Bringing our DR into this century!

Robert & Kathy (friends of Brad's parents) were so sweet to give us a $25 gift card to Lowe's as a housewarming gift. We decided to try to use only that to update our dining room walls. Yesterday I removed the base boards, old chair rail & PANELING! It was giving off that sweet 70's vibe! I patched the sheetrock, sanded it smooth & applied several coats of primer.

We are hopeful that our gift card & 10% off coupon will cover the 20 ft. of chair rail moulding needed. We salvaged 4 1/2" base boards from the living room demo last month. We will have plenty for the dining room.

The paint above the chair rail is white with a hint of blue. The chair rail & base boards will be a creamy white. Our curtains are a light khaki and rug is black & cream striped.

Staying budget minded, I pulled a few cans of paint from the garage & need help picking a paint color to go below the chair rail! The colors from left to right are: 1. Mindful Grey, 2. Ramie, 3. Accessible Beige. I also included a pic of the rug, curtain fabric & our not so cute tile floor! I'll post before & after pics when finished! Which color would you pick?

Welcoming 2012 with open arms!

I have never blogged before (gasp), but figure now is as good a time as any to jump into the current century!  Here's a little back story to bring you up to date on us!  We were born and raised in the same Arkansas town.  When I was studying for my criminal justice degree in Denton, TX, Brad moved to the same town for a summer job in spring 2007.  That is when Brad and Sarah turned into Brad & Sarah.  After adopting two puppies we became Brad, Sarah, 4th and Lola.  His summer job turned into a few year job then we both finished our degrees and headed back for the hills of Arkansas in 2009!  Since then we have been learning how to live the grown-up life.  Last May Brad's proposal melted my heart so we are excitingly engaged! 

Shortly after the engagement we dove hands first into DIY home renovation, all while neglecting wedding planning-our bad.  Many people have told us that if we can make it through a home renovation, marriage will be a breeze.  I don't know about that, but we do love projects together.  It's nice that I'm getting to marry the handiest man I have ever met- he really can fix everything.  After much commuting, long distance romance and frequent moves, it is so lovely to have a place to call our own (even though I won't technically live there until post-wedding). 


The house isn't quite finished, but it's definitely livable.  Last summer I took "before" pictures of the house.  I will post those and current ones as soon as I find them.  I have been slowly decorating, and with my addiction to pinterest (follow me: lolita sarita) it's hard to resist!  I keep telling myself that I don't need to buy that, because I can just register for it in 9 short months. 


Oh my gosh...only 9 months until the wedding and so much to do.  Maybe I shouldn't be spending my spare time blogging with so much on my plate (I can just hear Brad saying that now), but what a great way to share our ideas!  And if some ideas don't turn out as good as they looked in our heads, at least you can learn from our mistakes.  The first time I made meatloaf for Brad and once marinating steaks for 3 days in meat tenderizer before grilling come to mind as a few of our past faux pas.  I guess it's true that all of us learn from our mistakes. 
Now that the new year has rolled around we have switched gears to planning our 10/20/12 nuptials!  We are planning a daytime wedding and intimate reception at my family's farm, and then having a big reception (don't know where yet) that night to celebrate with friends and family!  We are on a tight budget for the wedding, so it will be DIY to the max, which is perfect with us! 
For Christmas we bought Brad's grandmother the new Paula Deen Southern Cooking Bible, and ever since I have been hinting that I wanted one too. Two weeks ago Brad bought it for me with the condition that I cook one thing out of it a week...ha he does love home cooked food! So far I have made the roasted potatoes with rosemary and also made the fried chicken which was amazing by the way.  I'm sure I will be blogging about my future successes from Paula's newest edition!

In addition to recipes we'll also be serving up blogs documenting the DIY, home decor, renovation, tailgating, gardening, bargain hunting and maybe even a little couponing successes of two soon to be newlyweds!