All posts filed under: House

Galentine’s Party Garland + a tutorial

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I posted about my Galentine’s Day party yesterday, and I mentioned in my post that I crafted all the decorations needed to get the house looking festive and feminine. Of course, since this was a party for girls, there was a lot of pink and white and gold. And of course, that meant there was also a Pinterest presence. I’d been seeing these fun tassel garlands all over the internet the past couple of years, and I thought this was the perfect chance to make some of my own. They were surprisingly affordable since all you really need are tissue paper, twine/string/ribbon, and some glue. They added just the right touch of flair, and can be customized to really fit any party scheme. The following is a quick tutorial so you too can have these fun tassels hanging in your home or office!

Christmas Decor Moodboard

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This Christmas season is in full swing now! Tyler and I have been pulling 9-10 hour days in the bakeries, each doing our part to help the holidays run smoothly. So far, my work highlights have been: listening to Christmas music while I scurry around, wearing a little reindeer speckled apron instead of the regular white one, and sampling all the new cookies we produce just for these couple of weeks! Last week, I decorated the bakery for the holiday season. We put out more and more things each day, to build the anticipation and excitement. I wrapped banisters with boughs and hung countless ornaments around the shop… it was so much fun. I think I might have tied 100 red bows around the place too. Since I’ve spent so much time decorating at work, I haven’t added much else to our own home since I first switched out all our regular things for Christmas decor several weeks ago. Still, if I had the house of my dreams– and a little more time and energy– I would …

For the Love of Houseplants

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I have this thing about houseplants. I love them. It’s like bringing a little bit of the outdoors inside. The place in which I’ve most felt at home and at peace was in the middle of the jungle, so I think there’s a little bit of green that God sewed into my soul. However, contrary to that statement or not, I must admit I’m not known to have the most vibrant green thumb. But I do my best. And what I lack in actual cultivation skills, I make up for in sincere concern and effort. Our current green living thing was $30 under the budget Tyler begrudgingly gave me for houseplants, so I was pretty pleased with myself when I got that beautiful thing in the house and in the living room corner. (And believe me, that was no easy task– in the most literal sense– since it’s nearly seven feet tall.) Now that we’re all acquainted and settled in, with minimal leaf-browning, I’m feeling ready to start exploring the furthest reaches of my budget limitations. …

House Tour – After

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Now that fall is decidedly here and the temps are dropping every week, it is so nice to have our cozy little apartment to come home to after being out and about in the brisk air. Even now, I’m cuddled up on the couch under a blanket, typing away by the hazy glow of our hanging string lights. All I need is a big ol’ mug of our apple cider, but alas, I finished that off this weekend :) We gave you a quick tour of our apartment shortly after moving in, and I promised that we’d have an “after” tour once we had things unpacked and set up. Well, the time has come for round two! In case you missed the first one, feel free to check it out here. I refer to it [too] often in this new video– “like I mentioned earlier” — so consider yourself forewarned. Welcome to the Murphmans’ home!

House Tour- Before

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We’re finally ready to share the apartment with you all! This is a quick “before” tour, and we’ll get an “after” video up in a few weeks. We’ve already crossed off a lot of to-do’s and projects– that’s what happens when you’re both home all day– but we have a little more to do before we feel settled enough to shoot a good complete “after”. We feel so lucky to have found such a cute place. I’ve been confident throughout this move that “God will provide”, but we all know that doesn’t always happen on our timeline. So being able to sign a lease so quickly– by Anchorage standards– was certainly not a test of patience, but a reward of faith this time.  

Empty House Tour

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I so enjoyed setting up our first house and designing the space to fit our needs and style. (If you want to get an idea of what it looked like– and how hard it was to say goodbye– you can check out this earlier post about letting go of our newlywed home.) But just in the past couple of weeks, we had to start transitioning into taking apart our home. It was exhausting work, but I have to say it wasn’t nearly as sad as I anticipated. I think the fact that we were drained physically meant that our bodies had little resources left to allocate to our emotions. So in the end, this video tour of our empty home was rushed enough to avoid any threatening tears or constricting throats. It was our last goodbye to the home, shot just minutes before we pulled away.  

Arm Chair Restoration: Part Three

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This project is finally complete! I’ve certainly taken my time, but I am so pleased with the result. Which is significant, since I just commented to Tyler the other day that none of my other projects were “true successes”. But you live and learn, I suppose. I’ve certainly perfected the staining, and upgraded on some things like sanding.

Surrendering Our Newlywed Home

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We’re in the process of selling our house right now, and what a process it has been. So many unexpected emotions. These four walls have formed the perfect refuge for our first year of life together. Many meals shared with friends, every evening cooking in the kitchen, little projects inside and lots of gardening outdoors. Certainly as many fights as laughs, but we’ve weathered them all. Being at peace with letting go has been a journey for me. Surrendering the beloved for the unknown. As a sort of consolation for the inevitable farewell, I asked a graduating photography student to come over one afternoon this spring and quickly capture some shots of our little home. These photos will serve as memory for us as the years pass, and I am looking forward to reminiscing some day about my “perfect” first home.

Arm Chair Restoration: Part Two

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Spring in the Midwest surprises me every year. I am irrationally nervous that it’s not even coming, and then all of a sudden a frothy green curtain of baby leaves covers the trees in our neighborhood. This year, I was so excited that I begged Tyler to go out and purchase flowers at the first sign of a frost-free night. We may have put them in a little early, but I think they’ve all survived. During the first couple of weeks of truly hot weather, it was soul-refreshing to garden and do outdoor projects after such a dismally long and cold winter. One of the projects that I happily sweated away doing (TMI? :)) was finishing my arm chair. And I’m 99.9% done! Here is a shot from partway through– sanded and being stained!  

Souvenir Shelf: Part Two

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So the shelf itself was pretty much complete in the last post, but the main attraction– taking center stage– was yet to be finished. All the bowls we have collected are special, reminding us of the adventures we’ve had and the blessing it is to travel.  However, the largest bowl we have (as of yet) came from our wedding– the start of the biggest adventure of our lives– and it is incredibly special.  We used it as one of three guest book alternatives, to remember our wedding attendees.