IKEA

You guys! This is my 50th post using WordPress as my host site for my blog – I must say I have really grown to love it, even more than I had imagined!

So I still need to write up a post with pictures of our lovely apartment, but you will all see a little sneak peek of the place in today’s post!

My parents were the absolute best. For our wedding present from them, they took us to IKEA and bought us some furniture for our place. We had discussed with them in advance that we would probably get a couch at that time, since we didn’t have any living room furniture except a coffee table.

When we first got off the escalator into my all time favorite home store – the living room area was spotted. We tried out about fifteen different couches and joked about how it better be long enough to be able to sleep on. We finally found the perfect couch – eventually.

My parents, Trevor, Christian, and I continued to browse IKEA, because why not?! My parents asked us if we had all of our basics for our place. We mentioned we planned to buy a microwave soon, since we don’t have one. So my parents asked an employee if they have any stand alone microwaves. My mom had looked online briefly and saw built ins, which is all they sell unfortunately for us. My parents then proposed that they buy us a kitchen table and chairs instead of a microwave! Honestly, I was kind of shocked. We found an awesome table with fold out sides, and adorable chairs to go with it.

After getting home, the guys hauled up all of the big pieces. My parents wished us luck on putting together the furniture and took off.

We didn’t get to any building of furniture until the next day, after we had taken care of most of my boxes. Trevor began working on our kitchen table so we could have somewhere to eat dinner that evening. While he did that I put my millions of boxes of clothes on hangers, shelves, and in drawers.

I helped him out a bit on different parts of the table, because some of those spots were hard to get screws into. But he did a majority of the work all by himself. He’s such a good handyman! Thank goodness we got a tool kit as a wedding present!

The drawer on the front is so cute and looks great in our little kitchen!

And here’s the beautiful finished table and chairs! It looks perfect in our kitchen! It has also been highlighted in a few of Trevor’s Instagram posts – check out his feed here.

The final project was our fantastic couch. We estimated the project would take us about 2 hours, but I think we got done in less than that. It was much simpler than we had anticipated, thankfully!

Here is the beautiful finished product!

I love our little apartment – it has certainly become home for us! I cannot wait to show you guys more about our place soon! I’ll be pulling out the DSLR soon and snapping some shots to share on here for sure. You can also see a few pictures of the space on my Instagram here.

Spectacular Monday

Wow – I am one awful blogger right now.

It’s officially our wedding week! I woke up this morning invigorated and motivated to take on everything today has to offer. That rarely happens, especially on a Monday! But in less than a week you can call me Mrs. Rodriguez, so I’m kinda pumped.

So what have I finished on this spectacular Monday?

Last night I got the basics to our chalkboard program done, so this morning I finished it. It’s looking mighty fine!

I also did the “wedding itinerary” sign. It’s not quite finished, but I’ll finish it either later tonight or tomorrow.

I made my weekly stop at Hobby Lobby, too! The other night I was talking with my mom and we decided we wanted to add ribbon to the mason jars. So I ventured over to Hob Lob today to make that purchase. I also bought a miniature chalkboard and some super stellar chalk pencils!

Once I got home I wrote on the miniature chalkboard, “Do you Instagram? Use the hashtag: #adventuresoftande”. So if you’re bored next weekend, search the # and see what’s up in my life!

On the agenda for the rest of today? Trevor and I have a meeting with our photographer to sign some paperwork and to pay her. I also have to develop the weekend timeline. In addition to that, I have a few more escort cards to finish and stickers to put on the jellies!

Like I said, it’s wedding week – so I probably won’t be blogging too much. I have an incredibly long to-do list, but I’ll try to get another post out to you all later in the week to tell you a little bit about my bachelorette party (which is tomorrow)!

XO Elisebeth

Tiny Kitchen

I’m a major Buzzfeed addict.

As I mentioned in my last post, our new apartment will have a very small kitchen.

So I did what I do best, and did some good ole Buzzfeed research! Actually, I found this on Pinterest, and it has some great tips that I plan to utilize in our new home.

27 Lifehacks for your Tiny Kitchen

Do you have a small kitchen? If so, how do you make the most of your space? Any tips will be of great help to me! 🙂

Our Home

Last Friday (6/19), Trevor and I made a trip to Saint Paul, MN where we will be living next year. We viewed three apartment buildings, and 4 units total. The first two were in the same building, we liked them both but were not super drawn to either of them. The second building, was run by the same company so we figured it would likely be a good fit. We walked into the room and took a look around. That showing lasted about 15 minutes. We sat in the car until our next showing, discussing how transportation could possibly work with the location of this one. It was the farthest from the green line out of the three. We decided we both loved this apartment’s vibe and could see ourselves living there. But could we afford the price? We went to our final showing, and were quickly unimpressed. At the close of the showing she mentioned the price, which was $15 more than listed online. I immediately knew I could not live in that building due to the combination of things we noted: building smell, crazy lady property manager, weird tenants.

The obvious decision was the second building. So we drove to Target and sat in the Starbucks to fill out an application. I texted the property manager and told him we were applying.

After a week of sitting around, waiting, and corresponding through email with the individual filing our application, we found out we have been accepted for the apartment! I couldn’t be happier!

It’s a beautiful one bedroom apartment at Yale Apartments. If you look at the link, the unit we are getting is Floor Plan C.

Now I can’t stop looking at home decor ideas (I apologize if you follow me on Pinterest). I know Trevor is very specific in his home decor “needs,” so I have been keeping those in mind.

Here are some of my favorite ideas from Pinterest that I hope to include in our home.

What I love about this picture? PLANTS. This last year I bought three succulents from IKEA – and they are my babies. Since Trevor doesn’t want real babies for awhile, I’ll stick to green things. I even named mine! Henrietta, Herb, and (I’m an awful plant mommy-I don’t remember the third name)!I love this picture because of the wall decor and the couch pillows. I’m a sucker for good pillows. This picture shows my desires for kitchen cabinets. I love the idea of open cabinets – it forces you to keep them tidy! However, our apartment has doors on the cabinets, so we will be able to cover any possible mess – not that Trevor will ever allow that. This picture is a good representation of how I would love our bedroom to look. I love the light & open feel of this picture. The rug is also spot on in my opinion. I love the simplicity of this kitchen! The kitchen in our apartment will be super small, so I don’t think we could fit a bench area like that in there, but that would be a dream. However,  I really like this table and the chairs too – I would be more than happy to have those. Trevor loves pictures – obvi. We plan on getting some of our pictures printed and framed to decorate our place with. I would love a photo wall like this in our entry way!

I’m hopeful for a trendy and awesome apartment that feels like home for us. I cannot wait to move in on August 3!

Decorations

So my wedding is less than three months away-woah!

I am absolutely thrilled that we are under the 100 day mark (double digits baby)!

So this past Sunday, my roommates and I worked on creating some decorations for the wedding. I had run some ideas by Trevor and I couldn’t really gauge his thoughts, so I went for it.

Anna (left) working on doily garland & Katrina (right) cutting out triangles for bunting.

Katrina loves her crafting task!

We started out making bunting. I do not have a sewing machine here unfortunately, so I had to make do and buy some Liquid Stitch.

I made templates in advance, so Katrina and I could just pin them down and cut out our fabric! I had been shopping for fabric for weeks. Target had some options I liked, but Trevor wasn’t a fan. We had kind of reached a dead end, since we didn’t need much. We were at Bride to Be Consignment when we found our answer. They had a bunch of table runners for sale. I found some in a grey/silver color. They were marked down to $1.25 a piece! I grabbed two, not knowing how much fabric I would need.

We cut out 12 “large” triangles and 19 “small” triangles. I don’t remember the exact dimensions, but I created my own templates, which was super simple.

Anna brought some tissue paper from home and worked on tassles. We followed this awesome tutorial I found on Pinterest (you can find it here). It was super simple, and the results are fantastic!

Fun with Fringe!

Anna hard at work (on project #2!)

Finished Fringe #vsco

The first batch, there was an error in one of the cuts, so Katie and I messed around with them. Still pretty cute though, right?

Anna also did some super cute doily garland for me! I dubbed her crafter of the night! She made it through two whole projects! You can find a tutorial here. It’s basically what we did, except that we used glue instead of double-sided tape.

Doily Garland

So what was Katie doing during craft night? We placed her in charge of PIZZA DUTY! She ordered us a delicious pizza and garlic knots from Papa Johns. We are forever grateful for the time and commitment she put into her task. 🙂

Katie (right) & Me (left) with some delicious pizza