6.29.2016

Woodgrain tiles and industrial lights, be still my heart

(Note: While opinions are my own, this is a sponsored post, and may contain affiliate links)

The thing about buying a “fixer upper” that someone else is doing the fixing on… you’ve got to put a lot of trust into that fella.

Both Tate & I agreed, that since we were fans of the builders other homes in the area, we wouldn’t become those overbearing, nit-picky buyers who insist on choosing every single door know, window frame, and hardware accent.

That’s not to say a girl can’t dream though! Through this whole house-hunting process I’ve come to learn that, kitchens aside, one of the biggest ‘surprises’ always ends up being the bathrooms.
Especially in flipped homes, they can range from traditional (think: penny tiles, porcelain claw foot tubs, etc) to super modern (floating vanities, bright chrome accessories, stark white finishes). 

My tastes always fall within the traditional, boho styles. Tate's more of a modern, simplistic kind of guy. I won't indulge you on how many tiffs stemmed from a potential home's bathroom these past few months! I've spent a lot of time perusing the internet for mixes of our styles, and was pleasantly surprised when I came across all the great products offered by the online company, PlumbTile


I'm anxiously awaiting finding out what our new bathrooms will look like... in the mean time, join me for a little day-dream'y walk down what I'd love to see when they hand us the keys...



1) I absolutely adore this new style of wood-look tiles that are popping up. As a self-proclaimed "tile-hater" these have definitely changed my mind on the topic... 

2) A sink that holds true to the antique style of the house, such as this one. Not to mention classic hardware to go with it!)

3) Minimalist accessories, such as this towel ring

4) A simple mirror, in an unexpected shape.

5) An industrial style light to add some edge to the space

6) A teak bathmat, for a little bit of nature.


I'd add some bright colored rugs and towels, a bold paint color on the walls, and a few plants to really complete the space. 

What about your dream bath? What do you want to wake up to every morning?

6.20.2016

On stalking, or networking.

Well, we did it. We bought a house. Just when all of my friends and family had taken to tuning me out for complaining, justonemoretime, about the insane housing market here in Indy, we stumbled upon one.

Stumbled probably isn't the right term. Stalked my way into one is probably more in line.
You all shouldn't have expected anything less than that from me though, let's be real.

Oh, and I should also mention the term "house" is being thrown around haphazardly here, as the lovely plot we promised a chunk of change for was actually minimally resembling a home when we agreed to it.

Exhibit A:


In complete truthfulness, those photos were actually a week after the papers were signed. There was even less progress, and even more mess when we fell in love with her.

Let me hit the rewind button first...
To that fateful date night in late February where the topic got brought up, and the 'why the hell not' got thrown around....
That first condo that had 4 offers the day after we went and saw it...
That house well fell in love with in early March, that was sold the night before we submitted our offer....
That next house we fell in love with in late March that was a slap in the face (as explained here)...
Those 482 other houses we saw....
The condo we fell in love with that had 8 offers the first day...
That time I wanted to say forget it, and live in my house in the suburbs for forever because I was over the whole rat race and couldn't help but assume OBVIOUSLY we weren't meant to live downtown for a reason.

Then I woke up, left my pity party, and did what any other girl would do. Started tracking down the builders who were flipping houses in the areas we liked.

And once I found one with a history of houses we both loved, I may have employed Facebook Messenger to do a little woo'ing and sniffing around to see what their upcoming projects were.

The houses they were doing were massive, and we weren't planning on producing enough offspring to fill 4 bedrooms anytime soon, so I waited, and touched base, and waited, and probably touched base a few too many times.

Then one fateful Tuesday morning, as Memorial Day weekend was crawling towards us, I heard that delightful ping on my Facebook (because who doesn't keep all social media avenues open whilst working... I thought that was the whole point of 2 monitors to begin with?)

An update on their two gargantuan houses... and then... scrolling... scrolling... what is this? A new project they were about to begin... in the same neighborhood as the first house we loved... 3 bedrooms... 2.5 bathrooms... the hearts in my eyes mimicked that overused iPhone emoji like never before.

Maybe I was jumping the gun a bit, but when you house-hunt in this market, any glimmer of hope gets you giddy.

Less than a week later, we had walked through the house twice, had a million conversations with the builder, had some life chats over Moscow Mules, and signed the papers making the house ours.

Contingent, of course, on the fact that it... well, gets finished. And finished well.

Tate thinks there are still too many things that could go wrong, and worries about it on the regular.
Me on the other hand, I pop by the job site every few days, chat it up with the latino workers, take a million photos of the "process" and email incessantly with the builder about what they're up to each day.

Regardless of my right-brained'ness and Tater's left-brained'ness... I think it's safe to say we're both elated to see our fixer-upper!