home sweet home

No matter where I travel, I always really do love coming home.
It's an ever sweeter feeling now, as we've been pouring countless hours into making our new house a little refuge of peace and love.

As much as traveling is so fun and adventurous, I think i've realized that I need a little structure and routine in my life. I love waking up in my bedroom with light streaming through the windows, knowing that Kevin is out in the kitchen making coffee and reading his Bible.

I like being able to drop by my parents house at any time, and them drop by our house. I like waving to my neighbors, and going to staff meeting each week where I connect with all my co-workers.

I think structure also allows me to better find times to spend with God. Do any of you find that sometimes vacation throws that off?

We have a lot of fun things coming up this Fall:
My brother's getting married in a few weeks
We've got our dear friends from England coming out for 3 weeks in November, where we'll be taking them all around California!
And then of course the lovely holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas!
I cannot wait to spend my first Fall back in Northern California where the leaves turn colors and it gets a little more crisp in the air! Woo hoo, so excited.

Like I said,
home sweet home:) 

Happy weekend sweet friends! xoxo

ps- my shirt is from here

Stories behind my room decor

I've been having so much fun putting my room together {if you missed the full spread of room pics, click here}. It's essentially a very large bedroom that i've made feel more like a studio, with one half of our room consisting of a large bed and dresser, and the other half resembling a cosy little living room. I just love it:) Most days you'll find me snuggled upstairs in this room with a cup of tea, the record player buzzing tunes, with either a friend or my school books!

What made decorating SO fun was that I tried to find every piece from either a yard sale or craigslist. Honestly, it was a modern day treasure hunt, and every Saturday morning i'd slide into my car ready for an adventure. Along the way I encountered some really lovely people, and some fun stories. So..I thought it would be fun to document all the stories of my decor...

The French Prints & Wooden Candlesticks: 

If you follow me on IG, you probably already read this story, but it's too wonderful not to mention here on my blog. To preface, i'm a HUGE history nerd, especially when it comes to European history. And on this particular Saturday, I got to witness a slice of history come to life. I was finishing up my day yard saling, when I noticed an apartment complex having a community wide yard sale. I drove in, and spotted this adorable old woman standing by herself with a few odds and ends. Intrigued, I stopped and started chatting with her. It was apparent she had an accent, so I asked where she was from. "France" she said, which of course ignited a little chat about how much I have loved traveling through her country on multiple occasions.

I asked her how her family fared during WWII, and she was all stories by this point {which I was enraptured by!}. She shared how her father smuggled Jewish children across the border into Switzerland, and her husband had been kidnapped by the Nazi's and taken to Berlin to work at a labor camp. She even volunteered with the Red Cross. I couldn't believe how amazing it was that all these stories I had just read about in books were here actual experience. I felt so honored to be in her presence! I've since visited her at her home to hear more stories!

One hilarious turn of the story is that she told me she goes walking 3 mornings a week, and ends her walk by eating at a local bagel shop across the street. This happens to be the same bagel shop that my husband's family owns, and I asked if she knew my husband Kevin (and then showed her a picture of him). She started giggling hysterically when she saw the picture and said "I tell my friend every week that he's the reason I come here! He's so handsome!" hahahah! I was dying laughing! What a small world! I bought the wooden candle sticks from her, along with these old photographs of France, as well as a handmade French table cloth (that is not pictured).

The Tree Stumps:

 I like to pin DIY projects on Pinterest, but i'm not the greatest at follow-through!! I just never seem to find the time! But i've been pining {pun intended} after these gorgeous tree stump coffee tables, and knew I had to make them. I found some free wood on Craigslist, and Kevin and I went to town. I love how they turned out!

Advent Calendar: 

{I guess I don't have just a picture of the advent calendar, but it's the red hanging thing in the background, haha} Two years ago my sister and I went to go visit our family in Germany. {see here and here} It was November, and they were just ushering in the Christmas season, which was so magical. While strolling in downtown Dusseldorf, we ducked into the sweetest Christmas shop to escape the brisk chill that was slowly settling in our bones. I was in heaven! I purchased this festive advent calendar, and have loved hanging it every year since! This year, Kevin and I finally filled it with verses of the Christmas story, candy, and sweet little date cards {Kevin and I both did this, so one of us is surprised each night!}

Christmas Tree:

I am a real Christmas Tree kind of girl...I love the smell of fresh evergreen that fills the room with delightful lingerings of the holidays. However, I also just love Christmas trees in general, and wanted to have one in my room as well. One day at a yard sale, there was a brand new fake tree in a box, and I asked how much it was. They told me to name my price, so I sad "$1", and they said YES! I couldn't believe it! So my Christmas tree was $1. I will never get over that!  Love it!

Record Player: 

Growing up, my dad used to play his old albums on the record player in our house. On Sunday mornings, he would blast Beethoven's 5th symphony to wake us up. On the rare occasions mom was out for the evening, my dad would gather us around his record player and we'd jam to various Beatles songs. "Rocky Raccoon" was one of our favorites. So I set out to find a record player on Craigslist. After a few months of searching, I found the perfect one. With the help of some friends who did me a huge favor, I now am in possession of a sweet player that brings joyful tunes into my home on a daily basis! And yard sales are the greatest place to pick up cheap old records!! Last week I was so excited to score the "Sound of Music" {i know, i'm a nerd, but it's my favorite movie!}

If you're curious where anything else is from…feel free to ask! Like I said, I picked up most things from yard sales or craigslist, but I definitely have a radar on brands, so i'll probably know where it's from!

Happy Weekend friends! One of my college roommates is here visiting, and we are having a blast! Kev and I head up to Northern California on Monday, and are pumped!! Christmas is so soon! Thank you all for entering the give-aways last week! All the winners have been picked, but I am so grateful you all entered!! xoxo 

Room Reveal…Christmas Edition!

For the last year {since moving back from Nepal} Kevin and I have lived with his parents. This decision to shack up with my in-laws was one we did not make lightly. One of my favorite things in the world is hosting and having others in our home. In the few years Kevin and I were married before we moved to Nepal, i'm not kidding when I say that we had company over for dinner at least once a week, and a big party almost every month. We thrive by welcoming others into our space.

But when I started grad school, it didn't make sense financially for us to have our own space when his parents so graciously offered their home to us. So we prayed a lot and felt a sense of peace in moving in with Kev's parents. They are the easiest people to live with, and we love them deeply. But of course, living in someone else's house is just different. When we first moved in a year ago, there was a whole lot of furniture in the room we moved in to…2 huge queen sized beds! Well…just about 3 months ago, they gave a bed away to a friend, opening up a huge space in our room! 

I asked my mother in law if I could do some decorating, and she gave a resounding "thumbs up!". So I went to town…big time! I'll save the before and after pictures for another time (because that merits a whole post in itself!) but today I wanted to share a little bit about how I decorated for Christmas!! 

But, what I love about this space of mine is that everything I bought was either free, a few dollars at a yard sale, bargained off craigslist, or on mega sale at a store. It doesn't have to be new or perfect to be wonderful!! Creating a welcoming space is about the love and care that goes into it, and not the amount of money we spend! Love is what fills a home, and all of us have that to give:) 

Enjoy sweet friends, and don't forget to come back Thursday, for i'll be sharing lots of stories behind each of these items!! xoxo Katie 

The few items we did not get from a yard sale include:

- Herringbone throw blanket: Tiny Prints {soooo cozy!!}

- Lamp: Target

- Couches {I found the love seat at a Yard Sale and the chair on Craigslist, but they are originally Ikea} 

- Ottoman: Homegoods {on mega sale!} 

- Plant: Home Depot 
- Tree Stump Coffee Tables: Kevin and I made these with free wood we got off Craigslist! 

That's it…everything else (and I mean EVERYTHING ELSE} you see in this picture, is from a yard sale! Hooray!! I hope this gets you a little more into the Christmas spirit fiends:) Wishing you the loveliest of days!!! 

At home with sweet Meghan {her house is AMAZING!}

You can find the tutorial for this little wreath here. 

Hello sweet Hope Engaged readers! My name is Meghan, and I write a little blog called eat.live.make all about creative, simple and healthy living (among other things:)). I am so excited to be over on Katie's space today!! Katie and I quickly connected over this beautiful thing called blog world, and she has been such an amazing blessing in my life since she reached out to me. We both have similar journeys with our health, and her positive outlook on it all is such a bright light in my life. 

Today I'm going to be giving you guys a bit of a tour of our home, and sharing some thoughts with you all while I take you on this tour. I hope you leave feeling encouraged and empowered to create your own space that is uniquely you!

The home we are currently living in is owned by my gracious parents. They purchased this ranch-style home a couple of years ago so that we could have a place to live while my husband attended nursing school. We helped them gut and re-do the house and are slowly making the space our own. We realize we are stewards of this place until my husband finishes school, at that point my parents are going to sell the house and hopefully make a good return on their investment! 

pictured above is our dining room- the curtains are thrifted, the table was made by my husband, the stools are made from old doors we found, the chairs were given to us, the coffee table is made from a window we found in the dumpster, the wood is from our lake house, and the tan chairs are hand-me-downs from my parents

I grew up in a family where creativity in the home was one of the highest priorities. Since I was three years old my parents have been building and selling and flipping houses. They've done all of this so that they could build a house and be totally debt free- which they did about ten years ago! We've lived in every home we've built, and during that time they always gave me free reign of decorating my bedroom. At a young age I realized how much my surroundings influenced my mood, and made it a point to always surround myself with beautiful things. I have also learned that lighter colors make me a lot happier than darker colors, so our home now reflects this. 

Above the couch was recovered by my parents for David and I when we moved back to the south from Colorado, the rug was a $10 steal from Home Depot, the table was re-finished, the ottoman was gifted, the mirror is a cool thrift store find, and the painting was done by me!It has taken a while for our decor to reflect ourselves, and to come together cohesively because all of our pieces are either given to us, thrifted, re-purposed from pieces we've been given or found. I think we've spent about $50 dollars on all of our home furnishings combined. It has taken us a lot of patience, pruning and digging to find things that are all cohesive and reflect what we are hoping to communicate when people enter our home. But we are finally to a point where I am loving the way our house feels!One thing that I've learned these past 4 years of being married to my husband, is that we love having minimal things in our home. About every 3 months we clean out our closets, our shelves and our surroundings and get rid of what we don't use. We really do not like to accumulate "stuff" and our home reflects that. Not to mention that both of us are not big fans of clutter and messes! 

This little round table was given to us by a church, the frames have all been gifted or found at thrift stores and repainted, the pillows were made by myself and my mom, and the chairs were my parent's. 

We are also both HUGE fans of tiny, tight spaces:). We are looking forward to the day when we can buy our own home and have it as small as possible (without being too cramped). This little breakfast nook is our favorite place to eat breakfast, study the word and have late night conversations by candle light. The light streaming in is from a set of double doors that we open when the weather is nice and it allows fresh air to come into our home. 

The little wall of photos and art is always a work in progress. I keep adding things to it, so it will continue to fill up with memories! As a photographer, I'm a huge fan of having photos in our home and am always trying to think of creative and inexpensive ways to display these. Most of the artwork in our home has been painted by me on large wooden boards that we saved from the home demo. I love them so much and hope that they will always be a part of our home! 

 

This space is another example of how we've repurposed things and made them all come together. The desk was a thrift store find ($15) where my husband repurposed a found board for the table top, the orange chair was a thrift store find, the rug was discounted at an outlet store for $30 (woah, big spender!), the purple couch was an awesome thrift store find along with the hanging lamp (the base was re-painted black). Everything else was a hodgepodge of things we had.. except for that deer head. I LOVE it and found it at Target on sale!! You can find the business card holder here, and the calendar here. 

We JUST re-did this office space over the holiday and I am SO excited about it! Like I said, my environment plays a huge factor on my mood and my previous space was too cluttered, too big and not functional for what I needed. We have already spent a lot of time in here (I'm writing this from our desk now!) and I can't wait to start this year of business off in this new space! Our pup Dakota is a pretty big fan of it too. 

You can find the tutorial for the mobile here, the bicycle taxidermy here, and the flower crown here.

This extra bedroom serves as our guest room/ my sewing and craft room/ David's study. Everything in this room was given to us too!! Except the sheets which I thrifted (David's not a huge fan of the flowers). We recently re-did this wall as well and I love how it looks! It has a bit of whimsy while being warm and inviting and clean:). 

You can find how to make the pillow cases here, the potato stamped triangle art here, the bunting here, and find a complete tour of the whole room here. The book shelves are made with old cabinet doors we found and have yet to re-paint!

Our bedroom needs to be light and fun because I have to spend a lot of time in bed due to some chronic conditions I have. I recently re-did it to have a more whimsical and de-cluttered feel to it. We also got a new grey comforter for Christmas (that's not in the photos) that really ties to room together. I truly believe that these surroundings help me cope with days that aren't so awesome. Now that you've had a little tour of our home, (not pictured are all of the plants I've acquired lately--because they are dying:(( ) I hope that you are encouraged to find the time to make your space a place where you feel alive and peaceful. I love welcoming people into our home because they always feel so warm and calm whenever they spend time here. I also hope that you realize that it doesn't take much money at all to make a space beautiful and uniquely yours. It just takes some careful planning, patience and lots of out-of-the box thinking! It would make me so happy if you popped over and joined the community over at eat.live.make. You can also say hi via Facebook//twitter// instagram and Pinterest! I'd love to get to know you better!!

making a home...

this past weekend we spent in Chitwan National Park.

holy crap,

that place is gorgeous,

and there are elephants...

elephants!!!

which make me weak at the knees...

i LOVE elephants, especially baby ones. 

fyi...the CUTEST video of a baby elephant is coming your way,

if my techy skills win out. 

anyway, besides the point. 

all that to say, Kev and i are flipping exhausted. 

6 hour bus rides in nepal slap the life out of you,

especially when said bus is leaky rain water onto your head like chinese torture

and a women is banchee wailing in the front of the bus 

the.whole.trip. 

and the chair in front of Kevin's broke so that a lady was practically lying asleep in his lap. 

yep. 

buses in nepal. 

ke garne? {what to do?}

but today, as we were coming back I realized what a home we have made in Kathmandu. 

we've made a life here. 

And in some small way, I believe it's God affirmation of showing us, that no matter where we go, He will provide community, love, warmth and a place to call home. 

and this is a huge step for me...

Kev and I definitely feel that God is calling us to overseas work sometime in the future,

but i've struggled with the fear of feeling lonely. 

i'm such a people person, that I get depressed when i'm not around friends and family all the time. 

usually when we travel it's not like forever that we're gone,

so being in Nepal has really helped imagine what it might be like if we did move somewhere 

"longterm"

{that phrase scares the heck out of me!}

but you know what?

i'm not lonely. 

faaaarrrrr from it. 

The minute we moved to Nepal we met SOOO many friends. 

and almost every night of the week are with friends of some sort. 

so, i'm thanking God that He provides what we need,

and I need not fear for the future when he calls us somewhere new. 

for I have Him, and I have Kevin. 

and that means, i'll always have a place to call home. 

can't wait to show you pictures of Chitwan, and some crazy stories too. 

have a great week friends!! 

love Katie 

ps- just a few pics around KTM

 {haha, i laughed out loud at this picture! this is what never doing anything to your hair looks like!}