, oak hardwood floors, the black fireplace, and feames chair ( faux Eames). Our home is a bilevel, so just off the main living space (kitchen/living room), is another family room 6 steps down. We refer to this room as, "Ty's living room." This space is carpeted; and adorned with a TV, and big, comfy leather sofa. It's the TV room, meant for comfort and coziness. 

Ah, the Persian rug trend. I used to find this trend VERY frustrating. I had so desperately wanted the perfect vintage rug for each room. I mean, is a kitchen even Pinterest worthy without one? I looked so hard for the right one while we lived in the condo. It didn't take long for me to realize that a vintage rug was not in the cards - I brainstormed ways to approach Ty with, "Hey babe, I found the perfect rug for the living room....it was only $3,000." Because I want to stay married to the love of my life, I bagged the whole vintage rug idea and moved on. Fast forward one year, and vintage rugs, or ateast good knock offs, are readily available if you do just a little digging.

We love coffee. You love coffee. Who doesn't actually love coffee? About 5 years ago, Hannah and I set an ambitious goal of finding the "best coffee" in the USA. As such, we've traveled to 40+ states, we've tried over 90 coffee shops. (No kidding, we counted!) but now, January 2019, we feel as if we have mutually reached an agreement on the top coffee shops in America.

This kitchen has made me a homebody. I want to spend all of my days curled up at the dining table with a cup of hot tea and my laptop. Bliss. We changed the ENTIRE layout of this kitchen. There was a wall between the dining room and kitchen (where that little 24" wall is next to the open shelves is). There were two peninsulas (one where the current one is, and one to the right of the sink). It was a small, crowded, dysfunctional U-shaped kitchen. Where the fridge is now, there was a door leading outside, with a second postage-stamp sized dining space (why?). Along with reworking the layout, we added TONS of windows. (All source links gathered at bottom of post!)

On Instagram last week, we chatted a little about our travel philosophy - about how we like to pack our days with activity rather than  simply sitting on the beach. Typically when we travel, we leave our hotel first thing in the morning, and return late at night. We try to fill our days with activity, and often embark on “day trips” to other locales within a few hours of our hotel (like the time we went to AZ and did Phoenix, Sedona, Flagstaff, and the Grand Canyon in 3 days 😂).

Our master bathroom is officially done! More than anything, we were thrilled to say goodbye to the dingy yellow tile and  dated tile countertops. We preserved the original mid-century light fixtures (which I've loved since the first time we walked through the home); everything else was replaced. This bathroom was an enormous project (lots of demo!), but the final product was well worth it. We love the light and airy feel, fun patterns, and ample storage, which is something we've not always had. 

Okay, so I am resurrecting this post from 2017 as you have been asking for a link to our scratch off map! We have had this map since we got married, and always look forward to scratching off a new state!